Ikurx
by MangakaMyaoN
Summary: After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over. (Wrote this back in 2007, but never posted it).
1. Chapter 1

**Ikurx**  
 **By** **MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 01

A year. It felt like one of the smaller stepping stones of a larger stair case that ascended with their times in a spectrum of worlds and lives that now freckled their night skies.  
Living on one planet, living one life, had been like slipping on a comfortable old pair of shoes.

In a strange way it felt like only yesterday they had been sitting there at the pale beach at The Ends of the Worlds, content to fade into the dark but remain unforgotten there; unalone.  
Like waking the door of light opened for them, sent on a letter of forgotten memories but nostalgia of their long lost female friend.

And just as quickly as they had decided to live out their lives together in the dark they had decided to live out their lives in the light. Together, Sora and Riku figured, it wouldn't matter what shade they lived in.

But like clock work Mickey soon sent his letter, their adventure far from over. But they put this new mission off in favor of living what they had been denied by the polar pulls of light and dark.  
It had been awkward at first, school, family, picking up after several years as if they had never gone missing. But it had been alright. An endearing touch or smile, the softest of kisses, sometimes snuck in Sora's room, their old makeshift hut on Destiny Island or even more boldly in the boy's bathroom; the little things made the world of difference, and living a normal life meant all the more now. _Together_.

But King Mickey just wouldn't have it. A more impatient letter arrived on the wind to Sora's hand one day as he sat on the crooked paopu tree, staring at the horizon. It was too dire a happenstance for the master of the keyblade to leave off any longer. And King Mickey demanded he finish what he started, from the very first moment the keyblade had chosen him; Ansem's 'legacy'.  
Organization XIII had been abolished with their Nobodies, but their Heartless counterparts remained, furious that their origins had been abolished and whole they could be no more.  
Sora was ordered to put this legacy to rest.

This meant finally saying goodbye to the new old life that they had just reclaimed.

This meant saying goodbye to being happy, normal teens.

It had been days after the letter touched his hand, but still Sora wasn't quite ready to give any of his normalcy up yet. For hours he had been standing in front of the door that started everything, doing nothing but staring. Truthfully he didn't know whether to curse it or not. There had been so many good memories, but suddenly it all felt like a burden.

A tightly gloved hand made its way out to touch stone then dropped back down just as quickly. He hadn't told Riku where he was going. He hadn't told anyone where he was going. He just wanted to be alone for a little bit, but he knew someone would look for him at some point and he hated worrying anyone. With one last look around, Sora started to make his way back outside and towards the water. The sun was just setting and it calmed him somewhat, but he also realized how much more he would end up missing it all.

The waves gently lapped at the shore, smoothing across the sand. Had it truly been so long since they'd fallen from the sky like wishing stars into the ocean, splashing up from the water to see Kairi's smiling face, waving. It had been years since they'd seen her face, and she waited. She had brought them back into the light.

 _Protect her.. Sora_

He hadn't done that either; leaving her at Destiny Island to remember them, and wait. Wait for him to rescue Riku in the darkness that he'd sealed himself in.

It all felt like yesterday; had it truly been so long since they'd stepped back into this tiny world of theirs.

A hard affectionate knock on Sora's head shattered those quixotical thoughts.

"You've got _that_ look." Riku's voice droned in playful chastise.

Sora had flinched at the knock, but it was the voice that had him whipping around to face Riku which caused the long scarf around his neck to move around and flow behind him. "Look?" Sora easily knew how to put up a facade, although half the time it never worked on Riku, he did it anyway just to try. "You mean this one?" He put his hands up to pull at his eyes and lip making a ridiculous face. It caused his next words to be a little slurred. "Or this one?" Sora dropped his hands to pull his bottom lip down completely. "Hmm?"

Riku blinked several times at the silly expressions his friend made, but in the end he was easily won over by Sora's light heartedness. He laughed a genuinely amused sound. "No. Not those looks." He reached up to take Sora's hands from his face. "It's more liiike-", Riku took Sora's jaw in his hand to tilt his head up, moving his other hand to push down the other's brows into a hilariously unnatural scowl. " _This_." He had to laugh again. "It's the look you get when you're thinking unnaturally deep thoughts."

Sora stared up at Riku for a few seconds before he finally shook his head. He lifted his hands back up to grab both of the other teen's and kept hold of them as they dropped between them. "It would have been easier if it was one of the other looks." Sora kept his eyes on their hands as he spoke and even as silence came between them. He couldn't think of what to say. He had yet to tell Riku about the letter, but he would have to very soon since it had been awhile since it was delivered.

"Maybe." Riku lightly shrugged, his smile still kept on his lips. There was a time when he rarely smiled here in their world, in their town. But ever since they'd returned, there was rarely a moment when even the smallest of smiles wasn't on his face when he was around Sora. It was as if a large weight had been removed; perhaps it was being able to call someplace 'home', feeling needed without obligation.

"But something's on your mind. You rarely look _that_ spacey." Riku couldn't help the grin as he teased his friend.

Sora's head shot up at those words and he knew he had been caught. Of course he had been caught the moment Riku came up behind him when he was so lost in his own head. "I guess I have been out of it lately, haven't I?" He pulled his hands away so he could turn away from Riku and walk closer to the water. His hands clasped behind his back and once more all he could do was stare.

So far life had been fine. He wished so badly that it could stay that way. "Every time we think it's going to be over something happens." Sora started speaking before he could really think over his words. "King Mickey is supposed to be able to handle things on his own from time to time, right? Shouldn't we be allowed a break once in a while." He raised a hand to block the sun from his vision. "Some actual peace here and there." He balled his hand into a fist.

Riku watched Sora a moment. The younger boy had a bad habit of wearing his heart so plainly on his sleeve. Every subtle action was as easily read as words on a page. It was a curse and a blessing; yet it was always something that Riku admired about the other.

"He tries as hard as he can." Riku stepped up to stand beside Sora. "But King Mickey is just one mouse." His gaze fell upon the vast expanse of ocean, the colours running together on its surface like sparkling ink. "There's more than one keyblade master for a reason." He gave the softest of laughs. "But you make it sound like we just got home."

Those words had Sora dropping his hand as well as his head. "It sure feels like it." His hands started to clench and unclench at his sides while he tried to find the words to speak up with next. He turned his eyes on Riku and opened his mouth, but found at the last second that he, himself, couldn't ruin the sudden view or that small smile on the other's face. Not with his own words, at least.

Sora took a deep breath and moved to stand in front of Riku which caused him to stand in the water. "I need to show you something important." If he couldn't tell Riku then he would just have to let him see the evidence instead.

Riku looked down at Sora, still so short after all these years. He lifted a hand to brush back Sora's plush bangs at a whim, but the unruly spikes always bounced back. He wished he could just as easily brush away Sora's worry; such a serious expression didn't belong on his face. "Sure. Lead the way."

Sora reached a hand out to grab onto Riku's own and was soon leading them both back further up the island. Never once did he let go of his friend, having gotten in habit of needing to touch Riku in some way, whether holding his hand or just standing shoulder to shoulder to make sure he really was there. Only when they were near one of the huts did he let go to push aside a rock. A slip of paper was buried deeply under it in the sand and Sora was soon digging it out to hand over to Riku. "Read. It's from Mickey." He didn't care for formalities at the moment.

Riku took the letter, holding it as if it were something more fragile than paper. He dusted it off, blowing the excessive dust on the perfect cursive writing.  
Through the fringe of silver bangs he read Mickey's strong words. This letter was far more desperate than the one they'd received when they first returned home. And as Riku read on his expression only grew more and more grim.

After he'd read, digested each word, Riku's hand lowered the letter to his side. His gaze remained staring where the letter had been. ".. We shouldn't have brushed off his first letter." Such a somber tone slipped into Riku's voice, the guilt quite plain. "It was stupid.. to be so selfish." King Mickey had been his close traveling companion, like Donald and Goofy were to Sora. Riku could only hold the blame for ignoring his friend's important request, when he should have helped as soon as he was asked. After all it had been Mickey who had been there with him, supporting him in his hour of weakness when he was trying to figure out who and where he truly belonged.

Immediately Sora was quick to defend their actions. "It wasn't selfish. We wanted a life. A normal life with no Heartless and no Nobodies around to fight." It wasn't like Sora to think of himself and even if such situations came up they were so rare no one could even remember them. "Mickey is a keyblade master too. We're just teenagers, Riku. Every time some huge battle comes along is it always going to be up to one of us or even both of us to just drop everything we have planned in life?" He seemed to realize what he was saying as his eyes went wide, but he stubbornly looked away, shifting gloved hands to his pockets. "We only had a year together..."

Riku was stunned, and for a moment all he could do was stare at Sora for such bold words. Never in all his life had he heard such self serving words leave his friend's mouth. Never. But he had to come to realize that Sora was exactly what he claimed; a 'teenager'. And it was true, Sora was always so willing to give, never once did he ever take for his own.  
Those twelve months, they gave Sora and himself a taste of something they had been denied. A something they had always taken for granted before the heartless attacked Destiny Islands and he'd given himself to darkness without thinking.

"..We've had more than a year, Sora." Riku's hand found itself on Sora's shoulder. "Before all this, we had nearly ten years together." Riku rested his head against the plush spikes on Sora's head. "You just tend to over look those times."

Then something occurred to Riku as he glanced down at the dusty letter still in his hand. "Sora.. why did you hide King Mickey's letter under a rock?"

Sora had tried to relax while Riku was so close, but the question caught him off guard and he started to tense up again. Under Riku, Sora turned his head to hide his face as best he could, but his words would plainly give away his shame and embarrassment. "I was trying to hide it from you and I couldn't just keep it in my pocket because you would have easily found it there at some point." He moved away from Riku to turn and face the other, but didn't look up. All he did was raise a hand to rub at his face. "It came a few days ago, but I just wanted to ignore it. We're back home. We're living peacefully, Riku. I'm not ready to give that up and chance anything happening to you ever again." He finally dropped his hand, but still didn't raise his head.

The softest of sounds left Riku, something between a worried scoff and amusement. "Sora." Either of his hands settled on the boy's shoulders, drawing him just a little closer. "It's not like you to escape responsibility like that. Not unless it meant something to you." He wasn't mad, he doubted he could ever truly be angry at Sora.

Riku held Sora's shoulders a moment before he relented a hand to tip up the other teen's chin to finally have him look at him. "But you know as well as I do that protecting the worlds is our destiny." His thumb ran along under Sora's lips, trying to coax out the enthusiastic hero he'd always known. "You were chosen for a reason. Just look at all that you've done. Everyone is counting on you. King Mickey, he's counting on you."

It was strange to see tables so turned for once, but Sora really did need his own shoulder to lean on instead of vise versa for everyone around him. He tried his best to take in Riku's words and find comfort in the little touches the other gave, but that small sense of dread that peace would be gone still stayed over his head. "It's hard to want to continue following destiny when all I want to do is stay away from it." He turned his head away from Riku's hand to lift an arm up, knowing he was more then likely going to start crying at any moment, so he wanted to wipe away the tears before they even showed.

"I know that no matter what we have to go." Sora dropped his arm and lifted his eyes back up to look at Riku. "But, is it wrong of me to hope that at some point there will be nothing anymore? No more fighting over anything and just hope that we can be okay, here on this island?"

Riku shook his head, smiling just a little for his friend. "I think that's a great thing to hope for." He turned his attention back to the water they walked from. The colours were turning a darker hue, the sun dipping into waters, pillowed by clouds; light, dark, they couldn't exist without each other. Maybe it was foolish to think that the battle against one another wouldn't stretch on into their eternities, but if Sora was a fool to hope, then he wanted to be a fool too. ".. Because I share the same hope too. Because when all is said and done, I want to retire back here. Even if that means going to school as an old man just to finish graduating." Riku turned his head back to smile softly down at Sora. "I want to go back to sharing all of this," he raised a hand to gently tap Sora's chest over his heart, "with you."

Sora had looked down to watch Riku's hand. The words finally caused a tiny smile to come over his features and he lifted his own hand to hold onto the other teen's. "Even as old men we'll probably still be out battling who knows what." Sora shook his head at such a thing. "As long as you're there. As long as you're okay, then I guess I'm fine with whatever, for now." He slowly remembered something and a sigh left him while the smile disappeared. "I was the only one that knew about the letter. Which means you aren't the only one it was hidden from..."

"Kairi." Riku spoke the name Sora seemed resigned to say. His brows furrowed and he lowered his head as he gave something some thought, his silver hair covering most of his face as he did.

Although Kairi had been a great ally amidst the last battle, and he did have great confidence in their female friend but-

"..M." Riku lowered his head more. "Maybe it's better if she doesn't know about this." He was a little surprised at himself for that answer. But it had been himself and Sora who had taken the last of Xemnas down. Kairi had obligated to take a step back to let them finish what needed to be done.  
 _Someone_ had to stay back and be safe, and wait for them to return; certainly not their parents, who had continued life forgetting their names and existence. And although Riku didn't want to admit it aloud, it was quite plainly written across his serious expression; Kairi, though she was a dear friend, she would only get in the way.

Sora was a little shocked by Riku's suggestion. It wasn't that it was a bad idea, but to hear it from either one of them was just surprising when it was actually said. His expression softened after a few seconds and he nodded. "I guess so." He lifted a hand and this time it was his turn to get Riku to bring his head back up as he rested a hand under the other teen's chin. He gave a real smile this time, trying his best to cheer both of them up with the sudden change in subject over the thought of what to do about Kairi. "But, she'll be here waiting for us. We'll come back from what we have to take care of and we'll know everything is back to normal again when we see Kairi, right?"

Riku blinked away his serious expression at Sora's touch and words. Truer words were never spoken. It was exactly how he saw it. "Right." He gently nodded against Sora's hand. "She may give us an earful on our return though." His small smile returned on his lips with a quiet chuckle. "You know how Kairi can be." His own hands raised to touch Sora's forearm, drawing his fingers in fingerless gloves idly on skin. "She won't like it, but, it's for her own good."

"Exactly." Sora's good mood and optimism started to come back. The familiar cheerfulness that never seemed to leave him had hold of him again while he dropped his hand to grab onto Riku's own. "It's just a few heartless anyway. No big deal, right? We've dealt with much worse. We'll be back in no time at all and everything will be just fine again." He turned around to look back out at the water while he let himself lean back against Riku.

Arms slipped around Sora, crossing at his chest in a firm embrace as he let the smaller boy leaned against him. Riku leaned his head atop Sora's, sneaking an affectionate nuzzle against the soft spiky hair there; this would be one of the last moments they'd have to themselves on their little island. He'd miss this terribly, feeling Sora like this in such a carefree manner, feeling like just an average teenager with average problems and cares; instead of some isolated figure thrown into darkness pinning for _his_ light, accepting a purgatory of twilight just to stay sane.

Riku stayed in this comfortable silence and embrace, fingers toying with the crown pendant of Sora's necklace. He didn't want to speak up just yet, wanting to indulge in Sora's selfish desire to preserve what little normalcy they had. But, it needed to be asked, better sooner than later when it would only be harder to talk about it. ".. When should we leave?"

It was the question Sora dreaded most of all because it made everything so final. He wrapped a hand around one of Riku's arms, wanting to keep the other as close as he could while he thought of an answer. "We ignored the first letter for a year and even now the second letter has been ignored for days. We should probably leave as soon as possible. Our help is obviously needed most of all."

"Thought so." Riku sighed, ceasing to play with Sora's necklace he buried his face in Sora's soft hair. His arms tightened around the smaller teen, hugging him fully and near possessively. Sora's greed was catchy.

Sora welcomed the embrace and even closed his eyes, not at all minding the fact it took the scenery away from him. He just wanted to enjoy the moment as much as he could. Mickey was more then likely fighting at that very second, so as soon as possible for Riku and Sora meant just what it implied. The time of day had no relevance. Of course the both of them still felt much too clingy to even attempt leaving, and as much as Sora tried to push every selfish feeling away there was still a tiny piece there. It couldn't be helped. "I love you." The words were whispered against Riku's arm as the constant worry still weighed on his mind as well.

Riku raised his head startled at such an honest confession of words. But just as quickly he rested his head back on Sora's hair. His skin prickled, touched beyond anything he was willing to admit aloud. It made his stomach sink to know it was this new battle that had such heart felt words leaving Sora, yet at the same time it only raised Riku's spirits. His mind reeled and he felt guilty that all he could do was just hold Sora's small frame just that much tighter since his throat had tightened against his will, keeping all returned sentiment swelling deep inside his chest.

Riku placed a lingering kiss at the side of Sora's head. ".. Don't worry, we'll come back." He barely managed to push optimistic words out as a hushed whisper against Sora's hair. "As soon as we can."

Sora had leaned his head more towards Riku's lips and nodded at what was said. "I know. I just wish we could stay here like this for as long as possible." He finally opened his eyes again to stare out at the water once more. His hand tightened a little around Riku's arm. "Just like this." He smiled a little and shook his head. "I'm never going to let us get anything accomplished this way."

"Can't blame you though." Riku's gaze fell on the water as well and soon to the darkening sky. "We've had such a wonderful time. And here I was worried it was going to be awkward coming back to all this. But I'm happy we did. I never realized how much I missed this place, and this little island." A small 'heh' left Riku. "Funny isn't it.. How eager we were to leave the island, home, to see new worlds and people. And now, we practically have to be pried away with a crowbar from our home here to leave and go back to those new exciting worlds." He actually laughed, remembering those earlier years. "I don't know where we thought we'd go on that tiny raft, with just three coconuts, raw fish and a bottle of fresh water."

"We wanted to see amazing things." Sora turned his head to look around the island and smiled. "I think I'll take this place over any of the worlds we've ever been to. It's home and it's where we can feel like we belong as long as we have each other." He turned completely in Riku's arms and looked up at the other teen. After a while he had given up on caring about his height. Sometimes it was actually nice to be shorter then Riku. Especially in moments such as these when the other would hold him.

"Riku," The other's name was said quietly, "about me hiding the letter." He dropped his gaze as he felt that same shame come over him again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's just, we've both been really happy here. I didn't want it to be taken away from either of us." He looked at Riku once more with an apologetic gaze. "Sorry."

Any smidge of bitterness or anger that had been left over the incident in Riku was wiped clean away by Sora's words. But it had been the honest expression on Sora's face that had truly done it.

Sora, if only he knew how much he could truly change with just one look.

Riku's expression softened and it was easy to see that Sora's apology was more than accepted. But instead of saying so aloud, he leaned down, tugging the other's scarf down with a finger, to softly kiss it upon Sora's lips.  
To Hell and high tide, he was going to miss these simple times when so little meant so much more.

Sora was a little surprised at the small act, but he easily fell into it and pressed back against Riku's lips. He smiled against the kiss, happy that he was forgiven and happy that they could share such moments. He felt lucky that he had such a close relationship with Riku and as he pulled back from the kiss he couldn't help letting his smile widen for the other before he leaned in to wrap his arms around Riku.

The older teen obliged Sora, hugging the other back. No other could ever make Riku such a slave to physical displays of affection. No other could hug or say such horribly cliché terms of endearment and get away with their true meanings like Sora could. There was something about the cheerful teen, the way he bravely bared his soul, you couldn't help but fall in love with him. And with each smile, you fell in love all over again.  
It couldn't have been anyone else- but Sora.

Suddenly Riku grinned, and he had to go and ruin the warm feelings by commenting off handedly in Sora's ear teasingly. "Can you even still summon the keyblade?"

Sora took the bait like always and couldn't help grinning right back. "Just watch me." He turned his head to give a quick peck to Riku's cheek before he was hurrying backwards while he failed at keeping his laughter in. He finally stopped just a few feet of the other teen and kept still. The only thing moving was the scarf that refused to ever lie still.

Sora let his hand drop and kept his eyes on Riku. There was a moment's concentration before light begin to shine near his palm and started to meld. At just the right moment Sora gripped down, but it wasn't light that he was grabbing. It was the handle of what was now the Oblivion Keyblade. He pointed it out a little and smiled. "See."

Riku crossed his arms, tilting his head for a second as if he were skeptical that the weapon Sora held was truly the real thing. But just as quickly he was grinning his approval. "Looks like you still got it." He waved a hand, mock skepticism returning to his face. "But I bet you're super rusty using it. A year of sitting on your butt all day, with no training, you've probably forgotten how to even use it." He smirked with his teasing words.

Sora let the weapon drop to his side as he started to pout a little. "Oh yeah? Well how come I'm standing here with a keyblade in my hand and you're not? At least I can summon mine." He raised a brow. "I bet I'm not rusty at all. I bet I'm just as good as I was a year ago." He had an urge to stick out his tongue, but he was trying his best to act more mature over the past year. That would only ruin such a thing.

Riku gracefully stretched out his arm. Calling the blade to his hand, he found, was as effortless as slipping a glove on his hand. And just as familiar.  
Blue light coiled round in quick mist to his hand, jolting together to gather with black. As his fingers curled around the colour light flashed to reveal the Way to Dawn Keyblade in his hand, black and twilight blue fading from it.

With quick reflex Riku twirled the blade in his hand before grasping it with a quick slash, blue trailing the blade only to dissipate with a spark. Riku poised the blade, admiring the old weapon with slight awe. He then grinned Sora's way, resting Way to Dawn casually on his shoulder. "You were saying?"

"That you're being a showoff." Sora mumbled the words, but knew that Riku would more then likely hear them anyway since they weren't too far from each other. He gripped the handle of the keyblade he held a little tighter before a small smirk came to his lips. "You were sitting on your butt just as much as I was. If I've lost my touch then you probably won't fair any better."

"Hmf. You're forgetting one thing though, Sora." Riku tapped his shoulder with his keyblade. He then lifted it off in one swift motion, twirling it once before he held it firmly to point in Sora's direction. His grin widening. "I always used to kick your butt in sword fighting."

"Times can change. I may just surprise you." Sora lifted his own keyblade up and bounced a little on his feet as he started to feel a rush come over him. To be honest he missed using the keyblade. It felt good to have it back in his hand again and even though he would miss normalcy, it would probably feel even better to do what he did best.

Riku narrowed his eyes, giving a challenging smirk. A friendly competition, playfully seeing who was the better. He missed those days when it was about pushing your own limits, challenging your best. When it was more about enjoying the match than who won; Riku missed that. The days when he wasn't under Sora's shadow and Sora wasn't under his.

"You ready?" Riku slid his feet apart, falling into a familiar battle stance. "I won't hold back."

"Neither will I." Sora steadied himself and placed both hands on the keyblade as he got ready. Despite the situation he still couldn't stop grinning the entire time. Mostly for the fact he felt like this was going to be fun. "Ready." The word was barely spoken, but it would be all either of them needed to get things started and they both knew it.

In the breath of a chuckle and the curve of a grin Riku darted off where he stood. He barely kicked up sand as he charged Sora, light on his feet he swung Way to the Dawn. The blade felt weightless in his hand, like an extension of his hand; the movement came back to him like natural dance steps. It brought back both good and hurtful nostalgia; playing with wooden swords on the island, betraying Sora as Ansem for Kairi's heart, finishing Xemnas in The World That Never Was.

Indeed Sora was ready and with a loud noise blades clashed when Sora lifted Oblivion to fend off Riku's attack. He pushed back against the older teen without even breaking much of a sweat, but was soon jumping back away from the confrontation only to start ahead again. He twirled the keyblade once in his hand before he swung it at Riku as soon as he was close enough, aiming low.

The Way to the Dawn blocked the attack with ease, fending off the next few attacks Sora made, each one ending with a metallic _twing_ each time. Riku grinned from behind his dark weapon when their keyblades locked together, either pushing against the other's weapon.  
"Just what I thought, still a little rusty there, Sora." He purposely teased to push his friend's buttons during their spar.

Sora kept calm and this time only shook his head as he continued to push back. "You're a little out of your element yourself, Riku." He pushed harder which only caused his boots to drag across the sand under him. He took no real notice though and tried his best to keep his balance. Harder and harder he tried to push without giving into Riku's teasing. He wasn't going to be the one who would break away first.

Riku gave a short laugh since his sly tactic didn't work on Sora. He was amused that little Sora was holding his own so well against him. But Sora had proved himself more than enough times against far greater foes than himself.

"I guess it can't be helped. Lounging around all day on the beach will do that." Riku gave a grunt as he suddenly side stepped, removing the driving force against Sora's push. While the boy fell forward off balance he gave Sora's rear a playful swat with the broad side of his keyblade.

Sora got a mouthful of sand as soon as he fell down and nearly got more in when he almost let out a startled noise at the sudden swat. He lifted his head and spit out what he could before he turned around to lounge back on his hands, his keyblade forgotten just a few inches from his leg. "That wasn't fair." He spit out some more sand when he realized it wasn't really safe to talk yet.

Riku tried to keep his laughter in at his friend's misfortune of getting a mouthful of beach. He was doing a poor job of it too, and hiding it behind his keyblade didn't help. He coughed a few times but the laughter just wouldn't be hid.

"S-sorry, Sora." Riku leaned over to brush some of that sand out of the other boy's hair, a good few chuckles escaping him despite how he tried not too. "But that was fair game."

Sora lifted a hand to help Riku out with his hair after he was sure there was no more sand invading his mouth. "I'll keep that in mind then for next time." Even though the sudden fall had upset him, his mood switched back just as quickly as he watched Riku try to hold in each laugh and failing so miserably. He smiled a little and took the other's hand, shaking his head to let the rest of the sand fall free from his hair. "It's not that I'm rusty. I'm just not very graceful it seems."

Riku plopped himself down on the sand beside Sora with a laugh, resting his keyblade down beside himself. "So, are you saying that it was dumb luck that saved the collective worlds twice over?" He playfully bumped into Sora with the side of his body, leaning shoulder to shoulder with the other. He turned his hand so he knit their fingers together, resting their hands casually on his lap.

"Not at all." Sora dropped his eyes to their hands and there was amusement in his voice as he answered. "I knew what I was doing the entire time. It's just hard to not fall on my face after doing nothing for a little over a year." He turned his attention to Riku. "It won't be hard to get back into the swing of things. To know what we have to do and just follow through." A small little grin tugged at his lips and he leaned over a bit so he could rest his chin on Riku's shoulder. "Those heartless don't stand a chance. They never do, right?"

"Right." Riku nodded with slight enthusiasm. "We make a good team." He looked down at their hands through the fringe of his hair. "Not much can stand up to us when we put our heads together.. No one." He gave Sora's hand a slight squeeze punctuating his point. "Nothing can be as bad as what we went through a year ago. Xemnas, Xenohort- whatever, he's gone. They're spread out without a leader. Divided, we should be able to take care of it." Sora's unhindering optimism was completely catchy, and it was becoming Riku's bad habit now too. Of course, if King Mickey was so desperate for their help, it couldn't be as in and out a job as they were shrugging it off to be. But Riku wasn't about to admit that aloud.

Riku's words made sense to Sora. The Organization would be merely Heartless now and divided just as Riku said. In Sora's mind he thought it to be a much easier task then what they faced before. He just hoped it would be the truth when they came face to face with everything.

Sora turned his head away from Riku and used his free hand to pick his keyblade back up. He lifted it up and held it out sideways in front of himself against what was now just a moon in the sky. It was only then that he realized how long they had been outside. "We'll be leaving all of this soon. The moon, the water, the trees." His arm that held Oblivion, but he still clutched the blade tightly. "Destiny is such a strange thing."

Riku raised his gaze. Stars. Those stars were suns to other planets, and those planets were homes to other people who were possibly staring up at the same sky, seeing them as a star instead. _We all share the same sky... The same heart._

Kairi.

"... Then.. let's not say goodbye." Riku whispered. "Goodbye only means we'll never be together again."

Sora kept silent after those words for a long while until he finally gave a short nod. "No goodbyes." He rested his head back down on Riku's shoulder and was content enough to stay like that and maybe even fall asleep, but he knew better. They were only taking in the last bits of view that they could for the time being. He had no real time to get comfortable any longer. "We'll probably be in trouble with King Mickey as soon as he sees us. We wouldn't come to his aid, but it's mostly my fault. I don't want you to get in trouble either, Riku."

"He'll understand." Riku rested his head atop Sora's, sighing as he shut his eyes; though he was the furthest thing from tired. "And I'm sure he'll be too busy being thankful that we're there to help to really have a chance to chastise us. We'll apologize.. he'll understand." At least he hoped his close friend would. Traveling with King Mickey nearly a year they'd grown close and he hoped that he would understand the need for this 'vacation'. "Besides.. I'll just politely explain you misplaced his letter under a rock." He ruffled Sora's hair at the side of his head.

Sora laughed a little and once he quieted down he moved closer to Riku so he could bury his face near the other's neck. The blade was set aside once again so Sora could get more comfortable and only then did he speak in a much more relaxed tone. "I do miss Donald and Goofy. It will be nice to see them again. I hope. If Mickey is around they'll be right behind I'm sure."

"You have a lot of friends to visit, I'm sure." Riku quietly spoke up. "I'm sure you have at least two or more on each planet out there." He quietly chuckled as he pointed up to the stars. It left a small cold lump in his stomach that Sora had so many when he had so little. There were so little that Riku could call genuine friends. But Sora, he would whip out that wide cheerful grin and he'd have a friend for life. It was a jealousy that Riku tried to submerge and keep to himself. ".. It'll be nice to see Mickey." He had missed that mouse.

Sora nodded his head as best he could in agreement. "We'll all have so much catching up to do. I hope we can talk at least a little bit before we have to fight, but considering the letter I doubt there will be much time for anything other then the top priority." He lifted his head a little to look back out at the water. "I guess it's alright, though. There's always later."

"... Sora." Riku started to say something, but he just didn't seem sure how to say it.

Just hearing his name in such a way had Sora lifting his head completely so he could give Riku his full attention. His eyes narrowed a little as he looked at his friend's face and his own words came out curious. "What, Riku?"

Riku glanced at Sora's face, the intent look he saw only made him look away nervously. ".. You think everyone went home?"

"Went home?" Sora blinked his eyes before he turned them back to the sky before he looked around the beach. "Well, it seems that way. Besides, it was pretty quiet here when I came over by myself." He looked back at Riku and gave the other's hand a small squeeze. "Why?"

Riku suddenly pushed himself up to stand never letting go of Sora's hand. He pulled the other up to stand with him just as suddenly. "I want to share something with you before we decide to go." He quietly explained as he dusted some sand off his pants and jacket before he pulled Sora along by his hand.

Sora hadn't been ready to suddenly be pulled along. So, when he was he stumbled a little before he actually gained some kind of balance. He felt a little clueless at the moment since Riku decided to suddenly drag him off, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited considering the older teen's words. "What is it?"

"You'll see." Riku tightened his hold on Sora's hand as they walked. He lead them up along the island until they were treading along the small wooden bridge that would bring them to the smaller island where all three of them would sit for hours just staring at the horizon, dreaming of possible futures of tomorrow. It was one of his favorite places to just sit and be with Sora. Just sitting in the warmth of sun doing nothing but watching the water whisper to the horizon.

It was beside the bent paopu tree that Riku stopped and turned to Sora, just to smile. He always wanted to return that lovely sentiment Sora so easily said. He always wanted to be as honest. Here, he wanted to prove what he was too reserved to say.

Riku let go of Sora's hand to place either of his on the other's shoulders. "Wait here a second." He smiled just a little more before he let go and stepped away. Turning to the bent tree Riku crawled up its crooked trunk, stepping along it in easy balance towards the star shaped fruit that always lazily grew among leaves and warm wind.

Sora had been only a little surprised to find them back at their spot. What surprised him most was watching Riku climb the paopu tree while he stayed down below. It was like torture to stay where he was. He suddenly felt even more restless then he usually was and he couldn't keep the wide smile off of his face as he took to playing with his scarf for the time being.

"Gotchya!" Riku snatched up a paopu fruit, plucking it from the tree. He turned around, walking a few steps before he leapt the rest of the way down; a sudden urge to impress his friend.

Straightening to stand Riku presented the star shaped fruit to Sora in both his hands, he suddenly felt breathless, so nervous. "It's said that when two people share a paopu," he took up Sora's hand placing the fruit gently on his palm, keeping his own on top, "they'll be apart of each other's destinies forever."

Riku stared at their hands a moment, the star between them, before he finally felt brave enough to look at Sora's face.

Sora's heart felt like it was beating faster then should have been normal. He kept his eyes on their hands and the fruit between before he looked up at Riku and realized in that moment because of his blurry vision that he was starting to cry. He shook his head to rid himself of the tears as he smiled once again. "Riku..."

Sora moved forward after the name left him and lifted his free hand to pull his scarf down a little. As soon as he was able to he pressed a tiny kiss to Riku's lips, but didn't give the older teen a chance to do anything before he pulled back and brought the fruit up in front of them both. Without any hesitation he took a bite out of the side nearest to him as his smile grew.

"Sora!" A hard smack collided with the back of Sora's head, followed by another. "Spit that out! It's poisonous!" The familiar girlish voice shouted in slight panic from beside him.

"... Kairi." Riku murmured and flinched from the girl's actions.

"You can't eat paopu!" Kairi went on, concern furrowing her brows. "I thought you knew that."

As soon as the hard smack hit his head Sora had been forced to spit the piece of fruit out. "Well, I do now." Sora rubbed the back of his head with a slight scowl. The one thing that he thought he would actually get to share with Riku was taken away in just one split second and inside Sora was crushed. He hid it easily much like he usually tried to when things upset him far too much. He turned to look at Kairi. "What are you doing out here on the beach so late at night, Kairi?"

The girl crossed her arms in a defensive manner, looking from Riku to Sora. The look was enough to have Riku's hands retreating from his and Sora's hold on the paopu, leaving the fruit in the other boy's hands.

"I could ask you the same thing." Kairi scowled just a little before the angry facade fell away and she smiled for Sora.

Riku's fingers twitched and he busied himself by looking out onto the ocean, watching the stars reflection on the water shimmer and break with each movement. He knew his utter disappointment would just be shrugged off as just another one of his moods by Kairi. Though better she think that than the real reasoning.  
Of course, now Sora probably thought he was trying to poison him now. It did little good to his dejected mood.

Sora took notice of Riku's change in expression compared to how happy the two of them had been minutes ago. His eyes dropped to the lonely fruit in his hand, but still he refused to let it go. "We were just hanging out Kairi. You know, the usual." He looked back at the girl and smiled as best he could for her. "Don't be so upset."

"It's hard not to when you two decide to go eating poison fruit." Kairi shook her head at that. She reached over to take the bitten paopu fruit from Sora's hands so he wouldn't think to stupidly take another bite.

Just as suddenly Riku swatted Kairi's hand away without thinking. When the girl gave a startled cry and stared at him with wide shocked eyes, he realized what he'd done. "S-sorry.." Riku turned away, having no real excuse for his impulsive action.

The action hadn't only startled Kairi, it had the same effect on Sora as well. He looked between his two friends, but his eyes seemed to linger on Riku more then Kairi despite the fact she had been on the receiving end of the sudden swat. It felt like an uncomfortable silence and Sora didn't want them to leave with only this to remember. He looked back down at the star shaped fruit that lacked one of its pointed sides and inside he was a little relieved that he still had a hold on it.

"You worry too much, Kairi." Sora started to speak up as he turned to face the girl. He lifted the piece of fruit up and smiled a little. "I bet it's not poisonous at all. I bet it tastes great."

Kairi gave her friend a rather worried look. ".. I heard it was poisonous. And was told to never eat it." She watched Sora intently. Knowing Sora he'd just as quickly take another bite even when he was just told something was poisonous. Her hands raised to her chest, anxious. She just as sooner try to swat the fruit from Sora's hand again.

"Well, maybe the person that told you that was wrong." Sora was quick to defend. He would think up any excuse at all to share the piece of fruit with Riku; anything to get Kairi to give in because he wanted so badly for what she said to be absolutely false. His smile fell a little because he knew that it more then likely wouldn't be that easy.

Kairi stared at Sora rather surprised he would say something like that. "The person who told me is my parents, Sora." She looked away rather hurt.

"Have they actually seen someone die from eating a paopu fruit?" Riku's spoke up finally, his voice tinged with cold apathy.

"N-no!" Kairi stared at Riku with widening eyes. "Of course not. That's horrible." Her hands clutched tighter near her chest.

"... Then how do they even know." Riku crossed his arms, walking away to go lean aloof against the paopu tree's trunk to stare out across the ocean.

Kairi stared in disbelief; what had gotten into Riku? "Th-they're just trying to prevent anyone from getting hurt." She weakly protested.

Sora turned back around to watch Riku. He knew what was wrong with the other teen and he wanted to make things better, but with Kairi there things were difficult. It didn't mean he couldn't be near his friend and so he walked away from Kairi to be beside Riku, but up on the trunk instead, his feet dangling below him.

After everything that they had to go through, Sora trusted Riku over anyone else he had the chance to meet. He even trusted the older boy more then he did Kairi. That's why it was so hard for him to believe the girl's words over that of the person beside him. "You never know something until you try, right?" He lifted the fruit up and twirled it around a bit in his hands.

Kairi gave Sora a rather horrified blank look. "S-Sora!" She was really at a loss for words how persistent he was about the paopu. She walked over to the tree where the boy lounged. "C'mon, just throw that thing away. Stop playing around." The girl tugged on Sora's pant leg.

Sora knew he was probably worrying Kairi and it wasn't something he liked to do, but he didn't want to give up. He made up his mind easily and ignored Kairi's tugs. They would be leaving and he wanted to have something special to remember, something to share. Sora knew there was no way he would pass such a thing up.

Sora brought the paopu once more to his lips and bit into it, but this time he didn't spit it out, and because Kairi was below him she couldn't smack it out of him. He would take his chances. He knew it wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do, but he wanted to because this meant something to the both of them.

Once the flavor was gone, Sora opened his mouth just to show Kairi how empty it was. "Ahhh."

Kairi paled considerably, gawking at Sora with wide eyes. She clung to his pant leg tightly with both hands like a vice. "S-.. -Sora!" She couldn't believe the completely idiotic thing Sora had just done.

Riku sighed, burying his face in his hand a moment; the drama. Though he couldn't help but chance a glance up at Sora just to see if his friend truly was okay. They never actually ate a paopu; the star fruit always seemed so forbidden in a sacred sort of way.

"Kairi.." The aggravation in Riku's voice was eminent. "Sora isn't going to die." He truly doubted that even taking a swig of deadly poison could keep the up beat determination that was their dear friend Sora down. He looked back out to the water. ".. He's too stubborn." He muttered under his breath, hiding a smirk.

Sora laughed a little when all the worry seemed to be over. "See Kairi, I told you it wasn't poisonous and it _does_ taste really great." He wished at that moment that he could hand the fruit over to Riku to share it with the other teen just as they had planned, but Kairi put a hold on that and he kept the fruit in his hands instead. "I'm okay, really."

".. You'll be sick later." Kairi quietly spoke, fiddling nervously with the hem of Sora's pants. She swallowed though her throat felt tight. She chewed her lip, time feeling as slow for her as it did each of the anxious boys. "S-Sora.. do you remember that silly little myth about the paopu?" Kairi looked down quite shyly. "About.. sharing it."

Instead of looking at Kairi, Sora felt it safe to keep his eyes out ahead just as Riku had decided to do through most of the conversation. "Of course I do." He shook his head a little and tried his best not to fidget. He was horrible at keeping his emotions in check and most people could read him like a book. He had to be so careful with his words. "It wasn't really all that silly." The words were said quietly.

Kairi relented one of her hands from Sora's shorts so she could nervously bite one of her nails. Shyly she looked up at Sora, her eyes glancing at the fruit, and it was obvious what was on her mind despite her previous arguments about the paopu.

Riku's hands slowly started to grip his own crossed arms, digging fingers into skin as he tensed considerably. His jaw seemed to lock itself shut, keeping all protest he wanted to shout at the girl to himself. His moment was about to be stolen by Kairi. But he masked his fierce jealousy by acting just that much more aloof. Though he was sure he twitched at least once.

Sora didn't want to give into what Kairi wanted because it wasn't what he wanted. He jumped down from the branch and easily landed on his feet. When he was steady he turned to face Kairi and shook his head. "It might be poisonous, remember Kairi?" He waved the fruit around and laughed a little. "I'm just really lucky and stubborn as Riku says." He finally turned his attention back on his other friend and tossed the fruit to the older teen. "Right, Riku?"

Riku caught the fruit without looking, considering he was so wound up he was surprised he didn't accidentally squish it. "Right." He murmured, taking the paopu in both hands to idly twirl it around, looking at the missing pieces Sora had bitten. "Hmm. And you know who else is stubborn?" Riku pushed himself away from the tree to turn to either of his friends nonchalantly. Taking the paopu in one hand he held it out for all to see before he promptly took a big bite of his own.

Kairi went deathly pale. "Riku!"

Sora couldn't stop the wide smile that spread across his face. In that instant he felt truly happy. He wanted to grab onto Riku and cling onto him like he usually would when he was in such a mood, but he kept himself in check and bounced on his feet instead, laughing a little. If the myth was true and Riku was right then that meant nothing could tear them apart. He could never lose Riku and Riku could never lose him. Their destinies were entwined now. He sincerely hoped it would come true.

As he quieted down, Sora glanced back at Kairi, but continued to smile. It was so hard not to. "Riku is _way_ more stubborn then I am." He gently teased and laughed a little more afterwards.

Riku spoke up after he swallowed. "Oh I don't know, we wouldn't be here today, _I_ wouldn't be _here_ if you were less stubborn than me." He tossed the fruit into the air and caught continuously.

"You two won't be here anymore if you keep eating that fruit." Kairi let out a shaky exhale. Well, if her two friends were going to eat of the forbidden fruit, she might as well go down with the ship as well. She reached out her hands. "Here, give it to me. If you two are going to die, I don't want to be left here all alone." She managed to smile weakly, even though the joke was quite plausible.

Riku caught the fruit in one hand and looked down at it. He tossed it over but it wasn't Kairi who caught it. He figured that choice was up to Sora if Kairi was apart of their destiny. It was Sora who Kairi truly wanted to be tied to, not him; he was just the third wheel in this.

Sora looked at the fruit as soon as it was in his hands again. He didn't even have to give it much thought before he was shaking his head. "When you put it that way Kairi it's a horrible thing to think about. You should want to live on, shouldn't you? Besides, Riku and I aren't going anywhere." Sora nearly flinched at that. Soon they would be going somewhere, but they had planned not to tell Kairi. "We'll be just fine." He took another bite out of the fruit right after he spoke and almost let out a noise at how good it tasted.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed her whine. She reached out to grab Sora's arm and gave it a weak shake.

Riku ran his tongue across his lips. He really wished Kairi wasn't there. He wanted to touch Sora, draw the boy near in his arms for this special moment now in disguise. He wanted to be so bold as to taste the sweet fruit on the other's lips, sharing the paopu just a little more intimately. But instead he seemed damned to tease Kairi with paopu keep away.

"Hey Sora, toss the paopu back over here." Riku gestured at himself. He smirked just a little.

Sora had only laughed when Kairi shook him. As soon as Riku asked for it, he tossed the fruit back over and raised both hands up to show Kairi how empty they were as if it was some kind of magic trick. When his hands dropped he laughed a little and tried to get Kairi to calm down and get the girl to at least crack some kind of smile along with him. "Come on Kairi, lighten up."

Riku bit onto the paopu when he caught, biting where Sora had, chewing on it while he talked. "Maybe she's jealous." He swallowed the fruit before he went on. "That she won't be apart of your destiny, Sora." It was a half joking remark unbeknown to Kairi. He took another bite, grinning when he saw how flustered the girl became after the comment.

"You're so mean Riku." Kairi made a childish face at the older teen, though her cheeks warmed over. Although what Riku said wasn't afar cry from the truth. She hugged Sora's arm to her chest and leaned her cheek against his shoulder, looking up at him with hopeful eyes. "C'mon Sora, share with me. Share a paopu with me."

"Kairi, it's getting really late." Sora was quick to change the subject to something much safer and to something that would get his alone time with Riku back. At least he could hope. "Does anyone even know you came out here? Maybe you should head on back. You'll get in big trouble with your parents." He pulled his arm back so it could drop back down to his side.

Kairi watched Sora a moment before she bit her lip and looked away. "You'll get in just as much trouble as me. Besides, we've stayed up late here many times before. Our parents never minded much." She glanced back at Sora but got the distinct impression she wasn't wanted. Not that it seemed to be detouring her. She wanted to prove she was just as stubborn as the boys.

Riku licked his teeth, his patience wearing rather thin. He didn't have the time to waste beating around the bush. He walked up to Sora, taking his hand to place the rest of the paopu in it. "Kairi, Sora and I-" He looked at the girl's hurt expression. Kairi had been his inspiration at one point. When she arrived at their little hometown, it had his mind reeling about places and people outside what they knew. In a way Kairi was still special to him, and even more important to Sora. The girl had been Sora's guiding 'light' when it really came down to it.

Just as quickly as Riku's bravery came, it went. And he resigned from going on in his honest confessions. So he just stood there, at a loss.

"What?" Kairi coaxed, blinking curiously.

Riku shook his head. "Sora and I left something on the beach." The excuse was lame, but it was fairly true. The keyblades probably dissipated back to wherever they went to when he dragged Sora off. "We'll catch up in a minute."

Sora had turned his eyes on Riku to watch the older teen beside him throughout the entire conversation. He had a feeling he knew what Riku was going to say and wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or not when the truth wasn't told. He looked back at Kairi when there was silence again and smiled a little for the girl's sake while he gave a small nod. "Go on, Kairi. It shouldn't take too long."

Kairi looked apprehensive but she gave in with a smile. "Alright. I'll see you two later then." She took a hesitant step back, and then another. She looked from one to the other before her eyes rested completely on Sora. She watched the boy for a long moment, as if she expected her dear friend to suddenly disappear right before her eyes. ".. Please don't take too long." Kairi gave a weak wave before she finally turned around to walk down the bridge to the major part of their little island.

Riku narrowed his eyes on the girl. He couldn't help but feel that Kairi already knew; about everything. But he remained silent, watching the girl leave.

When Sora was sure Kairi was completely out of sight, that's when he relaxed. It was a close call in his eyes, but nothing could stop their quiet moment now. He turned to face Riku and smiled, though a little sadly as guilt tugged at him for feeling as if he had run his friend off. "It feels wrong to lie to her, but I don't want to hurt her feelings either. It's so hard sometimes." He looked down at the paopu that they had shared so far while he leaned in to rest his head against Riku.

"She wrote that letter for you.." Riku didn't know why he suddenly brought it up. But their moment alone, their chance to be forever alone in the Dark, crossed his mind just then. "The one in the bottle.. The one that brought us home."

Sora remembered all too well. Only because he thought about it countless times, not because of the letter, but because he thought about what it would have been like if they had actually decided to stay in the Dark instead. "I know." He stepped back a bit and looked up at Riku. "She's a dear friend and I just wonder if she could handle the truth. Sometimes, I'm not so sure."

Riku looked down at the other teen; sometimes Sora just didn't get it. "She tries." His words had double meaning, but he left it at that. "You should finish that", he gestured to the fruit in Sora's hand," before you get all sticky." He stepped from Sora, walking to the cliff's edge of the smaller island, facing the water now black like liquid shadows under the night sky.

Sora thought over Riku's words, but didn't have long to do so since his attention was caught by the other teen walking away. "Riku, wait." He followed after and stood beside his friend as soon as he was near. "Aren't you going to finish it with me?" He held the fruit out and gave a small hopeful smile. Since Kairi was gone the game of keep away was over and what was left didn't need to be tossed around which was exactly what either of them had wanted from the very start.

Riku looked at Sora's eager face, and despite the mood that Kairi left him in, he couldn't help the smallest of smiles for the other. He nodded. With a quick glance down the bridge, no Kairi to be seen, Riku reached placing his hands on the other's arms. He stepped back until his back leaned against one of the few trees that grew there, pulling Sora closer.

Sora was easily pulled in and snuggled up to Riku, enjoying every single time the taller teen would embrace him. His hands were already a little sticky from the open and chewed up ends of the fruit, but that didn't stop him from breaking off a small piece to lift up and feed to Riku, smiling a little more as he did so.

The older teen had to laugh at the silliness of being fed fruit. He took it carefully in his teeth, pulling it in his mouth with his tongue. He placed the quickest of kisses against Sora's fingers before he began to eat the fruit. He chuckled as he raised a hand to toy with a few unruly spikes of hair on Sora's head, running fingers through them in amusement at how it remained so bouncy despite all elements.

Sora let out a laugh of his own before he brought his fingers back to his own mouth to lick away any juice that had been left behind. When he was finished he tore off another little piece, but fed it to himself and swallowed the small, sweet, bite once it was chewed, before he leaned raised up on toes to give the older boy a kiss.

Finally, Riku got exactly what he wanted, the last of all his dark mood and thoughts of jealousy leaving him then and there. His arms wrapped fully around Sora now that he was able to, happy to now have his friend all to himself.

Sora's lips were soft but sticky from the paopu. Riku boldly let his tongue slip out to lick the other's lips, enjoying the taste of the fruit far more there. Playfully he took up Sora's bottom lip, sucking on it just a little, but he only ended up laughing at such a forward gesture.

A blush had crossed over Sora's face, but still he enjoyed each little action. He never thought that the fruit he held would be shared in such a way. Nor did he think he would be able to share it at all, much less with Riku. He was enjoying every minute of it and pressed another kiss to the other's lips, not able to stay away for too long.

From far away sad eyes watched the scene, just barely hidden behind one of the few trees furthest from the spot that the friends called their own. Kairi let them believe she was leaving, but she felt she needed to keep an eye on the two. As soon as she left she watched as Sora seemed to seek comfort from Riku. She watched them retreat to the tree. She even watched what was happening at that very moment.

Riku and Sora had been close friends, but over the past year she had watched them grow even closer. Kairi wasn't completely blind. She had a good feeling what was up and there it was, staring plainly in front of her face as the two shared what she had wanted to share with Sora. Sadly, Sora had decided to share the fruit with Riku in a way that was making her skin crawl.

Kairi turned away and hurried away from the scene. This time she really was going home. She didn't care if she made any sort of noise from her hiding spot. She just needed some time to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 02

Once again time had been lost track of and Sora along with Riku lost themselves in each other's company. Soon enough it was Sora that fell asleep first under the tree that Riku had brought them under and then Riku next. Neither one of them seemed to remember previous worries and had been too focused on the other to even try for the rest of the night.

Sora had woken up quite abruptly when he moved too much and his head slipped off of Riku's shoulder. It wasn't a pleasant way to wake up when he had been so comfortable moments before, but he also didn't even know he had fallen asleep. The moon was still just barely in the sky and Sora's eyes widened when he realized something.

"Riku!" Sora moved a hand to shake his friend awake. He felt guilty for having to disturb Riku's peace, but it had been much, much earlier when they said the words 'as soon as possible' only to fall asleep which was the exact opposite of what they needed to do.

"Hmm?" Riku blinked opened his eyes at the shakes. He'd grown used to falling asleep in the warm tropical air, so on waking he didn't find where he was to be all that odd at first. But Sora's anxious face had the memory of why they were out there in the first place coming back; much to his chagrin. "Sora..." He rubbed his eyes. "When did we fall asleep?" He glanced around. "It's still night..."

"A while ago I think." Sora looked away from Riku to glance out at the ocean. "It's not going to be night for long, so we must have been asleep at least the entire time." He moved to stand and brushed off his pants as best he could, though he knew he wouldn't get every bit of dirt off of them. As soon as he was finished he turned back to Riku and held out a hand to help the other up. "Come on."

"Dawn will come." Riku quietly spoke as he took Sora's hand and was pulled up. He dusted himself off as well. Dawn was his time; or was it dusk? It was that moment in-between where the sun and the moon both relinquished their hold to the shades of grey.

Riku kept hold of his friend's hand even after he remained standing. He wouldn't be moved after. "Sora... I need to ask you something." He wouldn't look at the younger teen. "And... can you be bluntly honest?"

"That's a silly question, Riku." Sora smiled slightly. "I'm always honest with you. Well, aside from hiding a letter under a rock, but that doesn't count." He squeezed Riku's hand, urging him to go on. "I promise that whatever answer I give won't be a lie."

That was enough for Riku to feel confident enough to look Sora in the eyes and speak. "... How come you never shared the paopu with Kairi?" He knew exactly what Kairi meant to Sora. Just a few hours ago he heard him call her a 'dear friend'. They were all so closely knit, and it had surprised Riku a little when Sora didn't share.

"Riku..." Sora frowned. He was a little upset that the other teen even had to ask such a thing, but didn't make a fuss about it. Instead he answered just as he had been asked to. "Kairi is our friend and she means a lot to me, sure. The thing is, is she isn't the one I want to share my destiny with. I know Kairi will always be here waiting for us and more then likely in some way, try and help, but you're the one that means the most to me."

Sora moved just a bit so he could face Riku, but kept a tight grip on his friend's hand. "You're the one I love, Riku. It wouldn't have meant anything if I shared it with Kairi, but it meant everything that I shared it with you and only you."

Of all things warmth tinged across Riku's cheeks. Never of all times had he felt like he did right then, and there. His chest hurt, so tight from the swelling of his heart and burn of his lungs since his throat wouldn't allow him a single proper breath. His mouth felt so dry, and his eyes felt hot, yet he wouldn't exchange this feeling for all the munny in the known worlds.

"God, Sora." Riku laughed to cover up the small noise that wanted to escape him. "How can you say such things so easily?" It amazed him how Sora could say 'love' without tripping on his own tongue and meant it so deeply. He raised a hand to brush a few fingers clumsily across Sora's cheek, just wanting to touch Sora in someway; needing proof that any of it was real.

Before Riku could take his hand back, Sora grabbed hold of it and kept it right where it was against his cheek. He nuzzled into the touch while he kept his eyes on his friend and smiled a little. "It's easy to say such things when I mean every bit of it and I would never take any of it back because its how I feel." He let go of Riku's other hand to raise it up and push a few strands away from the older boy's face, giving a small smile afterwards.

Riku gave another soft laugh. He was a little embarrassed that Sora would see the blush so plainly on his face when he brushed his hair aside. He usually tried to be stoic; as if nothing ever bothered him. But it was hard when Sora was so good at being, well, Sora.

"You're amazing, you know that." Riku leaned down to press a small kiss to the corner of Sora's lips. "You really should stop being so perfect." He whispered teasingly soon after. "Otherwise I just won't be able to compete."

"You don't need to compete." Sora shook his head and let his hand fall to Riku's shoulder. "I like you just the way you are and I always will." He squeezed the hand that was still near his cheek as he smiled just a little more. "Besides, I'm not entirely perfect. I make mistakes just like everyone else." He kissed Riku's hand despite the glove that the other wore, and then let their hands drop.

Riku couldn't stop his sudden laughter. "Like that mouthful of sand earlier?" He ruffled Sora's hair as if there was still some there.

"No, because that's completely different." Sora narrowed his eyes on Riku as his hair was toyed with. "You cheated. I could have won. There was no real mistake there." He stood by such an argument and tried to hide the smirk that wanted to tug at his lips, but failed and soon started to laugh as well.

When silence settled over them again Sora stepped up closer to Riku and lifted both hands to place them on each side of the older boy's face, bringing him down close to his own. "We've been through so much together, Riku. This entire year it was so hard to believe that you were actually there. That everything was okay." Gloved fingers moved across Riku's cheek as he went on. "I was so worried when I got that letter, but now I feel a little more at ease, like nothing can tear us apart."

"And all it took was eating a little fruit." Riku grinned just a little, leaning down to softly clunk his head to rest against Sora's. "Which I'm glad Kairi wasn't right about it being poisonous." He smiled just a little more. "I'll miss all this. I really will... I'll even miss going to school." He gave a small 'heh'. "I was just getting the hang of it again." He raised a hand to rest it on top of Sora's on his cheek. "I'll miss the late night last minute cramming. The way you unconsciously stick out your tongue when you're concentrating hard on a problem. You always end up falling asleep on your text book, near midnight when I'm quizzing you. The little things... Not just the beach and ocean. I'll miss those the most," He added as a quiet after thought. "…and my family. Heh, Kairi too I guess."

Sora blushed at the few things Riku had picked up about him. He gave a small nod in response though, and smiled softly. "I'll miss Kairi too and my family. It was so nice to come back and pick up where we left off, but once everything is okay again we'll pick right back up once again, you'll see." He leaned in a bit more so their noses touched and blew upwards, ruffling Riku's bangs which caused Sora to let out a small laugh before he went on. "And right when we get back we can come out here to our spot and just watch the sunset."

"No one will even know we were gone." A gross exaggeration, but Riku didn't care. He smiled just a little softer as he rubbed his nose against Sora's. Alone with Sora he could be uncharacteristically affectionate. He wanted their last night to be something they could look back upon with a smile. There was always that slim, unspoken possibility they may never see their world again. "We'll go right back to slaving over text books and sweating over finals. Heh, who knows, we might even manage to graduate and get ourselves a couple of normal, mundane jobs. A far cry from saving the universe, don't you think?" He smirked. "I just can't imagine you in an office wearing a tie. I think it just warps space and time as we know it. It could quite possibly end the world."

Sora made a sour face at such a thought himself. "It's a little hard for me to think about myself. It would be nice if we could just stay here on the island forever without worrying about any type of future, but I know that's not possible." He grinned beneath his scarf and dropped a hand to point at Riku's chest. "Of course, it's hard to imagine much the same of you. I can't see you very happy in such a boring situation either. The past few years have been a bit of a roller coaster and I'm sure soon enough will be no different, so changing from fighting with a keyblade to something as simple as maybe answering phones all day would be a little strange."

Sora raised his eyes away from his hand to look back up at Riku. "It was actually fun and a little exciting to be able to use the keyblade again. It's become such a part of me compared to when I first held it. Not counting that little mishap earlier, I suppose." He poked Riku a little harder as he narrowed his eyes on the older teen.

Riku snatched up Sora's hand to stop him from the annoying poking. "I'll admit, it was fun... and it makes me wonder," he rested Sora's hand on his chest, over his heart, "if we'll be able to put them down again... and come back." The humour from his face washed away to something more solemn. "Other worlds and people, fighting to keep the balance of light and dark... coming back here, fitting into a cookie cutter existence; would you still want to?"

The amusement fell from Sora's face as well and he looked away as he thought over the question posed to him. He had been chosen by the keyblade and that meant he had to fight whenever it was necessary and as much as he enjoyed normalcy, he did like to help whoever he could as well. Both were such an equal balance now it seemed, but when he thought about it one thing was more true to him then anything else.

"I wouldn't mind it. It's why I would miss this place so much, but I realize something." Sora lifted his eyes back to look at Riku and smiled a tiny bit. "It wasn't the island or my home I was that upset about being taken from. It was being able to sit around with you. To do nothing with you, but at the same time everything I've always wanted to." He raised his hand higher to run it through Riku's bangs. "We'll be fighting everything together, right? Side by side like we should be. So, I guess whatever happens, happens." He dropped his hand to his side amused at how the hair he was just toying with fell right back in Riku's face. "Cookie cutter existence or not I just want you there. I don't care where we go or what we do."

A small smile returned on Riku's face. It all felt so true. It didn't matter where, just as long as they were together. That was enough. He'd miss the cool water and warm sun, the smell of sand and exotic plants, but he'd be content to go wherever it was that Sora wanted.

"Don't let Kairi catch you saying that." Riku gave a short laugh as his hands slipped down to Sora's sides before he ended up hugging the other teen, just one last time while they were home. "Even though I'm glad you did." He quietly added against Sora's hair.

Immediately Sora returned the embrace, wrapping his own arms around Riku and burying his face against the other's chest. "So am I." The words were nearly muffled, but he made sure Riku was able to hear him well enough. "Everything will be alright again." Sora wasn't sure who he was speaking the words to, himself or Riku. "Once it is I'll make you hold me again, just like this."

Riku nodded in agreement against Sora's hair. He huffed, causing the brunette spikes to ruffle a little. "I'll even let you drag me to a school dance." Sora knew just how much he loathed those noisy get-togethers, and just how much Sora loved them; music and free food, how could he not. Riku thought he might as well give in and give Sora something extra to look forward to. Riku gave a little more than dramatic sigh. "Heck, I'll even dance with you if you want." He grumbled at the horrible image of embarrassing himself on the dance floor; but it didn't bring him down one bit.

"Really?" Sora brightened up and pulled back only a bit, but refused to let go of Riku. "You mean it? You'll really dance with me?" He felt like jumping up and down at his little victory. He had never been able to get Riku to dance, much less go to a dance with him. Only once did the older boy agree and it was easy to tell he had hated it the way he clung to the wall the entire night. "Promise me?"

Riku made a begrudging noise and rolled his eyes a little; what was he getting himself into. All the same he managed to nod. "Yes. I promise. I'll go to the dance with you and humiliate myself with you on the dance floor." He was suddenly glad that the idea was so far away. He would rather face viscous heartless than dance in front of people. Riku gave another groan. ".. Do I have to slow dance?" If Kairi didn't know now, she'd know then; and about the entire school's gossipy population.

Sora's thoughts seemed to drift to the same thing and his smile fell a little. What they had, they had kept hidden for certain reasons and such a thing would only make the secret not so secret anymore. Sometimes Sora wished that was the case. "N-No. We don't have to." He shook his head a bit and tried to smile once again. "We can just dance and have fun like everyone else."

Riku frowned a little. ".. You sure?" Kairi was going to find out sooner or later, unless nothing really became of their close relationship. He wasn't really sure what to think about that, whether, what he and Sora was all that serious or not. It was hard to tell with Sora.

Riku frowned more dramatically. "I mean, if I don't then Kairi will." He couldn't believe he was talking himself into dancing, let alone slow dancing, with Sora in public. The things he did to keep Sora smiling.

Sora frowned at that. "No, I'm not sure." He knew Riku was right about that, but in the end he would more then likely just deny Kairi only to sit out each and every slow dance that came up. He'd stare at all the other couples and wish that he and Riku could be out there. He couldn't lie about something that mattered to him. "I actually do want to."

Riku made a long thoughtful sound, closing his eyes a moment. He lifted Sora's dejectedly hung head, raising it up to look at him. "Then we will." He answered simply, leaning down to press the softest of kisses on Sora's lips. "I'll put up a bit of a stink at first when it really happens, but I'll do it. I'll dance for you." His expression softened even if he didn't smile. "Who cares what everyone else thinks, right?" That 'everyone else' was Kairi, but by then Riku knew he wouldn't care who or what knew.

Sora's smile returned at Riku's words and he couldn't help jumping up a bit to hug the taller teen around the neck, clinging to him as tight as his arms would allow. His good mood returned with the news, Sora laughed a bit against Riku's neck before he pulled back to stand completely on his feet once again. "We'll have fun Riku, you'll see. You'll enjoy yourself when we're able to go."

Riku couldn't help but return the laughter. "I'm sure you won't let me have anything but fun. But who knows, I may whisk you off your feet." Then just as suddenly he slipped his hands under Sora's arms and lifted him up to spin him around with a laugh.

"Whoa!" Sora had let out the startled sound as soon as he was picked up, but was soon laughing as he was spun around. Riku had his affectionate moments here and there, but the playful moments such as these were so much rarer. Sora loved all of them whenever Riku would ease up and let it all out. "You always do know how to surprise me." The words came out between giggles.

Riku almost staggered over when he set Sora down. He chuckled and drew the other close once more. "It'll be great. People will think I've lost my mind. But I won't care." He leaned down until he was cheek to cheek with Sora. "As long as you're having fun, I'll be happy." He finished quietly.

Sora wrapped his arms around Riku once more and nuzzled his cheek against the other's cheek, closing his eyes with the action. "And so will I. It will be one of the best times we've had. I can't wait." He turned his head a little to kiss Riku on the cheek before he pulled back a bit so he could do the same to the taller boy's lips.

Riku gave a small content sigh against the other's lips. He felt so reluctant to leave where he was, since some now he too was looking forward to something he usually abhorred with a great passion. But all they were doing was procrastinating now.

"Mmm?" Riku blinked open his eyes and boldly darted his tongue out, gently sucking Sora's soft bottom lip. He pulled away with a quiet laugh. "You still taste like paopu." He licked his own lips unconsciously, tasting the subtle mix of paopu and Sora on them.

Sora blushed and raised a gloved hand to touch his own lips. "Really?" He licked his lips experimentally and sure enough he could just barely still taste the fruit there. It had him grinning up at Riku while he dropped his hand back down. "You're right. That's not such a bad thing, though. It just gives you all the more reason to kiss me twice as much." He teased.

Riku snorted with amusement. "Most people wouldn't admit that out loud." He ruffled Sora's hair playfully. "Shameless." He let go of the other, knowing that if they continued any longer like they were so cozy against each other it was going to be weeks before they left.

Sora lifted a hand to fix his hair once Riku let go of him, even though the strands in no way needed it. His hair always seemed to fix itself. He kept his eyes on the other teen for a few seconds before he turned his gaze out to the ocean. Their time on the island was drawing to a close and they both knew it. "It's finally time to go, isn't it?"

The wind picked up, a gust whipping Sora's scarf and Riku's coat tail.

Riku held his bangs back from the wind, watching Sora instead of the water behind him. Such a picturesque scene, he wanted to remember the simple happy go lucky Sora of Destiny Island; the Sora who was just a normal teenager like him, who joked around and rough housed, not the Sora who held the fate of the universes' right and wrong.  
The Sora he'd secretly admired since childhood... That was the Sora he loved.

"Yeah, it is." Riku replied as casually as if Sora had asked him the time.

Sora let out a small sigh, giving into what they had to do. Just like much earlier light surrounded his hand and in a matter of seconds Oblivion was summoned to his hand. It would be needed if they were to get where they needed to go. This he knew.

To tell the truth Sora was still a bit nervous about facing up to his friends, especially King Mickey, after ignoring both letters for so long. Yet somehow he still managed to put on a smile for Riku as he looked back at the older teen. "Ready?"

"No." Riku returned the smile just a little as he summoned Way to the Dawn in his hand. He shrugged with the weapon in hand, the key chain jingling just a little with the action. "But then we'd be here forever. And our friends need us _now_."

Sora smiled a little more at the words and walked up to stand beside Riku. He took his friend's hand to hold tightly before he looked forward at one of the few empty spots on the beach. He raised the keyblade up in front of himself and shut his eyes, trying to will the door that they needed to come forth, giving no notice at all when the tip of the blade let out a faint glow. Such things were normal to him by now.

Riku squeezed Sora's hand tightly. He raised Way to the Dawn up next to Sora's weapon. Shutting his eyes he added his own will to his friends, helping the other in summoning the door.

Faint blue light gathered at the end of Way to the Dawn as it grew brighter on Sora's keyblade. A burst of light shot from the master keyblade, hitting the blank patch of air on the beach where it pointed. The shot exploded into bright colours, outlining a grandly decorated frame that soon filled in with light that faded away to a solid door with King Mickey's mouse symbol embossed upon it.

"..This is it." Riku barely breathed the words.

"Yeah..." Sora spoke breathlessly as he stared at the fully formed door. It wasn't something he expected to have to see in a long time if ever again, but there it was right in front of them. The blades had dulled as soon as their work was done, but Sora didn't seem to care at that moment. He was too busy pulling Riku towards the large door to get a better look at it.

It would need no unlocking since they had been the ones to call it out and even if Sora didn't know this he did as soon as the doors started opening when they were only a few inches from it. It was as if they were being rushed along by some unseen force. Their time alone really was over. Sora smiled sadly at such a thought and looked back at Riku.

The older teen glanced at him, soon sharing the same sort of smile.  
"Remember" Riku quietly spoke as the light that peeked through the opening of the door grew brighter as it opened. "We're not saying goodbye." He tugged Sora near by his hand and pressed one last lingering kiss on his lips, the last one they'd have in their home. But as the light enveloped them Riku stepped away, letting go of Sora's hand as the world went white, and they left their world to another.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 03

The door that had been called upon slowly vanished as soon as both teens were completely on the other side. Sora had to blink his eyes a dozen times to get rid of the blinding light that continuously assaulted the back of his eyelids even though it had been gone so long ago. The island was just a memory now along with Kairi and their families until they could set things right.

Sora pushed the thoughts away as soon as they popped back up and decided to take in his surroundings instead. Before he even had a chance to turn his head he heard a familiar noise. It was as if something was crawling beneath them and Sora knew the sound all too well. Already they had just got there and there was not a moment's peace.

"We've been given a welcoming party." Sora spoke the words to Riku, just a little amused as he readied his weapon and watched as one by one, heartless emerged from the floor. Each one was familiar in its own way.

"Heartless are in Disney Castle." Riku took a good few steps back to give him room to ready himself in a fighting stance. "This isn't good." He tried not to let the guilt spread though his mind; heartless preyed on the dark emotion, the weakness of the heart. It would do no good to fight them with hesitation lingering inside.

"We'll figure things out later. For now..." Sora let his words trail off as he shot forward to get the first hit in. He wasn't about to let the heartless get the jump on them. Such a thing was never fun and he needed the workout anyway. He slashed away at one of the few heartless which were still making it's way up watching as it tried to dodge and quickly moved his blade in time with it, catching it with the end of Oblivion.

Way to the Dawn plunged into the heads of several heartless. Riku swung the blade back, taking out a few more heartless at his side. It was just a frenzy of minor heartless, nothing they couldn't take out in but a few seconds time.

"We need to find King Mickey." Riku shouted for Sora to hear him through the battle. He leapt back turning on the ball of his foot to swipe the onslaught of heartless coming at him. He couldn't see any sign of the King in where they were. Riku wasn't even sure if he was in the castle. He tried to reach out, feeling with his heart to that bond he had with the King, trying to sense if he was anywhere near.

 _Darkness_ ; it slammed itself into Riku's mind, disorientation had him reeling. He stumbled, tripping over a small wiggling heartless that squeaked when he hit it.

"Riku!" Sora had watched the other teen's sudden loss of balance and was quick to run to his side. His blade ran across a few heartless on his way over, getting rid of each one in an instant before they could leap at him as he ran. The one heartless which Riku had tripped over seemed to want to get revenge on the teen, but before it could Sora slammed his blade into it and watched as it faded away. As soon as it was gone he locked eyes with Riku as a concerned expression came over his own face. "You alright?"

Riku held the side of his head, unsteady on his feet. Way to the Dawn nearly slipped from his hands, so he gripped it tighter as he tried to collect himself. He dragged a hand through his hair, finally focusing on Sora's face.

"Something's wrong. The darkness-" Riku stuttered as he flinched, brows furrowing. The inside of his head burned with piercing pain that pressed against the walls of his skull. "The King, I can't feel him." The migraine was only getting worse. The shadows here, they had greatly under estimated them. He should have known better with the second desperate letter.

Each word only had Sora's eyes widening more and more until finally they narrowed once Riku was finished speaking. He could easily tell the other was in pain. It would make it difficult for the older boy to fight, but he knew Riku well enough to fight through anything. "Then we'll start looking instead." They had been able to get rid of most of the heartless around them, but Sora knew there were many more waiting for them.

Sora moved closer to Riku as a worried expression came over his features once again. He couldn't help reaching out his free hand to touch Riku's own. "Riku, are you going to be okay?"

Riku pulled away at the touch, a motion to prove he was fine and still strong, not to shun Sora. "I'm fine. We need to find Mickey- _fast_." He straightened, holding his weapon more firmly in his hand. Something caught his eye and he turned to see more heartless shadows crawl across the floor toward them. "We'll be here all day if we stay here fighting. C'mon."

Sora nodded in understanding and started on down the halls of the castle with Riku. It was hard. There were heartless everywhere it seemed and one by one Sora knocked each of them aside, not even watching as they faded away since another would only take one's place. "Maybe he's still in here somewhere. He wouldn't just let them have the castle." A horrible feeling was tugging at him. If they had come sooner then maybe the heartless wouldn't even be here. But, just as quickly he tried to shove the thought while he sliced a heartless with his blade.

".. Or maybe it got so bad he had to leave." Riku murmured grimly, slashing what heartless he could to clear the way as they ran down the hall. He hoped against hope that he was wrong.

Sora's stomach nearly dropped at those words. He tried his best to stay optimistic despite what Riku said, but with so many heartless it was becoming tough. As they ran further down the halls he swore he heard something and shouting a 'this way' to Riku, he turned the corner which the noise had come from to take that path instead.

Most of the heartless, from what Sora could tell, seemed to have gathered in one spot and looked ready to attack. It was a keyblade which stopped them and a very familiar one. He watched as a few of the heartless were taken out with a single slice, but Sora didn't stay still for long. He sprang forward intending to help out in anyway possible.

"Mickey!" Riku's eyes widened at the scene and he sprinted forward. With a growl of determination he leapt forward into battle, swinging at the swarm of heartless that attacked his friend.

The demonic and angelic blade neatly cut through each heartless that Riku swung at. Each shadow entity exploding in a puff of dark mist as their heart was set free. Riku's head began to pound with each beat of his heart, it was dulling his concentration. He kept near Sora, quickening his steps until he was back to back with the other teen.

Sora's eyes narrowed when he felt Riku against his back. The taller of the two was obviously still feeling less then fine and it had Sora more then a little worried. He swung Oblivion, getting rid of any heartless that dared to come near the two of them and all finally seemed to be clear until he felt movement near his side. He looked over just in time to watch as Mickey got rid of a heartless that had crawled up from the ground, ready to attack the two of them.

Mickey straightened up and let the keyblade fall to his side while he continued to hold it. For now the coast was clear, but soon they would have to move. That could wait, since finally the help that was needed was standing right in front of him. "Where have you two been?" He didn't know whether to sound relieved or angry. Both emotions seemed to mix together. "I called for you long ago." His words stopped as soon as he noticed the way Riku was so slumped. "Riku..."

The aforementioned teen looked upon Mickey with a guilty frown. "S-sorry, Mickey. I-" Riku swayed and for a moment his consciousness flickered. With a small pained sound he staggered, knocking into Sora. He gave a small apology, resting a hand on the other's shoulder to steady himself. "We were just..." There was too many heartless in the castle, and something else there, Riku could feel it. Something malicious. Being a creature of light and dark, Riku could feel it lurking about like something vile under his skin. "We just needed the time away." He finished speaking with his hand against his own forehead.

"We have to get out of here." Sora spoke up quickly. He wasn't in the mood for explanations right then and there. The way Riku was responding to everything that resided in the castle had him worried. He didn't want the other to have to fight anymore for the time being… at least not where they were at that second. "We need to find somewhere safe, away from the castle." He wrapped an arm around Riku's shoulders to at least help steady the other since he seemed to be losing his balance a lot more.

Mickey seemed hesitant, but knew Sora was right. The castle was a lost cause to protect for now and they had to get away from it "Fine, we'll take the path I came from. I was able to clear it for the most part, but there may still be some heartless lurking about. It's the only safe way outside the castle walls, though." He looked back at Riku, concern in his voice. "Will you be okay until we get there?"

"W-what?" The question barely left Riku as he stared in disbelief at either of his two friends. "N-no. We can't abandon the castle." Riku went rigid against Sora and he shook his head his eyes growing wide. If they left the castle, that would only proved their guilt for not coming sooner all the more. "Sora." Riku looked at his friend desperately for support in the matter. His own well being didn't matter, not compared to the King losing his castle, his throne. "Sora- we have to stay and protect the castle. We can't just run away." He gripped Sora's shoulder and gave the other teen a slight shake.

Sora's head bobbed as he was shaken. "But, Riku..." The name came out quietly before he was able to speak any actual words. "We tried and it's just too much. We're not abandoning the castle. We'll be back to fight for it, but for now there's not much we can do. There's too many and even more just keep coming." He felt that same guilt. Maybe things wouldn't be this way had they just left or had he just gone and shown Riku the letter. It was so hard to tell.

Mickey looked back and forth between the two troubled teens before he actually felt the need to speak up. "He's right, Riku. We're in no way running away from this. If we were then we wouldn't fight at all, now would we?" He shook his head. "I have no intention of letting them win or to take this castle. Besides, we need to talk and we certainly can't do it here." Of course they would be lucky to find a place at all.

Riku was apprehensive. He looked away, begrudgingly giving in with a frown. ".. Alright. Let's re-group." He gave Sora a fleeting worried glance through the veil of his silver bangs before he let go of the other to step away. "Lead the way, Mickey."

Mickey gave a short nod before he turned to lead the two down the path he, himself, had come from. He had been right in telling the two it was nearly empty, but still he kept his weapon ready and motioned for the other two to do the same. Only a few heartless ended up trying their luck at the three and were taken down in seconds. It made for an eventful escape and one that Mickey had wanted to avoid.

Outside the castle things seemed to quiet down. The atmosphere was much different from what Sora remembered it and he couldn't help stopping for a second to look around. Everything used to be so bright and cheerful at the castle and even outside the walls, but what he saw now was so dull and dim. It was as if all the life had been sucked out of everything. "What happened?" The question was whispered and Sora had to force his legs to start moving again. He had seen the letter sent to them, but somehow seeing everything in front of him, he just couldn't believe his eyes.

"Organization XIII happened." Mickey shook his head after those words as he kept walking. They were out of the worst danger for now. The heartless had decided to stay inside the castle to try and keep it for them. Very rarely did they sneak off outside. "Or rather, something worse."

"Their heartless." Riku quietly finished, his head hung low in his sullen gate. "They're not happy that their hearts don't have a shell to go back to." His head lowered more, somber, his silver hair hiding most of his serious expression. ".. They can't be whole again." He slowly shook his head, he didn't want to see the lackluster sky, the drooping garden, and he could feel the worst of inside, deep, making his bones ache. "And thanks to Xemnas, Kingdom Hearts is a mess."

Riku gave a tired sigh, a heavy sound that should have been made by a man twice his age. "Damnit- Sora, we didn't fix anything." His heart ached from the guilt, and the darkness was easily preying on it, making his chest feel like lead, hard to breathe.

"We did what we had to do and what was right at the time, Riku." Sora was quick to speak up, especially since Riku seemed to be so torn up suddenly. He hurried over to walk next to the taller boy and wished he could at least hold his hand, but doubted Riku wanted such a thing in front of the King. "We didn't know something like this would happen. We had no possible way of predicting it. Everything was okay and that's what we wanted to believe." He lifted his hand, letting it at least rest on Riku's shoulder. "Calm down, alright? We'll fix everything." He smiled for his friend.

Riku slowly looked at his friend, but it was easy to tell he wasn't won over by Sora's usual optimism. Darkness has a funny way of bringing regret and disappointment with it. "It's not good enough." He pushed Sora's hand off his shoulder so he could turn away, walking a few steps. He pressed his fingers between his brows trying hard to think clearly. ".. We should have come sooner." Riku spoke their guilty shame out loud in front of the King.

Sora let his hand drop back down to his side. He hated to see Riku so upset and it only brought his own mood down as well. The words the other teen said didn't help either and soon that same guilt came back to him as he looked away. Oblivion disappeared from his hand for the time being as he tried to deal with his emotions. They had been so happy earlier. What happened?

Mickey had turned back around to watch the two. They were a safe enough distance away in which they could stop, so the sudden exchange had caught his attention enough to decide they didn't need to go any further. "Explain." Mickey spoke only that one word to the both of them after a long moment of silence. Watching the two sulk had him curious as to why they hadn't come when they had been told of the danger. Normally Sora would have been happy to help, but there had been no word, even days after the second one. So, he waited for one of them to tell him something.

"We've spent over a year fighting, Mickey." Riku didn't look at his mouse friend, he didn't have the courage. He only hoped Mickey would understand him. It was hard to keep the curt tone from his voice. "A year figuring out who we are, and where we belong... And that was back on our home world." He gestured to Sora with Way to the Dawn. "He's spent over a year fighting a battle that was never really his. But he gladly helped out anyway. He deserved a little time to himself, to be just a normal teenager on his world." Riku's hands tightened into fists at his sides. "... We didn't think it would get this bad." He turned from either of his friends, ashamed. ".. I'm sorry, King Mickey."

Sora had looked up as Riku spoke and was startled when the other teen defended him in such a way. Although, he knew he probably shouldn't have been too surprised. When all was silent again Sora tried to reach out a hand towards Riku, but thought better of it at the last second. The older boy didn't really seem to want to be touched lately and Sora knew he should probably give him some space to try and clear his head, but it still hurt to see him so troubled. "We just wanted a little peace. That's all." Sora shut his eyes and let out a sigh. "Sorry, for letting things get so out of hand."

Mickey had listened intently to what Riku said, even though the teen's voice had been a tad bit harsh. He kept calm and watched as Sora responded soon after. "I can't say I'm very happy." Mickey let out a troubled sigh when it was all over and walked a few steps closer to the two. "Of course at the same time, I can't really say I blame the two of you for wanting actual lives either." He lowered his head after those words and shook it a little. "You were both supposed to be able to go back to your lives, but sadly things can change. That means answering whatever is thrown at you. Especially if it's what you must do." He looked up at Sora after he spoke and only got a sad smile in return after the teen opened his eyes.

Riku's glove squeaked as his hand tightened hard around the handle of his weapon. He didn't speak up right away, he knew if he spoke too soon his voice would be cold and sharp, and he didn't want to hurt his old traveling companion more than he had. Mickey had suffered enough loss from their irresponsibility.

"So, which one of them is attacking the castle?" Riku asked in an even tone, cutting straight to the point. He was going to rectify all this.

Mickey looked back at Riku and studied him for a moment. Even with the darkness, the older boy would try his best to put up a fight and he couldn't help smiling a little at the stubborn nature. Sadly, it fell away just as quickly when he looked back at Sora and he spoke the member's name. "It's Axel."

Sora blinked wide eyes down at Mickey when he heard the name. Axel was the only member he had actually fought beside. He was the one that Sora had stood next to as he faded away and spoke his last words. It was suddenly so strange to know he would have to fight against the heartless of the same person. "Axel's the one in the castle? He's the one doing this?" With a final nod from Mickey, Sora looked at Riku and then back towards the castle.

Riku's stance stiffened. Axel was the one who was close friends with Sora's nobody. Too close for his liking. When he had defeated Roxas and taken him to DiZ, Axel had stalked the boy down all the way into that fake reality. Riku couldn't remember much after that, his mind had been too dedicated to the darkness then, his memories were a blur. All he could recall was needing the light, a certain light, more than anything; it was all that he desired.

"Then he'll end up the same way his nobody did." Riku spoke up morbidly. "Sent to oblivion."

Sora flinched at the way Riku said such a thing. In the end, Axel had helped him and he had a hard time looking past that. He knew that it was partly because of Roxas after he was able to understand things more clearly, but still he had helped Sora into the other world.

A sigh left the younger of the two as he turned his attention down to his hands. In a second the keyblade was back in his grasp as if it had never left and his gaze ran over it. Axel was a heartless now and wreaking way too much havoc for anything else to really matter. He and Riku had to take care of the situation or else there would be no peace. One by one the Organization had to fall all over again.

Sora looked back up at Riku while Oblivion dropped to his side. "Let's do it."

Riku turned to face his friend, not expecting such cooperative words. Axel and Roxas, hadn't they been close? Riku expected Sora to go on some verbal tirade about the good nature of people and saving souls; some kind of speech that would be brimming about the goodness in hearts. But there was nothing. Maybe there was nothing. Maybe there was nothing left of Roxas in Sora. In a twisted way that brought a certain relief in Riku.  
Or maybe Roxas never cared much for Axel at all. There was no goodness to be had in Roxas, for he didn't have a heart to have it in.

"..Sora." Riku stared at his friend. _Heartless can have feelings..._ "Maybe you should sit out this one fight." He didn't want to risk Sora being torn, heart from body. Nobody Sora, Heartless Sora, he just wanted the boy to stay whole as he was.

"No way." Sora grinned back at Riku. He wanted to lighten the mood as best he could and forget about his earlier thoughts and memories. "Neither of us are going through any of this alone. Together, remember? We'll both take care of him." He allowed Oblivion to rest on his shoulder as his grin turned to just a small smile. "Don't worry, okay?" He knew that was exactly what Riku was doing and he had been doing the exact same for Riku. They needed to focus and to do that they needed to trust that the other could handle themselves.

"I know but..." Riku trailed off. He only hoped Sora knew just what he was thinking. He didn't want to bring up the name of Sora's nobody, or what horrible thing might happen if Sora went up against Axel. "Sora. This is Axel we're talking about." But Sora didn't seem to have any doubts or regrets about going against the heartless version. Maybe it would be alright.

Sora's smile turned a little sad. He knew as well as Riku what fighting Axel meant, but at that moment he felt more compelled to help then worry over what could happen to him. "I know Riku, but Axel or not we need to get the castle back. The heartless need to be taken care of and that means Axel as well." He looked away as if he almost couldn't believe what he, himself, just said. "It's what we have to do." It's what he had to do.

Riku watched his friend, his own worried expression going sad as well. He finally gave a small nod. Sora was right. He turned to Mickey, his voice a little stronger. "Will you be alright on your own, King Mickey?"

Mickey turned his attention back to the taller of the two boys after having kept a worried expression on Sora through most of the conversation. "I'll be fine. Donald and Goofy are keeping watch over most of the outside area at the moment. There's been a few heartless running around and I need to go check in with them." He looked at them both as a concerned expression came over his face. "You two be careful. The situation is a dangerous one."

Sora seemed to brighten up a tiny bit at the mention of his two friends. To know that they were safe lifted his spirits somewhat compared to earlier. "Oh come on, we're always careful." He couldn't help joking a little as he tapped his shoulder with his blade. "We'll have the castle back the way it was in no time."

Riku nodded more enthusiastically, agreeing with Sora. He walked over to Mickey, crouching down to pat the mouse sincerely on the shoulder. "You just take care of yourself, old friend." He smiled just a little for the mouse before he stood back up, all seriousness taking him then. "Alright, Sora." Riku faced the keyblade master with a new expression of determination. "Let's go." He wasn't going to let anything happen to Sora.

Sora only gave a slight nod before he was turning away to make his way with Riku back towards the path they had taken. If any heartless had reemerged since that time then Sora had no problems dealing with them. He just wanted to get the main part of the fight over and done with. To tell the truth he was feeling way too nervous, but had refused to let either of the two know. Not wanting to worry Riku more then he had been.

Mickey watched the two leave down through the garden and for a moment thought about following, but stopped himself. It was their fight and something they had to deal with. He just hoped a fight with Axel wasn't Sora's undoing.

-

The black mist the heartless dissipated into was always cold; Riku hated the feel of it on his bare skin, fingers, arms, but mostly his face. The icy feeling wasn't a true temperature but the apathy, dejection, scorn, hate, envy- all the negative emotions that the heart felt; the extreme opposite of all the different shades of love.  
Riku hated it because it reminded him of the choice he had made and all the horrible things he could never undo. The way it clung to him, sticky cold that had drank into every worst part of him. The darkness knew the most intimate of dark secrets.

The darkness wanted him back, but mostly, the darkness pined for the unreachable light that it could never have. _Sora_.

Riku glanced at the other boy as he plowed through wave after wave of heartless onslaught as if they were nothing. Riku knew he couldn't keep up like this and be of any real support to Sora. The light wasn't brightest near shades of grey. In contrast, the light is always brightest in the darkest of shadows.

With an angry growl Riku drove his blade into the wave of heartless that rose from behind him. Little grabby claws and twitching heads popped almost plushy into black as they were ran through with the weapon. The black mist was starting to make Riku cough as it some how managed to invade his lungs.

"We're almost to the throne room." Riku hoarsely spoke up; a quick bit of encouragement.

Sora stabbed Oblivion into a heartless which had tried to crawl its way up from underneath him. He didn't even pay attention to the smoke that curled around his blade as the creature faded and instead looked ahead when he caught Riku's words. Sure enough the halls they were in were more familiar to Sora then anywhere they had yet to fight in. They were close to the source and both of them knew it.

"Come on then. We just have to fight these things off for a little longer." Sora glanced back at Riku to see how the other was fairing. He was still worried and couldn't really help it after how the taller boy had acted in the castle before. His attention was grabbed back when he heard more of that same crawling from before. More heartless trying to sneak up on him since his attention had been diverted, but he wasn't that blind and quickly turned his head back around to defend himself.

Riku dashed forward taking out the gathering herd of heartless there, a streak of blue was following behind him. His skid to stop was less than graceful and he nearly stumbled into a wall. He thudded his back against it, catching his breath a second. He tapped Way to the Dawn in the air; he was getting no where and it was wearing his patience. If he kept up this pace, he'd be too exhausted to be of any help when they reached the throne room.

Riku ran a ragged hand through his hair. There was no other way past what had to be done. Quickly he ran back to Sora, destroying the heartless with a one handed swing as he did. Without a warning he snatched up Sora's hand and yanked the boy back from the battle he was currently fighting. He pulled the other down another hall, the opposite way of where they wanted to go.

"R-Riku!" Sora let out the other's name in a startled voice. He hadn't expected to suddenly be yanked away in such a way and watched as the battle they had been fighting disappeared from his view. "What are you doing?" He turned his eyes away to look at his friend who was currently tugging on his hand while he tried his best to keep his footing.

Riku didn't answer, nor did his pace slow. He turned another corner before he pushed open the first door he could find, thankful it was unlocked. He yanked Sora inside, slamming the door locked right after.

It was an extravagantly decorated guest lounge, nothing less could be expected of King Mickey. A few heartless lingered in the room, going through the games with curious sporadic movements. Riku made quick work of them, never letting go of Sora's hand.

After, Riku stood, his breath labored. Even further from the source of all this chaos it did little to help his state. Way to the Dawn fell from his hand, disappearing in a small burst of light when it hit the floor.

Riku turned to Sora, crashing lightly against him since most of energy to stand had been depleted in each small battle. ".. Sora." Since there was no one to see he clunked his head against Sora's shoulder.

In an instant Sora had his arm around Riku and buried his hand in the other's hair. His own keyblade left him as well since he had no will to make it stay for the time being. All of his attention was only on Riku and there were no heartless to bother them where they were at the moment.

This entire place was getting to Riku, Sora could easily see it. Anyone with eyes could. He was suddenly scared all over again for Riku's safety. He had tried so hard to be optimistic when they left the island, but seeing Riku as he was had it all falling apart again.

The hand Sora had placed in his friend's hair slowly started to move through the strands while he allowed his free arm to cling around the taller teen. "Riku." All he could get was the other's name past his lips.

Riku felt a little more at ease with Sora's arms around him, in his hair. The negative emotions that had been welling up in him melted away so easily when he was along against the other.

".. I need you to do something." Riku slipped his arms weakly around Sora's waist, holding him a moment as if he were something more fragile than glass. "For me... Can you?" He shook his head against Sora's shoulder. "No one else can do it..."

Sora's hand stopped for a second at Riku's words. It was so sudden and caused Sora to hesitate before his hand started to move again. He gave a quick nod even though the other couldn't see it, speaking up afterwards. "Of course. Whatever you want."

Riku's hands tightened their hold on Sora's small jacket before the hold went lax. He stayed as he was, procrastinating the moment like they had at the island, which would only make things worse he knew. But Sora's little affectionate gesture felt so good.

Instead of speaking Riku took Sora's hand that ran through his hair. Letting go of it he managed to pull away just enough so he could stand on his own strength. He raised his hand between them, empty palm up. He turned it around, balling it up, hiding his palm from the light of the room. From the shadows, Riku felt the item appear in his hand and he slowly loosened his grip to allow the ends of the long black strip of cloth to flutter down between them.

Riku let himself fall to his knees before Sora; he didn't have much energy to keep standing. He raised his hand up to weakly present the black blindfold to Sora, his head bowing humbly and perhaps shame. The grey was asking the light to damn him to darkness.

Sora felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw the black piece of cloth that he never thought he would see again. He knew exactly what Riku wanted, but he was afraid. He was afraid that he would never see his friend's eyes again, but without it Riku would never be able to handle the world that had changed around them.

With shaking hands Sora grabbed the piece of cloth. Everything inside of him screamed at him to protest in some way to what Riku wanted him to do, but he held his tongue. He had told Riku that he would do this for him and he hated watching the other suffer as he had been.

Sora fell to his knees and locked eyes with Riku while he raised the black strip up. Little by little eyes were covered and Sora let out only a small sound, but silenced it by pressing a small kiss to Riku's lips as he tied the blindfold off.

The world went black as Riku felt Sora's desperate kiss. The light was kissing him goodbye, and now he was at the greedy mercy of the dark. Hundreds of little claws sunk themselves inside, digging their hooked fingers inside his mind where the light could never touch. He let out a sharp gasp against the other's lips, but Riku was in a place that Sora couldn't see or reach.  
This was giving in, and accepting; losing to win.

The headache came back full force, splitting pain and scratching from the inside. It hurt, it hurt something unspeakable to say goodbye to the light, to never see Sora's smiling face and bright eyes. Riku forced himself not to panic, to let the worst of him spread through like a traumatic memory of intimate abuse; _Ansem_. But that fear was long gone now. This new one had fire coloured hair that fell like a bastardized version of his own swept back. Green eyes that remembered life and inside his chest, a hollow that he kept to fill with an emotion he wanted to have for something that was apart of _his_. Riku's.

The pain was then gone, and a cold calm swept over Riku like dark liquid pouring in him to fill the hollow where the marrow of his bones should have been.

In a breath the colours of Riku's outfit seeped away, fading so black could bleed through the fabric, dying every thread. The black continued past the hems at Riku's shoulders, melting over bare arms to make sleeves. The material of his gloves melted across much the same, traveling under the new sleeve so no bare skin could be seen; every little bit of him was forbidden from the touch of light, save for his face.

Riku slumped against Sora. The world to him now could only be felt in blacks and whites; shadows and light. He could 'see' beyond the room they were in, the dark blots that swarmed in halls and other rooms, like splatters of ink on stark paper. He could see the darkest, black tinted by red, in the throne room.  
But he couldn't 'see' Sora. No true shadow clung to the boy. He was white on white. All he could do was use the primitive sense of 'touch', dulled by the clothing he wore, to know that the boy was still truly there.

"Riku..." The name left Sora, saddened at the sudden change that overtook his friend and the fact that all he could do was watch. He lifted a hand and ran it across Riku's back, but it felt like it wasn't enough. Especially since his gloves clung to his fingers and he couldn't really feel the other through either material. In that instant he felt like crying and wasn't surprised when his vision blurred.

Sora pulled back and dropped both hands on Riku's shoulders. His eyes moved back and forth, watching the older boy's face and already missing his eyes. "I'm sorry." What if Riku had been right? If they had gotten there sooner then maybe things wouldn't be so bad and Riku could have handled it better. It was his entire fault and the shame and guilt started to plague him again.

Riku turned his head to face where he heard the other's voice. "Are you..." He spoke up, his voice an airy calm, "Sora?" It was obscure in all its honesties.

Sora's face fell at the question and a tear slid down his cheek that he didn't even bother to wipe away. "Y-Yes." His voice was shaky after all that happened and only then did he realize it. "R-Riku it's me. It's Sora." His grip tightened a little.

"You sound like him." Riku raised his hands and they clumsily ran up Sora's chest sightlessly, knocking against the crown pendent necklace he wore. ".. Exactly like Sora." Past shoulders, along neck, Riku's hands found the other's cheeks. Delicately his fingers traced Sora's features, encumbering touch by the gloves he wore. ".. But are you _my_ Sora?" Riku's question petered away from his lips as he tilted his head; but there was only white before him and warmth under his hands. His brows furrowed a little.

Sora took one of Riku's hands in his own and kept it close to his cheek. He didn't care about the gloves the other wore, he just wanted Riku to believe. "I'm yours. I always will be." He turned his head and placed a gentle kiss against the older boy's palm, hoping that in some small way he could feel it. After, he looked back at Riku and blinked eyes that were still full of tears. "Remember, I love you."

In all the white that Riku saw, a single drop of black dripped down, curving down what Riku could only assume was a cheek.

"Sora." Recognition filled Riku's voice, as if he were just waking from a day dream. He reached over and sightlessly brushed the tear away from Sora's soft cheek. He frowned sadly. "Don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry." But to Riku the black tear only smeared messily like ink on the chaste white.

Relief flooded Sora when he heard his own name from Riku once again in a way that made him feel more at ease. He shook his head at the other's words and slowly a small smile came to his lips. "It's alright. I'm okay. I was worried about you. I still am." He kept a grip on Riku's hand as he looked back up at the taller teen. He was afraid to let go in all honesty, but knew that at some point he would have to if they were to continue fighting.

".. _He_ wants you, you know." Riku's expression slowly became blank. "But I won't let him." He uttered low and darkly. His fingers curled tightly against Sora's cheek, turning to drag knuckles down to the other's jaw.

"I know." Sora spoke in a solemn voice, knowing all too well who Riku meant. The small show of possessiveness was touching in a way, but he still wasn't sure about everything. Roxas was his nobody and in some small way, was still apart of him. He had no idea how things would turn out. It set his nerves on edge and he just wanted it all to be over and done with.

Riku suddenly tugged Sora near, wrapping arms around the smaller boy. He wanted to say something, something important. He wanted to say it while he could still remember. "Sora, I..." But what he needed to say faded from his lips. "Sora..." He faltered a little. Whatever it was, it was gone. ".. They're coming back."

In one quick instant Sora's hands fell to his sides and Oblivion was brought forth in his right. His head dropped, nearly resting on Riku's chest. They had to fight and keep fighting. They had to go up against Axel and see just where the battle took them.

Sora raised his head once more as well as his free hand to lightly run gloved fingers along Riku's lips. Slowly his fingers dropped, little by little, to rest just below the other's neck. Now more then ever did he want everything to return to the way it had been before they walked through that door. That thought alone had the determination rising within him and his eyes slowly narrowed. "Let's go."

Sora found himself suddenly possessively held, cheek to cheek with Riku. It wasn't like Riku to be so forward and cling so tightly. ".. Don't even think about leaving, Roxas." And with that whispered threat near Sora's ear Riku drew back, letting the other boy go to stand up on his own.

Sora looked up startled when Riku pulled away. He hadn't expected to hear such a threat spoken to the Nobody that still resided within him. He knew he shouldn't have been too shocked, though. Riku was worried just as much for him as he had been for the older teen earlier. "Don't worry, Riku. I'm still me, remember? No one is going to change that." He tried his best to reassure the other.

".. I wish I could believe that." Riku spoke bluntly. He moved out his hand as he turned from Sora, black gathering there only to sharply form the demonic blade. The angelic decorations were gone from its design, replaced with a crueler demonic wings that were symmetrical each other. No longer was it the 'Way to the Dawn' but now, the 'Way to Dusk'. "He knows we're here now. There's no point in staying in this room." Riku turned to leave, not bothering to give Sora a hand to stand up.

Sora's sudden optimism left just as quick as it came. Left alone on the floor, he moved to stand and numbly followed after what Riku had been forced to become. His eyes stared at Riku's back for only a few seconds before they turned away to instead look at the door that would lead them back outside with the heartless and back out towards the throne room where Axel was waiting.

Riku stepped into the hall, stopping dead center. The heartless had grown in numbers again, swarming both ends of the hall. The unfortunate consequence to using the darkness was while you knew where they were, they knew where you were as well; a two way mirror.

Riku remained undisturbed by the amount, not like he had before. He raised a hand, stretching it out the way they needed to go. The heartless there began to squirm, uncomfortably. The corner of Riku's lip turned upward in anything but a warm smile. He was slowly gaining control of the darkness, almost like before. But Riku didn't want to command the heartless. No, he had a better idea of manipulating the darkness of people's hearts.

Riku tightly clenched his hand into a fist and with a wailing squeak and bulging eyes the first few heartless before them exploded violently, splattering the walls before they dissipated into black mist.

The scene almost caused Sora to drop his weapon in complete shock. He didn't know how to feel about what he just saw. He continued to stare where the few heartless had been before he chanced a glance up at Riku. For the briefest second a memory shot through him of the person standing before him, but as Ansem's puppet. He nearly choked on a breath and had to shake the vision clear from his head. This had been exactly what he wanted to avoid. Something he never wanted to remember.

The heartless behind the ones who were destroyed twitched in confusion and perhaps something akin to fear. Riku could feel it where their expressionless faces couldn't show it. It was a connection that Riku had forgotten; the dark did feel and it pulsed with raw emotion. Over whelmingly so. Such passion. That half smirk of his grew.

The heartless further down rushed past their shock frozen brethren to attack. _Good_ ; Riku wanted something to let loose on. He charged forward, far quicker than the minor mindless heartless themselves. The double bladed keyblade cut through the onslaught of heartless, and before they realized they'd been hit they exploded into darkness. But Riku didn't stop there, he ran onward cutting down heartless, and all that dared to stand before him. Ever so often he'd thrust out his hand, squelching the heartless his blade didn't hit. Their little screeches before they popped only causing his fight to become that much more enthusiastic.

"Riku..." The older boy's name left Sora's lips as he watched his friend battle. It was so much different from earlier because Riku himself had changed. Sora could only hope that when all of this was over Riku could still come out of the darkness. He would feel even worse if the other had to stay in such a state.

Slowly Sora came out of his thoughts and rushed ahead after Riku. It would do him no good to just stand there and sulk. Riku was doing so well on his own, but Sora refused to just stand back and do nothing at all. What little heartless got by he did the cleanup, getting rid of them before they could try to get to Riku, swinging his blade at each one as he let out his own emotions with each strike.

By the time they turned down another hall the heartless began to keep their distance. They didn't want to be imploded or slashed away into oblivion. They gave either teen their space, scuttling back to allow them access down the hall, watching with their blank glowing eyes.

Riku scoffed at this fact, keeping Way to Dusk at his side as he walked. ".. How disappointing." He tapped his pointer finger on the handle of his weapon.

Sora eased up a bit more as he walked in step behind Riku, but he still kept his guard up just in case. He eyed each of the heartless that were still about, not used to them being around without attacking. Slowly his eyes moved back to Riku and he frowned a little. "At least now we'll have a straight shot to the throne room with nothing in the way. I think that's a good thing. It means now we can get this over with quicker." His voice nearly shook. Still not over that one memory that had come back to haunt him.

Riku raised his keyblade up to rest on his shoulder as he walked, snorting at Sora's words. He didn't seem to notice the shake in Sora's voice, or at least he didn't acknowledge it.

They entered a grand hall, the heartless lining the entire room, causing it to be as black as night, beady little glowing eyes like cold twitching stars. Just beyond them were the large grand doors leading to the throne room.

With so many heartless blacking out the entire room Riku was having a hard time 'seeing'. And the heartless seemed to know this weakness. They writhed closer to Riku, yet still remained to keep their distance. It was Sora and the keyblade that kept them at bay, a blanching of white amidst the black in Riku's 'sight'.

"You'll need to take the lead..." Riku stopped where he was. ".. I can't see."

"Alright." The word was barely loud enough to be heard, but Sora didn't really care. Somehow he felt empty in a way. Riku just wasn't Riku anymore and the more he thought about it, the more it hurt which made it all the more difficult as he walked past the taller teen to take the lead.

Sora eyed each of the heartless and kept Oblivion up and ready. Back and forth his gaze moved, as if one or all of the creatures would suddenly spring forward to attack at any second, but they didn't. They moved, yes, but only a few inches before keeping completely still just staring at Sora just as the boy were doing to them.

Soon the large doors were the only thing that stood between the two teens and as Sora stopped walking to stare up at them the tiniest bit of courage which had been left in him, vanished in an instant. So far nothing had gone perfectly; there was no telling what would happen beyond those doors as well. His attention turned away and beside him at Riku, his face falling. "Ready?" The same question he had asked before they decided to leave the island, but he knew the answer he got this time would be much different.

Riku 'looked' at Sora but all he could make out was a shining white silhouette on black. His brows furrowed as he tried to remember what Sora's face looked like; his eyes, his mouth- weren't they always smiling?

Riku raised his hand, completely black in his 'vision'. He reached out to find Sora's cheek. That's when he noticed another pair of black hands, thin fingers splayed as they reached around Sora's silhouette. He hadn't seen Sora's shadow grow behind him, or the lanky figure stretch out his arms from inside it.

Taken aback Riku didn't have time to react as a pale hand clasped over Sora's mouth, another across his chest and yanked him back to disappear into his shadow on the throne door. Riku grasped at the air too late, screaming Sora's name. His light was gone. Horror grasped his chest; he was left alone in darkness- again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 04

Fear. That was the one main thing Sora felt as soon as he was snatched away from Riku's side by hands he hadn't noticed until it was too late. He had stared with wide eyes as Riku disappeared on the other side of the door, but could say nothing because of the hand over his mouth. He had tried to reach out, but he was held tight. He struggled and kicked, wishing that he could strike his kidnapper with Oblivion, but the keyblade had vanished as soon as the fear washed over him. His mind in too much of a mess already to keep it with him.

Through the shadow and through the door, Sora was finally pulled, but still he didn't stop struggling. He was afraid to see who it was that kept their hands on him. In his mind he had a feeling, but his eyes wanted to stay shut, refusing to look. Somehow he thought that maybe it would be safer that way.

"Shhhh." The hushing noise brushed against Sora's ear. "Settle down, Roxas." That familiar voice spoke that shouldn't have been spoke up, a strange cold affection about it. Those pale arms slipped around tighter around Sora, holding him close in his restraint. "You act like you're not happy to see me." A cheek rested against Sora's hair. "And after we've been apart for so, so long."

Sora went rigid at the closeness of the other and the name that had been said. His nobody. His eyes snapped open and quicker then usual Oblivion was re-summoned to his hand even though he wasn't in the best position to be able to use the blade at the moment. "My name is Sora!" Being called by his nobody's name so much in the past had given him a hatred for it even now in the present despite Roxas still being a part of him.

"Let me go, Axel!" It felt so wrong to be held in such a way by someone other then Riku. He wanted what was now Axel's heartless to move away from him or he would try his best to find some way to use the blade in his hand.

A thin hand wrapped around the wrist of the hand that held the keyblade, refrained any ideas Sora had of attacking. "Someone isn't a fan of anagrams I see." Axel drew his free hand up along Sora's chest, amused. Black chakram tattoos linked around his deathly pale bare arms. "Heh, I almost thought you wouldn't come back." He took the crown necklace between his black fingers, giving it a tug. "You have a nasty habit of being an apathetic bastard, _Roxas_."

Sora gripped the handle of Oblivion as tight as he could, but made no move to strike since Axel had his wrist held in such a way. The last few words stunned him and for some reason he flinched. When he felt the tug on his necklace, Sora turned his head to the side, trying to force Axel to let go of it. "I'm not Roxas. I'm different. I'm me. Roxas is gone." In a way the words were true. Only because Sora had no intention of ever letting Roxas separate from him.

"No- that's where you're wrong." Axel kept Sora still with one arm, the grin quite obvious in his voice. "He's in there- I know you can feel him." Axel's hand moved from Sora's necklace to slip under his shirt to grasp the zipper of his jump suit. "He is your body after all. Everything physical about you- is who Roxas is." He pulled down on the zipper, parting its teeth slowly one by one. "Just like how the heartless is the opposite of its namesake. Together they make quite a very pretty package." His thumb touched the skin he exposed.

Sora's breath caught in his throat with the touch and the same fear from earlier came back. Immediately Sora started to tear away from Axel's grip and was actually successful since he had only been held captive with one hand as he tried. He hated the feeling of Axel's hands on him and as soon as he was only a few feet away, Sora turned to face the man, gripping his keyblade tightly even though he was shaking. "Just because Roxas is a part of me doesn't mean I want to be treated as if I were him." His voice shook as well.

The heartless of the formal nobody was near a mirror image of his body. His skin was unnaturally pale, with patches of black that made it hard to tell where his dark sleek clothing ended and his skin began. His hair was jagged black swept back ending in fiery red at the ends. This Axel was far more the personification of the real Axel at heart, where the emotionless nobody failed. Raw emotion at its best.

"That's right." Axel tapped his forehead with his fingers. "I always forgot how selfish you were, Roxas. I always over looked that flaw." He splayed out his hands, stepping nearer to Sora despite how on edge the boy was. "But you were very good at stepping on people to get what you want." Axel's good humour drained away to something far bitter. "So now that you have it, was the hell well worth it?"

Sora took a step back when Axel came forward and especially when he heard the change in the other's voice. He kept Oblivion between them just in case Axel tried anything, but so far the man hadn't even brought out a weapon and seemed more interested in Roxas.

Selfish. That one word had Sora thinking over his decision to come to the castle much too late once again and back to what happened to Riku. He did feel selfish and slowly his expression fell from narrowed eyes to a saddened look as he finally glanced away from Axel. Maybe Roxas had influenced him in some way. He hated to think such a thing. He had always wanted to be himself, to think for his own since what happened. But remembering his outburst at Riku on the island, how off guard he caught himself, had him scared to think that he would never be himself again.

"I'm not like that." Sora spoke up quietly after a few seconds. He ignored the question and turned his eyes back on Axel, narrowing again. "I would never act like that or do such a thing." He didn't know just who he was trying to convince in that moment.

"Maybe you just never realized how selfish you were- until you were able to step outside yourself and take a better look." And despite the keyblade pointed to him, the most deadly of all weapons for a heartless such as he, Axel still stepped nearer to Sora. "Roxas." He finished, a clever smile returning to his sleek features. "You're as much him, as I am apart of Axel. A different side to the same story. Call it any name you want." He stopped short from the end of Oblivion, no fear of what the wielder might do. "Just like Xenohort is Xemnas was Ansem as a heartless. A smaller piece linking to a bigger complication."

Boldly Axel flicked the obsidian coloured keyblade, a small _ting_ sounding from the action. "I tried so hard for you, Roxas." He continued quietly. "..But nothing I did ever made you happy."

 _He made me feel like I had a heart..._

The words rang over and over in Sora's head. Some of the last few words he had heard the nobody speak before he faded away to become what he saw in front of him now. Even though Axel had walked closer and even touched the keyblade, Sora made no move to step back. He suddenly couldn't get his thoughts in order and in one quick flicker of light the keyblade vanished from his hand which dropped right back down to his side.

Now without the barrage of the keyblade Axel was free to walk nearer still to Sora. "I tried so hard to keep you safe from yourself. But unlike us you couldn't remember the other that you were." He placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, the other taking a lock of spiky bangs to toy with. "I cheated, mislead, I betrayed, I dragged my good name, heh, _names_ , through the mud- hell, I murdered other Organization members to keep you and your former safe and sound." He gave the lock of hair a gentle tug. "But even sacrifice wouldn't cause you to smile at me. I died... alone and empty." Axel's hand fell down to brush the back of his fingers against Sora's cheek. "There was never enough love was there, to satisfy you, was there, Roxas?"

Sora stood completely still as Axel spoke and even as the man touched him. All he could do was stare blankly at nothing as he listened to Axel's words. He had been so quick to move away from the other before, but suddenly he felt as if he just couldn't do the same thing twice. Axel had given up so much for Roxas and now he was being forced to take his nobody's place. Something in his chest tightened and it hurt more then anything, snapping him out of his daze enough to finally step away from Axel, nearly stumbling.

As soon as he was steady on his feet, Sora glared up at Axel, trying his best to look somewhat fierce. "Stop calling me that. Stop acting as if I'm his replacement. I refuse to be anybody but myself." But that pain, it came again for a split second and he nearly let out the smallest of sounds.

Axel watched Sora a moment but he didn't seem detoured from the boy's outburst. The heartless shrugged, baring his palms which had the same chakram tattooed boldly on them. "Sometimes I wonder... Your little emotive _boyfriend_ , he neurotically associates with the darkness." Purposely Axel left it at that as he turned to stroll up the red carpet, giving Sora his well needed space. "He's dealt with it far more than I had, or most of the Organization for that matter. Perhaps even more than Xemnas or Ansem, Xemnas-Ansem, Ansem-Xemnas-Xehanort." He briefly laughed and shrugged out a hand. "Maybe even more than you, the well acclaimed 'Keyblade Master'." He made quote-on-quote fingers. "Chosen by destiny to wield the fabled keyblade. His light stands above all, with the power to defeat the darkness'." Axel rested his hand on the large throne of King Mickey. "Sounds like a bunch of bunk if you ask me." He traced the designs on the chair. "Not that you did."

The heartless flopped down on the chair, getting much too comfortable. He draped his long legs over the arm of the chair, head propped on a hand on the other arm. "So! What do you think _his_ nobody's anagram would be?" Axel tapped his lips. "Hmmm Ixurk, Xurik, Kirux, Ukrix, Ruxik. Ehhh." He made a disgusted face. "It just doesn't work as nicely as Roxas does."

Riku with a nobody. The thought had Sora startled for so long that he almost forgot his voice. He took a step forward, finding it safe finally and shook his head quickly. "Riku gives into the darkness because he has to. He even did it to help me. To bring me back and wake me up." His eyes narrowed even more at how comfortable Axel had made himself, but still he didn't faulter in his speech. "When all of this is over he'll come out of the darkness. He's still Riku and it'll never overtake him again." Sora wouldn't let it. He'd never let that memory become reality again.

Axel linked his fingers steepling them. "Roxas, you and Namine were created from unique circumstances. What stops the same from happening to- _that boy_." He parted his hands to rub a few fingers into his temple, how he loathed that silver haired rat that followed Roxas' former persona like some kind of brooding cultist. "That is... if there's anything left of him now." He was soon grinning.

"Shut up!" Sora shouted the words as he took a few more steps forward. He didn't want to think of the worst, but even as he thought back to the last few moments outside Riku had suddenly been enjoying the fights way too much and seemed almost cold towards Sora himself. There were also the heartless that had been left as Riku's only company and although his friend had taken quick work of most of them, Sora was still worried.

"You don't know anything. Riku's too stubborn to give into darkness completely and he's definitely too stubborn to lose to a bunch of weak heartless." Sora felt more sure of the words himself once he was able to say them out loud. He shot his own small grin at Axel and summoned Oblivion once again in his hand. "You may have tried to help Roxas, but Riku was the one that helped _me_ and for that I'm not going to let the darkness have him more then it has to."

Axel pointed, not at all impressed by Sora's sudden overflowing courage and determination. "Love- right?" He dabbed a finger in the air, making Sora's faith and emotions for Riku a bland mockery. "Is that what you're trying to get at?" He sighed and lounged back against the throne. "If it were _that_ simple, well," he shrugged his hands "we wouldn't be here now would we."

"You're wrong, Axel." Sora walked forward some more. His bravery was coming back little by little all because of Riku and the thought of helping his friend. "Even love can bring about conflict. It's why you're so determined to get Roxas back, isn't it?" He stopped short of getting any closer to the throne and ignored the pain that came back at just the mention of his nobody's name. "Nothing comes easy. I've learned that the hard way."

Axel perked, sitting up on the throne. "You're right. You're absolutely right." He drew his legs off the arm of the chair sitting proper on it. "But you're also absolutely wrong." He raised a hand, snapping his dark coloured fingers a black fire emits, dancing at the tip of his finger. He then began to trace his finger in the air, black flame streaking behind;

R. O.

"You can fight, and fight, and fight- but never win, despite what passion drives you."

X.

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

A. S.

" _Roxas_." Axel's hand fell back from the written name. With a graceful gesture he nudged the letters, sending them towards Sora. They floated on a wind that wasn't there, circling around him.

Sora tensed up when the letters started to circle him. His eyes followed them around one by one to look at the name which in an instant could have been a mirror of his own. The way Axel spoke the name of his other half had caused that pain to grow and watching those letters didn't help it. He wanted to make it go away and in one quick swipe of the keyblade the name was distorted as Sora struggled to keep his head clear.

The black flames wavered, but the fire didn't go out. It continued to encircle around Sora.

".. Why didn't you say goodbye, Roxas?" Axel's hushed voice wavered, his thin brows furrowing. ".. Why was it _him_ that I had to confess what I had the last chance to? Why did my body die for your heart?" He placed a hand over where his own should be. ".. No one cried for me when I was living. And... No one cried for me when I died." His hands lowered to rest on the arms of the thrown, the rest of him slowly slumping into the large chair. ".. And no one will cry when my heart dies too."

Sora felt like he couldn't breathe because of the pain he felt. Although he tried to keep his attention on the flames that danced around him it started to become a loosing battle and his stance became unsteady. The strength that he had gained just moments before was suddenly draining from him and his thoughts of Riku were leaving with it.

In an instant the teen fell to his knees and the keyblade clattered to the floor just inches away from him as he lost his grip on it. He didn't even seem to notice since his hands immediately flew to his chest to cling to the fabric there instead and his eyes stared widely at the floor. Images flashed before his eyes, but images that he shouldn't have even recognized.

 _'You can't turn on the Organization! You'll get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!'_

 _'No one would miss me.'_

Sora shut his eyes tightly, hoping that would block out the memories that weren't his. "Stop it. Go away, Roxas."

"... I would." Axel spoke up, the memory clear and fresh as if it were his own. "Vexen, Larxene, even Marluxia... You never knew the blasphemous things I let myself do in the Organization to keep you. I tried to steer their wrathful eye from you. I kept your other half away so you could stay whole." A sad sort of smirk crossed his mouth. ".. I betrayed them a second time when I was sent to find you. And... A third. Third times the charm, right? Three strikes your out, right?" His shoulders shook soundlessly but what came from him could have been bitter laughter or something far worse. "Everything short of saying those three little words." He waved a dismissive hand. ".. But nobodies don't have hearts, right."

Sora clung tighter to his chest, hoping that in some way it would make the horrible ache go away. It was getting worse with each passing second and with every word Axel said. It was with one final pained sound that Sora's hands dropped to his sides, brushing the sides of his scarf before they hit the floor below him. His head dropped forward so his eyes couldn't be seen and for a long while he was silent as if all the life had been sucked out of him so suddenly.

"I didn't tell you to do any of that, Axel." Words were spoken in the direction that Sora had fallen and in the teen's same voice, but it wasn't in his same upbeat tone. But for Axel it would still be something familiar. "I found out what I needed to find out. You were the one that chose to continue on even after." Sora's head lifted up, but his expression had fallen from its usual optimism and determination to something troubled. It seemed that Riku's threat had been ignored.

A new life bubbled up in Axel now that he was talking directly to the being inside he wanted to. He spoke onward, never missing a beat, as if this new Sora was exactly who he had been talking to originally; for it was.

Axel waved the boy's hurtful words and the fires around him were extinguished. "Most people, where I come from, say 'thanks'..." He leaned his head against his knuckles, elbow on the arm of the throne. "When people save their lives..." He raised a hand, one finger after the other raising in gesture. "More than three times, _Roxas_."

That word wasn't at all muttered from the teen which had taken possession of Sora's body. Instead, Roxas had watched Axel's hand before he moved his eyes back to the man's face. "That's funny. I don't remember us ever being taught such a thing in the Organization. Must have been a secret meeting I wasn't a part of."

That had Axel narrowing his eyes, his calm expression cracking to Roxas' cool words. He tapped the side of his head. "Yes, guess you missed that memo." He closed his eyes to gather himself; heartless weren't supposed to have nerves to lose were they? "Hmm... only means the one who you came from is a selfish, self serving, apathetic, impolite, and bastard." Axel opened his eyes, a more intent gaze on Sora's form. "Or at least- his body is."

Axel leaned back against the throne. "Which I must say suits him very well now. It makes me wonder what outfit he was running around naked in before he lost you." He narrowed his eyes bitterly continuing. "Cozy in there?"

Roxas gave a light shrug. He wasn't at all bothered by Axel's sudden hostility it seemed. "It gets a little cramped from time to time, but I manage." Slowly and as if on strings, Roxas used Sora's body to stand on two feet, keeping his eyes on Axel the entire time he did. Once he was steady enough he started to walk forward. Unlike Sora, he continued to walk even when he was only a few feet from the throne.

"You think I'm selfish? I step on people to get what I want? I'm a bastard?" It was chilling to hear that word from Sora's lips, but since it wasn't Sora speaking it made no difference. "I'm hurt." There was sarcasm in his tone.

Axel leaned his head back, eyeing Roxas. They were in different bodies now, the same yet not the same. He wasn't sure what to think; all that heartless seemed to feel was the scorn of hurt of their formers. "No you're not."

The heart unfortunately knew what the body did as well.

"... You cared more for those who were nothing more than data and polygons, who did nothing more than sit around in dirty ally ways eating salty ice cream- than sincere flesh and blood." Axel sat up, leaning towards Roxas. "Flesh and blood that gave themselves more intimately to you than a romp between the sheets." One of Axel's thin brows rose. "But it might as well have been something so vulgar as a romp... left me cold and lying there all alone just the same." Even after the cruel words Axel wanted to reach out and touch Roxas, Sora. He refrained himself by knitting his fingers together, resting his elbows on his knees so he could lean his lips on his hands, keeping his eyes narrowed and intent on Roxas.

Roxas narrowed his eyes as well and took one last step forward before there was no more space between them to really be had. He stood before the throne, looking down at Axel. The person that at one point had been his best friend, but times changed drastically. "I'll tell you again that I didn't ask you for your help. I told you that I was leaving. I needed to find answers and things just happened from there." His gaze narrowed on the man a little more. "You just can't accept that or even get over it. The past can't and won't change, Axel."

"This is true." The heartless shut his eyes in his calm admittance. "The past can't be changed. And yes, I won't forget what happened. But we all need a purpose, Roxas." Axel's eyes slowly opened and he raised them up to Sora's unmoved expression. "Unfortunately, you're mine. I know how much that disappoints you." His hands parted and lowered so he could look up fully at the teenager in front of him. "I'd apologize but, I feel no remorse when it comes to all the stupid things I do for you."

Those words only caused Roxas to smirk. A small twitch of lips which was a change from the mask he had put up so far. "And you call me selfish." With those words Roxas started to back away slowly, just out of Axel's reach. "I'm not who I was before, Axel. See?" To prove his point he pointed a few fingers at the body he had borrowed just to have this time with the man across from him. "I can't be yours if this body doesn't belong to you. It doesn't even belong to me and I'm the one sharing it." He dropped his hands back down and narrowed his eyes once more. "You're out of luck."

Axel's composure fell, cracking and falling to pieces like porcelain along the floor. He wanted to reach out to Roxas, even if his body wasn't his, even if his hair was coloured like dirt and unruly at best- the eyes were the same. Still just as deep blue as they had been when they could still call each other 'friend'.

".. This isn't fair, Roxas. It isn't fair what you did, or said when we were nobodies. _This_ here and now- it isn't fair." Axel's voice lost its strength, shaking, trying not to break apart; but he felt so much now. So much more than he had years ago. Now he _could_ feel. "I had a heart. I don't care what any of the Organization said- I had one. I know I did because I felt it hurt. I-.. because I had tried so hard, and _loved_ you so much." His black fingers twitched as he reached out a little, he couldn't stop himself.  
A hurtful noise left Axel's throat. "This isn't fair... I love you more than my heart can bear." A sad 'heh' choked from him. "Love conquered all, I thought."

Roxas stared at the hand reaching towards him for a few seconds. Finally, instead of taking a step towards it he took a step back and looked up at Axel once more afterwards. "It can't conquer everything I guess." That same troubled expression crossed over his face and he kept silent for so long as he continued to watch the man in front of him.

"I may be part of Sora, but I still _am_ a nobody." Roxas' words started to become sterner and almost a bit harsher. "You claim you were able to feel while you were a nobody and maybe I did too for a short period of time, but everything changed and that small bit of feeling that was there vanished." His eyes narrowed in a small show of annoyance. "All I can feel now is whatever Sora feels." He finally looked away from Axel to stare beyond at the wall. "It's part of the package, I guess."

"NO!" The shout tore from Axel as he stood up abruptly. "No! I won't believe that! That's not true!" He bared his tattooed palms to the air helplessly. "You wouldn't be _here_ if you felt what he did." He took one step near Roxas, bridging the gap half way. "You wouldn't be here trying to act like the cold jerk you were. You feel something- you do." Axel's expression pleaded with Roxas, his fingers curling weakly. "..and it's your own."

Roxas had blinked his eyes at the sudden outburst and turned his attention back on Axel. Even though the man walked closer to him Roxas stayed right where he was, only moving his eyes the entire time to watch the other. He opened his mouth, ready to snap back at Axel with some snarky remark much like he always did, but it wouldn't come out right away and he was forced to close it just as quickly.

For seconds silence passed between them as Roxas continued to stare at Axel without having much to say. Finally, he turned his gaze away again and let out an amused sound. "You've gone crazy, Axel."

The heartless took the incentive and walked the rest of the way, close enough so he could place a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "You know it." Axel's voice came out a shaky laugh. "But you want to hear something disgustingly cheesy?" He settled his other hand on the boy's shoulder. "..I'm crazy...-for _you_ , Roxas." He gave the teen's shoulders a squeeze.

Roxas dropped his eyes down to look at the hands on his shoulders. Despite it not being his body, he could still feel Axel's hands and even through the clothing that Sora wore. For one split second Roxas was tempted to lift a hand up as well to touch one of Axel's own, but stopped before his fingers could even twitch. He let out a slight laugh instead that sounded much less hollow to his own ears then he thought it would be. "Like I didn't know that already."

That sound, that little laugh, it was such a beautiful thing to Axel. It all had just a little bit of smile curving his lips. "It's been forever and a day since I've heard you laugh." He wanted to touch more of Roxas, but at the same time he didn't want to scare what little he'd scrounged up. "...And... forever and a life since I've been able to..." Axel's hand rose to stroke just a finger ever so lightly against 'Sora's cheek. It felt the same; smooth, warm, alive. "T-..to hold you." His hand fell away, detoured by fear.

Roxas watched the hand fall away and felt a small bit of disappointment when it was gone, but shook that off as nothing. He raised his eyes back up to Axel's face and frowned once more. The amusement was gone because of the other's words as he tried to think of what to say. "I'm not even me right now." He realized at the last second that such words weren't nearly as snide as he had made earlier in their conversation, but at the same time what he said was still true either way.

"You are." Axel smiled just a little more, not a cold grin or smirk but something as genuine as a heartless could smile. He drew his long fingers at either side of Roxas' jaw, touching both cheeks this time. He dusted back 'Sora's brunette bangs, and he could almost imagine the blonde in its place as it used to be, swept to the side. "It doesn't matter how you look. Hell, I'm a _heartless_." He rested his palm against Roxas' cheek, his long fingers dusting through hair. "But you're still Roxas. And you're here. That's enough." Axel leaned down considerably to do what his heart pined for; he touched his lips to Roxas', kissing him so gently their lips barely touched at all.

Roxas' eyes opened wide at the bold move. He should have expected Axel to try such a thing seeing as he knew the man's personality all too well. His first instinct was to quickly push the taller one away from him, but his hands stopped just as they touched Axel's arms and stayed perfectly still.

It had been so long since he had been near Axel and maybe in a way the other was right. Maybe something inside of him still felt a little bit of something for his friend which was why he had fought so hard against Sora for control over his other half's body. That was the only thought which had him timidly pressing back against Axel's lips while he finally allowed himself to grip the man's arms tightly.

That was all Axel needed to press another kiss against Roxas' lips, soft and slow, full of affections that made him weak. Love, hope, it was a heartless' undoing, but Axel didn't care. His heart had no where else to go; no where else where it rather be.

Axel cupped either of Roxas' cheeks, keeping the boy's head tilted up so he could whisper against the teen's soft lips. "... I love you, Roxas. Goddamn, I love you so damn much."

Roxas gripped Axel's arms even tighter at those words. Axel had spoken of love earlier, but to hear the nobody turned heartless, say such a thing right in front of him in such a way shocked him to say the least. "Axel." Roxas let the name slip past his lips before he went on. "I..." He struggled with his words. Shouldn't he have been able to say those same three words back to the man? "I..." They wouldn't come out and in that instant Roxas realized that if he were to borrow Sora's body that meant he was still borrowing the boy's heart as well and Sora's feelings weren't for Axel at all.

Roxas shut his mouth and kept silent on the matter. Instead he shook his head and took to pressing his lips back to Axel's own. It was the only thing he could do for the time being to make up for what he wouldn't be able to say.

Axel made the softest of distress sounds against Roxas' lips, but he didn't protest much more. It was a large disappointment not to hear the words back, but that's what being a heartless was all about, feeding and living off the hurt. The fact Roxas kissed him of his own accord was enough, more than any few cliché words.

Axel slid his hands up to brush through Roxas' hair, it felt so much the same; just as soft and bouncy. He could remember ruffling the blonde hair playfully so many times to cheer the brooding teen up. He wanted to do that again. He wanted to truly feel what he should have as a nobody now that he was a _somebody_.

Axel slipped his hands down, feeling Roxas' slender neck, his shoulders; they were all so much alike. He freed his arms from Roxas' tight grip, wrapping his own spindly fingers around the other's hands; such little hands that could make or break him. _All_ of them. Funny how he could love Roxas all the more because of it.

Roxas allowed Axel all the touches he wanted and as soon as his hands were taken he clung to the man's just the same. Something about this felt right. He may not have had his own body, but he still enjoyed the fact he could be with Axel and remember those times where the keyblade hadn't been the one and only thing on his mind.

Roxas barely pulled back to look up at Axel with eyes that were only partly open. His friend looked so different, but Roxas didn't care. The problem was Axel could stay just as he was if he chose to. Roxas knew that at some point he would be forced to allow Sora to wake up and go back to being the boy's other half. Especially if Riku really did end up fairing well enough against the heartless outside the doors. The realization had Roxas frowning while he looked away from Axel and kept silent again.

"Roxas." The other's name escaped Axel quietly. There were so many things he wanted to say, and ask, yet at the same time he hoped he never spoke again if it meant keeping Roxas like this. He squeezed the teen's hands before letting go, suddenly wrapping his arms around the boy's shoulders. It was a clumsy hug at first, unsure and desperate. The heartless had to lean down more to embrace Roxas fully. But it felt so good to hold Roxas, whatever small part he was allowed to for now.

Roxas went rigid at first, but immediately he eased up and his own arms were quick to wrap themselves around Axel as well. He was a little amused at their height difference, but Axel had always been pretty tall to begin with. He was used to it.

Roxas shut his eyes as he leaned even further against Axel, taking comfort in the silence as well as the other's arms. He didn't want to bring up the worst, but he didn't want to leave the worst unanswered between them. His arms tightened and he opened his eyes as one simple question left him. "Will you miss me when I'm gone again?"

Axel's grip on Roxas tightened on that one question; maybe that was answer enough. "I won't let you be forgotten." He murmured against Roxas' hair. "I'll come back for you." He didn't know how he'd do it, or when, but he wasn't going to let Roxas get buried under Sora's personality again. Despite all the previous hurtful things he'd mention Roxas had done, he still felt Roxas deserved to be his own person, make his own choices. He blamed Roxas' other half for the worst that had happened.

Roxas allowed his eyes to fall shut once more and his grip became less desperate then it had been around Axel. "I'm glad." He could count on Axel to still be there even when he was no longer himself. The both of them knew that all too well. It had just taken Roxas far too long to see it and now they were paying for it in the worst way it seemed.

"I'm happy you agree." As happy as a heartless could be. Axel nuzzled the plush hair, moving his head down so he could kiss Roxas' ear. He placed little kisses here and there on skin and scalp, needing to show his affections. As if all he'd done wasn't enough proof for Roxas. ".. I won't let you disappear inside _him_." He ended his words with a kiss to Roxas' cheek.

Those words meant everything to Roxas and once again disappointment settled in that he couldn't return those words that Axel had spoken earlier. Each little kiss the man gave him was something he wished could last forever and soon he was raising a hand to take hold of Axel's chin, keeping the other's head right where it was so he could kiss his lips once more.

Axel held Roxas just that much closer, pressing into the kiss as if it were his last breath. Despite the circumstances it felt so wonderful to do what his nobody never could; to finally kiss and express how he felt against Roxas' lips.

Axel let his hands run down Roxas' back, following down to where he knew he shouldn't grope, considering it wasn't really Roxas' body. But given the situation, Axel didn't care for modesties.

Unlike Sora, Roxas made no move to struggle or get away from Axel's roaming hands. Instead, he only moved even closer to the taller body while he dropped his arms to wrap them around the man's neck. He gave a quick bite to Axel's lips before he pressed his own back against them, enjoying the moment for as long as he could and refusing to pull away just yet.

Axel let out a soft noise tasting Roxas' lips with a small swipe of tongue, enjoying as much as he could before it was going to end. He parted their lips, smiling then smirking about something. One hand left Roxas' behind to go to the boy's front, grasping the zipper he pulled it down further down from when he had before with 'Sora'.

"I didn't think you'd be here so quickly." Axel spoke with a cool calmness, not to Roxas but their new visitor. Even with the blind fold on the look of intense hatred could be felt through the dark cloth. It only gave Axel incentive to lean down and kiss the bare skin he exposed; a more seething hatred could have never been felt.

Roxas didn't even try to stop the noise that left him as Axel kissed his skin. He knew exactly who Axel had spoken to and he suddenly felt the need to cling tighter to the other, still not ready to leave just yet. His head turned only a little and he found his eyes narrowing on the one who had put him in this situation. The one who had beaten him. Riku.

Axel fed off the negative emotions either of the boys were giving off; deliciously bitter. "You came at a bad time." He pulled the zipper down even further, slowly pulling it little by little hearing Riku's grip on his weapon tighten with each part of metal zipper teeth. "Or maybe it's perfect timing." He kissed 'Sora's chest, letting his tongue peek out to taste bare skin.

"Stop this." Riku demanded in a hard, shaking tone. " _Roxas_."

Roxas nearly shivered at the feel of Axel's tongue. The entire time he kept his eyes on Riku while the other teen's words had a slow smirk spreading across his face that was nothing like anything Sora would ever show. "But I'm having so much fun, and you and I both know that you wouldn't dare try and make me." His voice fell to a near dangerous tone. "You would never want to hurt Sora."

".. No, I wouldn't." Riku quietly agreed through his teeth. He sharply brought up Way to Dusk, pointing the duel bladed sword at either of them. "But I've done it before." He narrowed his eyes from underneath the blindfold. "And if that's what it takes." His fingers tightened around the handle of his weapon, the glove squeaking from the action. "... So I suggest you stay out of the way, Roxas." He cocked his weapon, a sneering sort of smirk unnaturally crossing his lips. "The score is one to one. I've defeated you before- don't make me do it again."

Axel scoffed, daringly grabbing Sora's scarf between his dark fingers causing Riku to tense considerably. He tugged it away, letting the soft fabric drape away to reveal 'Sora's slender throat. Unmoved by Riku's threat he touched his lips to Roxas' skin, marring it with an intimate bite.

Roxas narrowed his eyes at Riku's last few words. It was the one small bite to skin that had him calming down just enough and stopping him from losing his temper completely towards the other teen. He leaned away from Axel's lips, but only so he could offer the man more skin to do as he pleased with. Otherwise he made no real move to follow Riku's simple orders. In fact, he did the exact opposite, pushing the older boy's buttons even further. "You had no chance of beating me on your own without the darkness and even now you're helpless without it." Roxas managed another small smirk despite his earlier temper. "You're nothing special."

That was enough- with an angry shout and a blur of dark rage Riku charged them. He disappeared only to reappear directly beside them to slash with Way to Dusk.

Throughout the throne room a loud clash of metal was heard as Riku's own blade met with Oblivion. For that one split second it seemed as if Sora had woken up. The keyblade had returned to it's owner's hands and the situation was just the same had they been sparing back on the beach much, much earlier.

But things weren't always that simple, and nothing was more obvious than that as what had been Sora's eyes turned cold, and a small smirk turned up on his lips.

Even as a nobody Roxas had been able to wield the keyblade and he planned to take full advantage of such a thing while in control of Sora's being. Especially if Riku wanted a fight so badly. He had never denied such a thing before, why break that trend. With a final push against Riku's weapon he pushed the other's blade aside to swipe his own towards Riku.

".. Sora." The keyblade cut into Riku's chest, black pouring out in dark splatters. Riku jerked back with a stagger, leaping back a good many times, stumbling when his feet next hit the ground. He clutched at his chest, black leaking between his gloved fingers for a moment before the wound healed itself.

Riku panted, gritting his teeth. The battle with the millions of heartless had drained him considerably. He was purely driven by emotions now, which he knew wasn't good for him, or Sora.

"Sora- wake up!" Riku shouted, hating the look that bastard nobody made Sora's face contort to. It was looking at a complete stranger. He held his weapon up defensively.

Axel straightened, smirking. "Not going to happen."

Just to prove Axel's point, Roxas let his free hand fall to his side and in a matter of seconds a second keyblade appeared just as Oblivion had only moments ago. Oathkeeper. He twirled both blades in his palms before he held them tightly and shot forward. As soon as he was near he hit them each, one after the other, against Riku's blade, trying to break the other teen's defense.

With each hit of the keyblades sparks of blue and black mist flew; light against dark. Riku backed up as he tried to block each swing. "Sora-! Please- listen!" He swatted against the new onslaught of Roxas' attacks. Riku truly didn't want to hurt Sora, but this wasn't Sora anymore; not the one he knew, and cared for. "You need to wake up!"

Axel only laughed, cruel and amused. "Don't you get it? They're one and the same." He stretched out his tattooed arms to shrug. "They feel one and the same; that means about you."

Riku let out a hateful grunt. "..Sora." His attention flicked from Axel to the one inhabiting Sora. "Sorry, but-"

Shadows were at their darkest near the brightest light.

Cold black gathered near Way to Dusk as Riku swiped near each counter to Roxas' attacks. He took a strong step forward, black enveloping his weapon. Taking in a sharp breath he swung his blade forward, darkness thrown hard into the attack. But that attack was only meant to throw Roxas off balance for the moment.

Shadow drew into his free hand, taking straight from his very own shadow. He threw out his hand shooting forth the intense darkest black surrounding. "WAKE UP!"

Roxas easily caught his foot, leaning back just enough to avoid the hit, the cold lifeless energy skimming by near inches from his face. But it wasn't Roxas Riku was aiming for. The shot blasted straight into the being behind Roxas, a violent explosion of shadow throwing the surprised victim backwards.

"Axel!" Roxas' eyes had widened as soon as the shot hit its mark and the man's name left him as a worried shout. His eyes stayed glued on Axel's body before he turned them back on Riku, narrowing them in an instant. "Riku..." The name was said in an icy tone as he brought the keyblades up once again to ready them and took a step towards the other.

Something flickered behind his eyes and caused Roxas to stumble for a second and stop where he stood. He nearly lost his grip on the keyblades and his expression changed drastically as he seemed to no longer even be staring at Riku. He tried to blink away whatever had come over him, but that seemed to only make it worse, and along with his vision, Oathkeeper flickered out for a short second only to return just as quick.

For the briefest of seconds a hopeful smile upturned the corner of Riku's mouth. "Sora." The name left him breathlessly. Without thinking he quickly ran to the other teen, grasping his shoulder with his free hand. "Sora! Sora- wake up! Wake up goddamnit!" He gave the teen a hard shake as he shouted desperately at him, his voice nearly cracking.

Roxas immediately shrugged Riku off of him and jumped back to gain some personal space once again. As soon as he did he nearly lost his footing and let out a pained sound as his head started to throb. Oathkeeper finally vanished for good in that instant and Oblivion was left to clatter loudly to the floor as it was forgotten as Roxas clutched at his head instead.

He wasn't ready to leave. He didn't want to go back just yet. If anything, Roxas wanted to fight against everything, even his other half, to stay as long as he could. If he stayed then everything with Axel would finally be the way it should have been and still the worry was there over whether or not Axel was okay.

It was a losing battle, though. It was never Roxas' body to begin with and that's what gave his other half the upper hand on who had the most control. Still, Roxas refused to leave without taking a small portion for his own and as his hands finally went limp the pained expression left his face and he started to fall forward to the floor.

Riku let out a small gasp and stumbled forward to catch the teen, Way to Dusk falling to clatter on the floor. His light, he'd finally gotten his light back. Riku felt relief as Sora fell into his arms and he tightly clutched the boy to his chest. "Sora." He quietly whimpered, in his moment of happy weakness the darkness inside felt suddenly unbearable. He buried his face against the other's soft shoulder.

Slowly, Sora's eyes fluttered open and a groggy sounding noise left him at the same time. He looked around as best he could and noticed he was still in the throne room, but why did everything suddenly seem like a complete blank? That's when he noticed the arms that were clinging to him so tightly and caught sight of silver hair out the corner of his eye.

"Riku." The name left his lips almost disbelieving that it could be his friend at first, but then Sora's tone changed to one of excited relief and his own hands rose to cling to the older teen. "Riku! You're okay! You're alright! I was so worried..." His voice trailed off with those words, too afraid to admit to the other why exactly he was worried. The confusion came back when he realized he hadn't even seen Riku come into the room. "W-What happened?"

Riku began to shake, holding Sora tighter and tighter still just to hear the recognition, the _real_ sound of Sora's voice. Then he spasmed, a hard tremor going through him. He coughed hard, wet, painfully. Warmth splattering and trickling on Sora's shoulder.

"I did." Axel answered virulent, looming from above, worse for wear. With a vengeful, sadistic sneer he plunged Way to Dusk deeper into Riku's back.

Riku didn't cry out, he just held Sora tighter, possessively, as more warmth poured from his mouth. With a choking cough his hold began to grow lax.

Sora's eyes shot wide open and he felt his body start to shake with fear at what was happening. "Riku..." His voice cracked and he could already feel tears start to blur his vision while his grip tightened on Riku's arms. "Riku!" He shouted the older boy's name desperately and tried to ignore the wet feeling on his shoulder. It only made the tears come faster.

Only one hand let go of Riku and Oblivion occupied it in an instant. With a raged cry, Sora swiped the blade back at Axel where the man was behind Riku without even letting go of the teen himself. He refused to even think of doing such a thing, wanting to keep clinging the entire time.

Axel snapped his hands back, leaping back to avoid the fierce swing. He raised a hand to wipe away the black that had trickled down his face from his own wounds with a malicious smirk. "Now nothing will occupy your heart but me."

"Riku will never leave my heart!" Sora shouted the cracked words at Axel and ignored the tears that fell from his eyes to glare hatefully at the man. "No one could ever take his place." There was a slight tug inside his chest after those words were spoken, but it was ignored as Sora's attention had turned to the body he still clung to.

Sora finally rested Riku gently on the floor, choking back more tears as he did so and pressing a small kiss on the dark blindfold. As soon as he stepped back, Sora turned his eyes back on Axel and there was nothing but hate for the man in his expression. He rushed forward with the keyblade still in hand, swinging at the heartless as soon as he was near.

Axel continued to leap back, wanting no part in a confrontation with the fabled keyblade. "Are you so sure?" He leapt back again to avoid another angry swing. "I think Roxas begs to differ."

The prone body on the floor curled in on himself, focusing what energy he had his weapon that was used against him disappeared into dark mist. Immediately after the darkness that was embodied in Riku began to pour out of the wound.

"Sor-..." But a choke of black blood pouring from his mouth stopped Riku's words. He clutched at his throat, but the warm black continued to pool around his weak form.

The shadows in the room began to grow, and from them pulled bigger, crueler heartless. They swarmed out from the shadows, rushing towards Sora to fight a battle Axel refused to.

Sora gave a frustrated cry at the fact Axel wouldn't fight him. He stopped in the middle of the room, ceasing his attacks on the man to watch each heartless that had appeared. He shot one harsher glance at the man before he turned his full attention on the creatures that were headed towards him.

The first few were taken out in a few swings and stabs of his blade, but these heartless weren't at all like the small, normal creatures they had fought in the halls. These heartless put up much more of a fight and soon enough Sora found himself on the defensive, jumping over a few to escape some close calls.

Axel laughed loudly now that things were going his way. He threw out his hands and on the floor from either sides of him black flames burst forth and shot out to encircle the entire throne room keeping all inside captive.

"I'm sorry I have to hurt your body, Roxas." Axel stepped back into the dark flames, untouched by their heat. "But he has to learn." He disappeared into the fire.

Sora watched as Axel disappeared and cursed silently that he wouldn't be able to follow after the man. The heartless were still persistent and the flames were something he couldn't easily just walk right through much like Axel had.

Turning his attention back on the creatures around him, Sora jumped back a few times when one made a grab for him. It didn't stop there and continued to rush towards him along with a couple of others that wanted to join in. Sora was quick to react and raised Oblivion up towards the ceiling of the room. In a flash three large bolts of lightening made their way down from where the blade had pointed and chose their targets. Each one a heartless that had been rushing towards the teen.

Sora watched as the powerful magic hit, but didn't wait for it to wear off. Instead as it was still doing its damage he ran towards the few heartless and swung the keyblade, taking them down while they were weakened by the electricity. Smoke curled up around him as they fell, but he didn't have time to waste as more heartless circled around him. His eyes followed around as his body turned to get a quick look at each enemy. His feet stopped and that's when he attacked, moving Oblivion up and pointed at only one of the heartless first.

Flames gathered at the end of the blade and soon shot out to hit their mark. The attack spurred the rest on, but Sora was ready for them and continued to let the magic hit each one of the heartless, watching as they fell back to the floor one by one. At that moment the one thing that fueled Sora was rage and revenge. Something that rarely drove him on. It made it so simple for him to run up to each fallen heartless and stab them with the blade before they had a chance to even dare get up. The final few that his magic had missed weren't given any mercy and fell only to Oblivion instead of a few spells.

The circle of fire was empty after the battle aside from Sora and Riku. The sudden thought of his friend brought Sora back down from the high that battle had put him in and he turned around quickly to see the wet puddle Riku was now in. "Riku!" He ran towards the fallen teen and nearly broke down all over again. He was breathless from battle and tears started to sting at his eyes again. "Riku..." He fell to his knees and reached a hand out to touch what could be seen of the other's face, not caring that the black stained his gloves. He just wanted there to still be some life in Riku, somewhere.

Riku's cheek was still warm but the liquid black was near ice cold. And through the blur of tears something didn't seem quite right to Sora. He couldn't tell right away until he blinked away the tears, letting the warmth stream down his cheeks; Riku was _sinking_. Sinking into the black pool around him, like tar.

".. It's too late now." Axel's voice rang clear from no where among the flames. "The darkness has him now." There was lazy laughter to follow. "Just give in to Roxas."

Sora's heart raced in his chest as fear started to be the one thing he could feel most. "No!" Sora ignored Axel's last few words and kept all of his attention on Riku. Oblivion vanished from his grasp so he could reach out with both to tug at the other boy, refusing to allow this to happen. "Riku, wake up!" More tears spilled down his cheeks as he tugged harder. "Please, Riku. Don't let it take you." He choked back a broken noise. "Don't let it take you away from me again."

Black fire shot across Sora's tugging arms.

"You hate him." Tattooed arms wrapped tightly around Sora, one around his neck and another around his chest, yanking him back in restraint. "Remember that you hate him, Roxas." Axel hissed viciously in Sora's ear.

Sora fought against Axel's hold, trying desperately to return to Riku's side. The words had caused another small tug at his heart, but he ignored it again and focused on what was unfolding right in front of him. "That's not true! I could never hate Riku." He struggled some more and reached out his hand, but the flames that had shot out were still there and blocked most of his vision as well as his reach. "Riku!"

The sinking teen stirred at the desperate scream of his name; _Sora_. Riku tried to move but something had a firm hold on him, familiar, freezing, chilling every vein as it drew him in.  
No- not the darkness. Not the worst of his heart, the arborous side of his love. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to go back to that lonely place that ate away at his humanity until he was nothing more than a marionette for its destructive apathy.

Riku yanked at his arm, pulling with panic to free it. The black slowly relinquished and he managed to pull his arm out of the mess, the rest of him sinking further, further. He raised his hand weakly, stretching towards the black flame to the sight of his weak light behind it so far away. "S-... Sor-...!" His eyes wide with fear behind the blind fold.

But Axel was dragging Riku's struggling light further and further away. "A piece of you hates him. A piece of you doesn't love him. Heh and that piece won't cry when he's gone."

"That's not true..." The words were barely whispered as Sora listened to Axel speak and continued to watch beyond the flames. He had seen Riku move and seen him reach out. Something drove him on in that instant and desperately he tore himself away from Axel, nearly pulling his arm out of socket in the process, trying to get away from the man.

Oblivion appeared in his grasp and the minute the blade formed, Sora turned to point it at Axel as he stepped backward. Ice crystals flowed out from the end of the blade and launched themselves at Axel. Sora knew that it wasn't enough to put down the man, but it was enough to buy him some time. Before he had a chance to see the after effects, Sora turned right back around and headed for the flames. He skidded to a stop and dropped down to his knees once again and prayed that he wasn't too late. He threw caution to the wind when it came to the flames and reached out completely, ignoring whatever burn they would cause. "Riku, hang on. Please."

Riku reached through the flames as well, the intense heat a sadistic welcome from the chilling cold that was trying to engulf him. His hand twitched and strained to reach Sora's, the fire burning to almost an intolerable pain. "S- Sora-!" Black trickled down from where his eyes were hidden behind the blind fold, streaming down his cheeks. He was nearly shoulder deep now. "He- lp-!"

Fingers touched and despite the burning heat, Sora clasped his gloved hand around Riku's own. In that one second he started to pull as hard as he could to bring Riku out of the darkness. Tears streamed down his own cheeks in relief over the fact he had been able to grab onto his friend, but Riku wasn't safe yet until the darkness had completely released him. With that thought Sora pulled even harder, clutching Riku's hand tighter, refusing to let the hold he had on the other teen slip.

But the darkness was far stronger a thing than a young teenage boy. Riku let out a whimpered grunt, gritting his teeth, pain seizing his arm as Sora pulled to no real avail. The darkness kept pulling him in and it was dragging in Sora further into the fire, taking him in the dark with him.

More black tears began to stream down Riku's cheeks, his chest hurt, squeezed by the dark, filling inside his lungs causing him to choke. "S-" More hot black spilled from his mouth. But some how despite the hopelessness his expression managed to soften a little. "L't go." He couldn't have what meant his everything be dragged along with him into the bleak hell with him. Riku let his own grip began to slack before he let go.

"Riku, no!" Sora fumbled to try and reclaim the hand that was no longer in his grasp, but it was no use. Riku was being taken further and further in. The sight had Sora sobbing much harder, his friend's name choked out amongst his cries. He was forced to watch as the darkness was finally victorious once again in taking what Sora had tried so hard to keep. "Riku..." His hand continued to weakly reach out, but there was no longer anything to reach for. His chest tightened and in his mind all of those last final memories they had on the island became so very painful. His worst fear had actually come true and he only had himself to blame.

The fire barrage dissipated along with the pool into black mist. The once bright room now dimmed felt lifeless and silent.

There wasn't much save for boot steps a good ways away from Sora, walking away. "And so ends one story, and starts another."

Sora didn't answer. What sounds he made were quiet cries as his tears continued to run down his cheeks. The only real response he gave was a small tightening of fists, but other then that he didn't give Axel any acknowledgment.

The heartless gave a small 'heh'. "Now you know what it was like... to not be able to say 'goodbye', _Sora_."

 _'Goodbye only means we'll never be together again.'_

Riku's words rang through Sora's mind over and over after Axel spoke. That same rage that had fueled him against the countless heartless earlier came back again as Sora finally moved and stumbled to his feet. He willed Oblivion back to his hand as he stood from where it had fallen while he had tried to rescue Riku. As soon as he felt the keyblade Sora was immediately after Axel in an instant. His emotions were a mess, so his moves were clumsy as he took a swing at the heartless.

Axel side stepped enough to avoid the swing powered by blind rage. He lashed out a hand to grab the teen's sleeve as he ran by, yanking him off balance so he could thud Sora's back against his chest, hugging him as tight as he could despite his wounds. "... I love you, Roxas." He whispered against Sora's ear before kissing it. He then disappeared into shadows, leaving Sora finally alone.

Sora swung the blade down again after Axel had long since disappeared. It was just something he needed to do and something he wanted to get out of his system. Although he was disappointed that there was no one there.

The man's words had caused another slight tug inside of Sora, but he didn't care. The battle was over and he had lost everything that was dear to him. His eyes turned back to where Riku had fallen into the darkness and once more tears blurred his vision all around him. He would have to leave the castle and tell his friends what happened. That Riku was gone and it was all his fault. He couldn't save him.

For the moment all Sora could do was stand there, numb. His mind was still in a state of shock and it would be a long time before he finally walked away from the horrible scene that he was sure to remember for as long as he lived.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 05

The last of the heartless soon fell defeated, no others coming in to rush and take their place in the fight. No more heartless swarmed from the shadows and it seemed at the moment that the battle was finally over.

King Mickey and his two loyalist of subjects and closest of friends, Goofy and Donald, had taken to clearing out the minor rooms of heartless, trying to take back the grand castle little by little as they knew their two human friends bravely fought the bigger evil.

Now as they stood, finally taking the chance to catch their breath, they stood poised waiting for new enemies to arise. But none came. They left the room they were in and looked down the long stretch of hall, but still saw no new heartless army waiting for them.

It had relieved sighs coming from Donald and Goofy, but the King seemed resigned. It didn't feel right that the battle would end so suddenly and so easily. Something felt off, deep in his noble heart.

The silence that had finally fallen over the castle in place of the chaos was soon broken. Footsteps were heard walking slowly on hard floor far away from where the trio had been fighting, but just faint enough to be noticed. They grew closer with every step and soon a familiar figure could be seen near the furthest end of the hall.

Black was smeared across parts of white clothing and a scarf was lazily wrapped back around shoulders. There was no bounce to the person's usual step and no real life in his eyes. Only a near hollowness after what they had been forced to witness.

Only a few feet from his friends, Sora finally stopped. He found that he couldn't lift his head, nor could he speak. He was too afraid of the truth, still wishing it was all some horrible nightmare.

"S-Sora!" King Mickey gaped at the horrible state of his friend. He walked nearer to Sora and stood on his tip toes to look up at his face. "W-what happened?"

Goofy wilted, now expecting the worse. He walked over to Sora and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder since he was the only one tall enough to do so. "You look awful." He gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze.

The touch seemed to actually bring Sora back to reality and he glanced up to look at Goofy. Usually he would have been ecstatic to see his friend whom he had been away from for so long, but at the moment he just didn't feel like even cracking a smile. "Axel...he..." Sora nearly choked on his words.

Donald's face fell at Sora's somber attitude. It was so unlike how the teen usually acted. Suddenly Donald looked around and noticed something. "Sora, where's Riku?" He knew that the other boy had been asked as well to come along and help in the battle and any mention of Riku usually brightened Sora up.

It had the completely opposite effect, though. The tears that Sora thought had been all cried out came back and instead of answering he kept silent again. His head bowed once more while his hands tightened.

Mickey blinked as a tear drop hit his nose. He wiped it away before sadness took him as well; his poor dear friend Riku. His round ears wilted.

Goofy slipped his arm over Sora's shoulder to pat his friend's back trying to offer him some comfort. He was a simple dog, and to see Sora like this after a year, it made what should have been a happy reunion a sad one. He didn't press Sora about what happened, knowing the teen would tell them when he was feeling better to speak.

Just as quickly Mickey's ears perked up as the determination and optimism inside him refused to give into lamentation so easily. He had to be strong, for all of them; that was the responsibility of a King. "Sora, please, tell us what happened." He spoke up with kind authority. "It's important."

"Riku..." The name escaped Sora's lips in such a sad tone. "This place was too much for him. He had to become one with the darkness again." He thought back to that one moment and that last desperate kiss and nearly broke down again. He tried his best to continue on, but his voice cracked. "Axel took me into the throne room by myself and I think that I blacked out for a while afterwards because I can't really remember much. Riku was there when I woke up and that's when...when..." He couldn't go on. If he did then he knew that he would completely lose it.

Donald walked closer to them all and rested a hand on Sora's arm while it hung down. "Sora..." It was so sad to see the teen like this, but it seemed no form of comfort was helping him at all and that was even more upsetting.

"What?" The word left Mickey startled. "The darkness?" He lowered his head, disappointed above all that Riku would give into the dark after struggling so hard to escape those demons. They'd fought hard together to help Riku find himself. To hear Riku's vast step back hurt Mickey considerably. The battle for the castle wasn't worth such a sacrifice. "Oh Riku..." He shook his head, saddened. "He should never have done that. He should have known better." But Mickey knew it would do no good chastising their fallen friend in front of Sora. "Sora... what happened to Axel?"

A look of shame crossed over Sora's features. "H-He got away." His whole body shook after the confession left him. "I wasn't able to defeat him." His hands which were still stained black, moved up to cling tightly at his shirt. "H-He kept calling me Roxas. The entire time I was in there with him, the moments I remember. He wouldn't stop!" He shouted the last words out of frustration and hurt.

The King and his subjects flinched and exchanged looks. They all felt guilty for not being there to help, had they been there to assist it might not have turned out so bad.

"And... what happened to Riku?" Mickey more gently asked.

Without realizing it, Sora fell to his knees. He was being forced to remember what happened just moments ago and it hurt even worse. "Axel stabbed him in the back with his own keyblade." Sora brought up his gloved hands to stare at the blackness that he was afraid would never wash off. "The darkness took him. I tried to save him. I tried to rescue him from it, but when it tried to take me too Riku let go." He nearly hic-cupped and his hands dropped limply back down to his sides. "He's gone..."

"Poor Riku…" Goofy quietly spoke.

Mickey's expression grew all the more sad. He walked to Sora's side and placed a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't about to let the teen give in, not when Sora's limitless optimism had saved them all time and time again. "Don't give up hope, Sora." He gently spoke. "Riku has dealt with the darkness in his heart before, and won. He's strong. And you have to be strong for him too." Mickey didn't know how truly dire the situation was, but he refused to let themselves give up.

Goofy dropped to his knees and hugged Sora tightly around the shoulders. "Don't worry, Sora, we'll help you. We'll help you save Riku."

Mickey lowered his head, his expression growing serious. "We need to stop the Organization heartless." He frowned. "And I'm sorry to say they're far more dangerous than their Nobody counter parts." Sora was proof of that. "We've already lost so much; we need to put a stop to this as soon we can." Mickey looked to Sora with concern in his dark eyes. "Sora... I'm so sorry. I wish we could have let you stay on your island. I really wished we could have. That's why I let you stay for so much longer before sending my second letter." Mickey glanced down before he looked up at Sora with warm determination. "But we need you. You were chosen by the keyblade, and fought so valiantly for us before. Please, help us again." He moved his hand to place it over Sora's heart.

Sora stared blankly at Mickey's hand. Usually he would be ready and determined to jump into such a battle for his friends, but he had suffered so much already. He should have been allowed to mourn at least a little bit. It was hard for him to respond right away when memories that he had on that certain island continued to play over and over in his head.

Donald seemed to notice Sora's hesitation and was quick to try and remedy it. "We've never failed in finding Riku before. I bet while we're defeating all these heartless we'll be able to do it again." He leaned over a bit to catch of glimpse of Sora's face. "Then we'll be able to save him from the darkness right, Sora?"

Just that one small bit of hope finally had Sora raising his head. Donald was right. He had never given up on finding Riku before and because of that he refused to believe that the other teen was gone forever. He took in a sharp, shaky breath and finally tried to stand again. Each of his friends gave him room and as soon as he was steady he wiped at his face to try his best and clear the mess it had become.

"I'll help." The words left Sora when his hands fell and he looked down at Mickey with narrowed eyes. "I'll make sure that the Organization doesn't do more damage then it already has." Still, for some reason he couldn't help feeling some form of hesitation after he spoke such serious words, but just shook it off as nothing.

Mickey nodded, a new smile coming to his face for Sora. "Thank you, Sora. With your help I know we can finally finish all this."

"Yeah Sora," Goofy sniffed before finally being able to smile again. "We'll be finding Riku in no time if we work together." He patted Sora's back cheerfully. "I know we can do it. We've saved everything and everyone before."

Sora finally managed the smallest of smiles for his friends. His heart hadn't completely healed yet, but he would try to keep up that same usual optimism just for them as well as himself. "Thanks guys." The words of encouragement were needed and meant a lot. With one last sniffle he regained the rest of his composure to try his best at an even more serious conversation as his attention turned back to Mickey. "If Axel got away do you think he'll come back to the castle at some point?" At the moment the halls were completely void of any type of heartless, but Sora knew that peace didn't come so quickly. "What about the other members?"

Mickey furrowed his brows as he gave it some serious thought. "Hmmm." He tapped his lips, running it all through his mind. "No. I don't think he'll be back." He looked away as he continued to speak. "This was a planned attack..." He lowered his head. "And I have a feeling he was trying to draw you out Sora." His shoulders fell. "And because we couldn't hold our own I ended up bringing you to him. I'm sorry. I'm mostly responsible for this mess."

Goofy and Donald patted their King on the shoulder trying to assuage him. Mickey nodded, proving he was okay.

"But if we're on the move, I don't think Axel will attack the castle again. The other heartless have no business with him, so I don't think they'll even try." Mickey looked up at Sora. "Are you sure you're alright? Do you need some time?" They needed to attack this problem as soon as possible, but he wasn't going to rush Sora considering what had just happened.

A few of Mickey's words had struck something in Sora. "Draw...me out?" He seemed to stare ahead at nothing as his voice echoed what Mickey had said.

 _'I love you, Roxas.'_

Sora could still feel the words whispered next to his ear and he wished so badly that they would just go away, but they refused to disappear as easily as Sora wanted them to. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides and shook his head. Mickey's concern was pushed away and the determination started to return as well. "No, I'll be alright. As soon as we deal with this problem and settle it, the sooner we can find Riku. I won't sit around and let them get away with what they're doing any longer." The guilt spread through him and it showed on his face as well as with the next words he spoke. "I put it off long enough..."

Mickey nodded. "Thank you again, Sora."

-

The darkness. It was a place where only heartless roamed and light could never touch. The realm was cold and could chill any living being to the bone. If a person were to give into such a place then they were cursed to live with the memory of it. It would keep hold of them and stay inside their hearts waiting for just the right time to wake up again.

One person had given into that place more times then once and had fallen back into it's grasp, and back into the realm that would soon have complete control of him once more.

Riku's body had been falling as soon as he had been pulled completely down, but the sudden fall to what seemed like nothing stopped even though there was still nothing but blackness to be seen. Only the cruel eyes of the heartless that always hung around in the darkness, waiting and watching for who would be next.

Thin wisps of smoke curled up, slowly inching towards the teenager's legs to try and grab him in its clutches. What stopped it from claiming Riku any further was a quiet voice that broke through the darkness, but there was no face to be seen to match it to.

"It seems even your light can't save you from what you've damned yourself to. Maybe..." The tone became thoughtful. "...the light will stop trying to save you altogether."

Riku laid on the cold nothing ground that was there but not there. He seemed devoid of life, like a discarded doll that had been tossed in the rubbish bin and left to rot with all things foul there.

It was then that it clicked in Riku's mind that it wasn't his own thoughts he heard but someone external to him, addressing him. Riku shot up to sit, but his new sight registered nothing but black spreading on into forever. Pure darkness. It had unhealthy chills running through him. Fear ran through him, remembering Ansem's voice, the very first that had addressed him and coaxed him into this damnation to begin with.

Riku was hesitant to even answer the voice. No good would come of it, but if he was to find someway out, gain some bearings, he had no choice. "..No. I don't believe that." He tried to answer with as steady a tone as he could.

"You don't have to believe it for it to be the truth." The voice continued on. "It could be staring you right in the face..." The blackness around Riku distorted in one area so only two figures could be shown. Axel and Sora. The heartless and the keyblade master were in the same intimate pose that Riku had walked in on in the throne room. "...but if you have blind faith in something then the truth doesn't matter as long as you believe in your own silly little ideals." The picture shattered and fell away. "Such a thing will be your undoing." A new image appeared. This time it was of Riku as he was being pulled in, but instead of Sora crying so hard and trying to help, the boy only stood there watching with no emotion.

Riku's shaky hands raised up to the blind fold that rested over his eyes. His breath quickened; he shouldn't be able to see these images so clearly with the blind fold on. But there it was, so perfectly clear and crisp the imagery, the colour- that expression on Sora's face.

Riku's fingers dug into his hair, gripping the blind fold; he didn't want the damned thing around his sight anymore. But without it, he doubted he'd survive with any of his own conscious sanity left. ".. Then I'll let it be my undoing."

"Hmm..." The thoughtful sound was hummed from deep in the darkness. "It will be so pointless to hold onto a light that doesn't want to be yours." The blackness had returned once the image had disappeared, but in the void a small speck of light actually shined above Riku, growing closer and closer to the teen. "That light will grow dimmer and dimmer. Then that light will fade out and burn away." The light did just as the voice said and caused darkness once again. "It won't belong to you anymore."

Riku continued to stare upwards even after the small bit of light had disappeared. His chest tightened, hopelessness was exactly what the darkness wanted him to feel; needed him to feel. It was a hard thing to fight; utter pessimism.

Riku shook his head. ".. No. _He_ isn't my light. He isn't Sora. Sora came back." He was starting to shout at this disembodied voice. "Sora came back to me. I chose this fate! I chose the darkness! I couldn't let him get dragged in with me!"

"Sora." The name echoed all around inside the darkness. "Roxas." There was a cruel amusement in that name as the voice said it, allowing it to echo as well. "They are two halves of the same whole. One has finally awakened again and his purpose is alive and waiting. The other mourns and loses all hope for what once was, as his heart is slowly taken over."

Beside Riku images of the two teens that were of the same body appeared back to back. While the image of Roxas was nearly solid, Sora was fading and flickering. "He won't hold on forever. He doesn't want to hold on forever." Sora disappeared and only Roxas stood.

Riku stared at Roxas; so much alike, yet so different. Two sides of a coin. But Riku shook his head denying what the voice said, the imagery he some how saw. "No. Sora's light will never dim. I won't let it." He took in a labored breath. "There can't be light without darkness. And if that means I have to be his darkness than I will."

Riku forced himself to stand whether his legs were ready to or not. He stood beside the image of Roxas that bitter loathing welled up in his chest when he saw the other half of Sora. It hurt to know that there was a part of Sora he didn't like; and the darkness feasted this knowledge quite greedily. But there was something Riku knew all too well about either worlds; acceptance. It was either consensual or forced upon you.

".. I'll always do whatever it takes." Riku reached out his hand, by some unknown reason he wanted to touch Roxas' cheek. "I'll hold on when he can't... and I'll let go when he doesn't want to let go."

"You can't hold onto a part of him that doesn't belong to you." Before Riku's hand could even get close, the image of Roxas disappeared and blackness took its place once again. "Nor can you hold onto a piece of him that feels nothing but hatred and contempt for you. That part of him can only feel for another. The person that will in the end have what you lost."

Riku kept his hand out, touching nothing and feeling less. Maybe the voice was right in that respect. He and Roxas never did mix well, which was thanks to their rocky beginning. ".. He was never meant to exist. What he did and felt wasn't Sora... He can't help but be independent." Riku lowered his hand. "I tried to return him to Sora as quick as I could..."

"Not quick enough." The words were spoken just to try and bring the teen down even further. "He wants what he had before. He had a taste of freedom again. It will be too hard to resist anymore and for much longer. This..." The image of Axel and Sora appeared again, but only a few feet from Riku instead of so far away. "...will become reality and Sora will slowly give in to what a small piece of his _heart_ is telling him." Only Sora's image morphed to become Roxas' body.

Riku tore his gaze from the sight and instead of arguing the matter further he decided to change the direction of accusations. "Just who are you?" He looked around and saw only black on black to infinity. "How do you know so much about Sora, Roxas and Axel?!" He back stepped, tensing to ready himself. "Show yourself!"

"Ah yes, those questions must be troubling you as well." The voice sounded only slightly amused. "Of course in the darkness our fears become more obvious then our successes. Why wouldn't I know so much about the one person that has spent the most time being part of the darkness?" There was a blur in the darkness. Something was taking shape and that something was obviously a person.

Despite the inky blackness around them the person took steps forward on the void underneath their feet. Hands were shoved deep inside pockets of a trench coat as normally had they just been taking a walk down a street. Black hair was flipped over an eye, but still a malicious intent could be seen in the other despite the nearly emotionless face of the heartless that stopped its walk towards Riku. "Or maybe I know all of this because I've seen these things. I know what the truth is and I know you all too well, Riku."

Riku's eyes widened under his blindfold and he near staggered from his shock seeing, recognizing, the black before him. He didn't need to 'see' to know exactly it was that was in front of him.

"Zexion!" Riku sneered, his hand lashing out to grasp Way to Dusk in his hand. "Figures you'd be lurking in the shadows like some rat!"

"So cruel." Zexion seemed to show no real fear of Riku's sudden battle ready attitude. "Lurking, no. I'm only trying to show you what begs to be seen." He continued to walk a couple of more steps and started to make his way around Riku. "The fact that everything you hold so dearly is going to be snatched away." The heartless removed a hand from his pocket, allowing a finger to trace invisible patterns that only he could see in the air while he walked. "Snatched away by the person who put you back in here with your own blade."

Zexion stopped when he was in front of Riku again and pointed the same finger down at Way to Dusk. The blade was suddenly covered in black and it pooled down, dripping to the void below.

Riku looked down to where black anointed the end of the blade as if it had just freshly stabbed him. Then just as suddenly Riku choked, his back burned and he felt the warmth spill down from a wound that hadn't been there. Black dribbled Riku's mouth, thick black that blocked his breath. He clutched at his throat with his free hand, doubling over as he choked black, the thick bloody mess splattering silently into the floor.

Riku spat and wiped his mouth, smearing the black, he did his best to speak through it. He refused to be taken in by the heartless' illusionistic powers, most likely amplified by the darkness. "Wh't do you care, Zex'on." He narrowed his eyes with loathing behind his blindfold.

"I don't _care_ , but I will make things easier." The scene before him still didn't even have one single emotion coming over Zexion's face. He only cocked his head as he took in the teen's doubled over state and the black mess that poured forth from his body. "It hurts, right? Do you suppose it would have hurt even worse if it had been Sora holding his own blade and sending you back here?" Zexion took a small step forward. "Isn't that what almost happened? Who's to blame for that as well? Who's to blame for the other half taking over?"

Riku squeezed his eyes shut, nausea and anger washed over him. The wound had gone in deep; black wouldn't stop filling his lungs; fake, a lie. "Ax...-Axel." He coughed hard, black splattering against his hand as he tried to cover it. "H-he betrayed you. The Organization. Isn't that right." Riku took in a shallow breath.

Way to Dusk was suddenly pointed dangerously close to Zexion. "Enemy of my enemy is friend, is it?" Riku spoke low in his throat.

Zexion finally gave only a smirk. He didn't even step back from the blade, holding his ground between the teenager and the dangerous weapon. "You catch on very well." The illusion was dropped and the blackness was gone as quick as it had tried to invade Riku's body along with the familiar wound.

"Would it be such a terrible thing?" Zexion continued on as soon as everything was as normal as it could be again. "You feel the same hatred towards Axel that I do. You know deep down somewhere that if you don't do _something_ Sora is going to be his prize. The body doesn't make a difference to him and you've seen it." His one eye that could only be seen narrowed. "And for one brief moment didn't you feel some form of betrayal? A form of hurt? All Axel's doing."

"Your helpfulness is out of character, Zexion." Riku pointed his weapon closer to the other. The relief of all the illusions gone only strengthened his actions. "Especially as a heartless, selflessness doesn't suit it. What is it you really want? Axel must have done a lot more than betray you if you're seeking _me_ out to help you illuminate him."

Those words actually had Zexion's cool demeanor cracking and he scowled at Riku. He wouldn't allow the teen to mess up his original plans though, so he continued on as coolly as he could. "Does it really make a difference what I want? Isn't seeing Axel gone for good enough for the both of us?" Zexion's attitude changed and he managed another small smirk. "Sora will continuously be troubled from now on. Isn't it quicker to just get rid of the problem without questions?"

Riku frowned before he scoffed and cocked his weapon to the side slightly, commenting with sarcasm. "The way you're going on about him, you'd think he killed you or something."

Zexion's smirk fell at the comment and his lips turned up to a snarl. His image faded and disappeared only to take its place behind Riku instead. He leaned in near the teen so his words could be heard in the boy's personal bubble. "You don't even know the half of it I'm afraid. Axel believes that his little pet is the selfish one, but in all reality he is much more selfish."

Riku stayed as he was, staring ahead of himself. His weapon lowered to rest at his side. With as little as Riku knew about Axel personally, he couldn't help but agree with Zexion's statement; much to his chagrin.

".. What did you have in mind?" Riku asked with less emotion. It didn't hurt to keep the playing field, and all options open.

Zexion was sure he had gotten his way and took a few steps back to allow the teen his space back. "Give in. That's all you need to do. Give into what you've given into countless times before." Memories started to replay in front of Riku as if they were movies inside the void. His times as a puppet for Ansem. Fighting Sora. Living in that same body just to fight Roxas. All were images that Riku would be able to see despite the dark cloth covering his eyes.

"Right now you're merely on the edge. You haven't completely fallen in. It's all because of that boy, isn't it? All because of the one keyblade master. If you don't let it surround you completely then the fight will be over and you'll lose everything. Axel will take what's yours." An amused sound left him. "You're not strong enough without total darkness. That's why you were defeated so easily."

Riku watched, still. He saw blades clash, and spiteful words thrown back and forth. His face was devoid of emotion as he watched on. Unseen under the blindfold his eyes kept on Sora, only Sora. Other friends and companions that flitted into the picture he didn't blink an eye over.

"..No. I won't be able to return to the world of light. I'll hurt Sora like I did before when Xemnas' heartless took over my body." Riku's hold on his weapon tightened. "I'll just be another lifeless puppet again. _Like you_!" In the blink of an eye Riku turned to slash where Zexion stood behind him.

But the bit of blackness was empty and only thin wisps of black smoke curled up and distorted where Riku's blade cut through. There was cruel laughter all around and no longer could Zexion be seen only his voice was heard once again. "Sora will suffer no matter what. You're still too blind that you can't realize it. Soon there will be no Sora. There will only be Roxas while you choose to stay away from what needs to be done, and Axel gets exactly what he wants." The last words were spoken in a harsh whisper, but still loud enough to echo.

"Sora would never give in!" Riku screamed into the nothingness around him. "He's strong! And I refuse to give in too!" He swung around at the dark, hoping to hit something, anything, but his blade swung freely, hitting nothing. "You're more of a coward as a heartless than you were a Nobody, Zexion!" His anger was getting the better of him, but he didn't care, kept from his light he didn't have much else to go on. "Especially if you need me to defeat Axel for you. Why not just let me out of the darkness! You know I'd go up against him anyway. Why these games!?"

"Yes, because you did such a wonderful job of it before." The words were spoken in a mocking tone. "You think Sora won't give in just because you have _faith_ in him? Just because _you_ say so?" A new image appeared far across from Riku. It showed Axel's last few endearing words to the Nobody inside Sora while the heartless held him tight. "Roxas will make sure he gives in. What you believe has no bearing on what will end up happening in due time."

Where the image had been Zexion reappeared in its place, causing it to vanish. He shrugged one shoulder and gave a cruel laugh before he spoke. "Just as the other half said. You're nothing special without that darkness. It's the only thing that can save what you need."

Riku growled, he gripped Way to Dusk with both hands and rushed where Zexion was, swinging hard, answering the other's manipulative words with violence.

Zexion jumped back unlike last time to avoid the forceful swing. As he landed on his feet a grin tugged at his lips and he raised his hand up to point in Riku's direction. Thin sheets of paper appeared as if out of thin air and shot out towards the teen, but it wasn't Riku they were after. The paper wrapped around the keyblade and slowly, the weapon started to get sucked in. "Now Riku, it's not good for you to swing around such dangerous toys like that."

In an instant the blade was gone from Riku's hands and the paper made its way back over to Zexion where a thin book floated near him. It was completely empty with no pages, but as soon as the paper neared it opened and the paper returned inside to fill the book back up. "You and I both know the situations you get yourself into doing such a thing." Zexion's grin widened as the keyblade appeared on the first page of the book before it slammed shut.

Riku curled his fingers, his now empty hands curled into tight fists. "I don't need a weapon to fight you." He uttered, low and hateful. The idea of wrapping his hands around Zexion's neck sounded far better than neatly slicing him into bloody segments. To feel the air cut off by his fingers, the quickened desperate pulse under his palms, and the muffled sound of a- Riku's eyes snapped open. He gave a small gasp, staggering back. He put a hand to his head.

"...Th-.. N-.." Riku clutched his head. This wasn't him. Those weren't his kind of thoughts. "No."

"You can feel it can't you?" The book vanished for the time being as Zexion took only a few steps forward. The teen's distressed expression only seemed to satisfy Zexion further. "It's slowly eating away at you once again. It's best to just accept what needs to be done. You're nothing without it." He stopped and watched as Riku seemed to battle with himself. "You can't save Sora without it. It's already been proven."

"NO!" Riku abruptly stepped forward. "No- that's not true! We defeated Xemnas! Your leader- we defeated him without the power of the darkness." He continued to walk forward, invading Zexion's personal space. "We destroyed him without darkness. I helped Sora without it. He helped me see the light again. I didn't need this." He lashed out his hands without thinking, his hands grasping around Zexion's neck. "I don't need this power! I don't need the darkness! I don't need you- or your help!" He grasped tightly, he didn't want to, but the harder he tried to stop the more his hands squeezed the heartless' neck. "I killed Xemnas- and I'll kill you too!"

Despite the situation he was in, Zexion didn't struggle. He kept where he was and only moved whenever Riku tried to squeeze harder. "You're enjoying this. I can tell. This violence only makes it all the more obvious." Finally Zexion had enough for the time being and much like before, a few pieces of paper came forth to circle around Riku, warning him to back off before they sucked him into the book as well. The teen would have no choice without the blade to protect him. "So far you aren't making a very convincing argument with such a display."

Riku didn't care. Maybe he did enjoy it and maybe he was damned never see Sora's bright face again, but he wasn't about to give up on the light. If it meant being a page on a book then so be it, rather that than a slave to the worst of every living being.

Riku dug his fingers into Zexion's neck, digging fingernails through gloves. "At least it'll be one less of you bastards that Sora will have to fight." He shoved Zexion forward, breaking past the barrage of paper. Pushing the heartless from him Riku slammed his fist into Zexion's pale cheek. Grasping his shoulders Riku slammed his knee into the other's ribs. Concentrating what strength he had left Riku forced intense black energy to his palms to collide explosively onto the contact he had with Zexion.

There wasn't much of a fight put up and Zexion's body flew far back into the blackness with the impact. The papers that had been surrounding Riku continued to circle the teen before they completely disappeared. The force of such energy had caused black wisps of smoke to curl up around the prone figure that lie on the ground several feet away, but once they vanished it wasn't Zexion who lay motionless.

A long scarf trailed across the floor of the void they were in, lying just as still as the body it belonged to. Both, tattered and torn.

Silence wrung through Riku's ears, deafening silence that had his jaw going slowly slack. No. It couldn't- it wasn't- Riku shook his head in disbelief. It had to be one of Zexion's illusions. It couldn't have been what he saw. He couldn't have attacked-

"..Sora." The name left Riku in a shuddering exhale. He raised a shaky hand up; it was black in his vision just like everything else for Sora. He blocked out Sora in his sight making everything a complete black emptiness. Riku's breath began to quicken and he slowly lowered it to see the same destroyed sight that tugged at his heart. But Sora was in complete colour, it had to be a part of Zexion's illusions. ".. I know this isn't real." He spoke aloud as he approached the sprawled form. "This is your illusion, Zexion." It didn't make the sight any easier to see, to step nearer too.

"It looks real enough to me." Zexion's voice was once again echoing in the darkness. "The hero of the worlds. The master of the keyblade. Destined to suffer and nothing more." The blackness under Sora became liquid as if water and started to take the boy that had always been part of the light. "Even if it was an illusion Riku, either way you've killed him by not giving in that last little bit. So close, yet so far."

Riku's heart began to hammer, harder and harder taking his breath with it. "It's not Sora..." He whispered to himself. "It's just an illusion. This won't happen." He shut his eyes to the sight but that wasn't enough, he could still see the small sprawled body being devoured by the liquid dark, just like he had. "This won't happen." He turned away at the scene, his hands balling into shaking fists. "That isn't, Sora. That isn't Sora... This isn't real." His hand covered his mouth.

"Riku!" The name was shouted desperately from behind the teen in the familiar voice he knew all too well.

"So sad. He's fighting a losing battle within himself and through it all he'll be alone." Despite his words Zexion's voice made it obvious he had no real remorse for Sora as the boy had woken while being pulled, trying to reach, grabbing for the teen who had his back to him. "Forgotten."

Riku stared ahead of himself with excruciatingly wide eyes through the blindfold. He couldn't get enough air in his lungs. That voice, so much like the real- "No." Riku clapped his hands over his ears to block out anything more, doubling over, and leaning away from the sight. "It isn't Sora." He chanted to himself over and over again. "It isn't real. It isn't Sora. This isn't really happening."

"Riku...please!" The voice became more fearful and with that fear it grew louder. "Help!"

Despite the fact Riku had covered his ears Zexion still spoke up in the echoing void. "Nearly gone. So close to his end. Left to fend for himself by the one he had tried to save yet got none of the same in return." A quick laugh came from the darkness. "And here his hero sits, wasting his breath on a mantra just to ease his fragile mind."

Riku pressed his palms harder against his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. "It isn't real! It isn't real! It isn't the real Sora! It isn't Sora! It isn't-" His eyes flashed open as his heart stopped dead in his chest; _what if it was?_

Riku turned around with a panicked jerk, his coat tail flailing behind him. "Sora-!" His pulse thudded in his ears; he almost couldn't hear his own voice. Sudden calm took him as he spoke his next words. "Say 'goodbye'."

The blackness had already swallowed up nearly all of Sora's entire being. Only the teen's head and an arm could be seen as it desperately reached for Riku once he was near and so close. Fingers itched to grab for him and a panicked look came over his face at the words spoken. "Riku..." The look on his face turned to one of hurt and he tried to make one last grab for the older boy before he actually spoke, being pulled in further as he did. "Goodbye."

Riku's horrified expression went blank, and all the tension went lax as all of his energy drained from his body. "... You're really not Sora." Something akin to relief washed over him, grim relief. Soundlessly he fell to his knees, crumpling. He watched the false Sora sink deeper and deeper; he couldn't turn his gaze away now. Black trickled down his cheeks from under the blind fold. His heart hurt so badly, the life inside slipping away with the vision of Sora before him.

The copy reached a hand out once more with pleading eyes despite Riku's final words. It was too late though, and finally the copy of Sora was pulled under completely.

There was nothing but blackness all around once again. The illusion was gone for good, but it had done the damage that needed to be done. There was nothing but silence while Riku sat in the void until footsteps came closer and closer as Zexion made his presence known once again to stand beside the broken down teenager. "He begged for your help." The obvious was spoken before Zexion asked a question that he already knew the answer to. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

More black tears spilled down Riku's face. ".. It wasn't him. We promised to... never say goodbye." The dull words left Riku without much thought to who he was saying it to. ".. To... never..." His head slumped forward, no energy to hold it up any longer.

"You base such silly things on one simple word." Zexion looked out towards the place where the illusion had just been. "When Roxas finally does take complete hold over him then you'll be forced into saying goodbye." He took a hand out of his coat pocket to place it on top of Riku's head. "You need to learn to stop basing everything around silly words, which in then end, won't help anything. They won't get rid of the person you hate."

The black tears plipped onto Riku's coat, darkness into darkness. Hope felt so far away. Yet Riku didn't resist the hand on his head, despite who it was who had shown him such a horrible illusion. ".. You hate Sora... You hate Roxas... You hate Axel... But most of all you hate me." A haggard exhale left Riku. "... Stop... Stop it. Stop pretending you're doing this for my sake." He raised his head enough to 'look' up at Zexion with the hand still on his head. ".. Admit you want him dead for your own selfish reasons, not mine."

Zexion turned his attention down to look at Riku after the teen had spoken. He kept quiet for a few seconds before he finally shrugged a shoulder and dropped his hand away from Riku's head. It returned to his pocket and his attention turned back to the black around them. "Fine, I admit to such a thing, but does it really matter what reasons we want him gone for? Same agenda all around, right?" His face remained emotionless throughout his speech.

Riku's shoulders shook. His entire chest spasmed with the action. It was moments after that a quiet sob left him, but soon the sound grew louder and it was easier to tell that it was quite the latter; it was a laugh, and a disjointed one at that. The laugh shook Riku's limp form, a sad, far gone sound of amusement. Riku only laughed harder, raising his hand to rest his forehead in. He shook his head, the hollow laughter spilling out of him.

Zexion didn't speak at all during Riku's sudden laughter. He kept completely silent and only after the sound had died down, little by little, did Zexion turn away from the blackness to actually face Riku. A look of amusement was on his own features as he raised one visible brow. "Something you find funny?"

Riku only laughed harder at Zexion's words, as if they were the most hilarious words he could hear in the worlds. His head lolled back from his hand as the unrestrained laughter continued. His arms fell lifelessly to his side as he snickered.

Something filled Riku, the empty hollow inside filled with something tainted, and it twisted that small sane piece inside him till it snapped. Before anything could register Riku was face to face with Zexion, near enough they shared the same breath. Riku gave another distorted laugh as he realized he'd plunged his hand straight into Zexion's chest. No warmth to be found from the heart in there.

Riku felt weak, almost too weak to stand, sickness rising in his throat. But more horrible laughter left him.

Zexion's one visible eye had widened. His own hands lifted up to try and grab onto Riku's arm, but stayed only a few inches away instead as he let out a shuddering breath. "You..." His entire body shook, but he managed to narrow his eyes on the boy in front of him.

Riku bore his hand deeper into the heartless, his fingers grasping into the cold nothing that was inside, and he twisted his arm inside Zexion. He leaned nearer, still chuckling inanely. "All you can do is hate..." Riku couldn't with hold the new laughter that escaped him. "At least...-at least that bastard _Axel_ can love."

With the sound of a page being torn, ripping apart somewhere, Riku's hand inside Zexion summed Way to Dusk.

The sudden sharp pain of the blade caused Zexion to stagger. He grit his teeth to try and bare it, but still blackness poured from his mouth and he was forced to open it again to avoid choking. With his last bit of strength he managed the weakest grin, but his eyes had fallen shut long ago. Everything had come together perfectly. "...and that's what you hate...the...most." The words were weakly spoken and the last thing the heartless was able to even breathe as his end finally came.

A slight chuckle started from Riku, a chuckle that shook into a soft laugh as Zexion burst into black mist and pages of a book. The paper fluttered around, falling and blackening like dead leaves from a tree all around. He watched Zexion's crystalline embodiment of his heart free itself of its dark shackles and disappear, but as his laughter grew stronger it broke into a sob. Zexion had been right.

Way to Dusk clattered to the ground and Riku staggered back a few steps. He clutched his chest as more black tears streamed down his cheeks. He had no more energy to stand and with a destroyed noise he fell to the floor as well, but there was no more solid ground anymore, only endless darkness for him now.

"Sora.. sorry."

-

Far from Disney Castle the four friends had started on their way to look for more of the Organization members turned heartless. There was to be no peace during their journey though as the usual rouge heartless had taken it upon themselves to make the entire situation even more difficult.

Sora had easily thrown himself into the battle, wanting to take his own misery out on enemies that were usually responsible for his pain to begin with. He slammed Oblivion into any heartless that dared to come near while his friends paid attention to the groups that surrounded them as well.

 _'Sora.. sorry.'_

The words were like a bolt of lightning through Sora and had him suddenly stopping in his tracks towards a few heartless that had been inching their way up out of the ground. He stopped breathing for a second when he recognized the voice and all he could do was stare blankly as the keyblade slipped further and further from his hand. "Riku..." Why did his entire being suddenly hurt so much in that one second?

"Sora, look out!" Donald shouted the warning to the dazed teenager, but it seemed to do no good. In a quick second he held out his wand and shot a bolt of ice at the heartless that had been jumping at Sora from the side, knocking it back into a few more. Donald wasted no time in hurrying over to his friend and shaking his arm. "Sora, are you crazy?! What are you doing just standing there?!" Donald blinked when he realized the other wasn't even listening. "Sora...?"

Goofy charged into the swarm of heartless he was fighting with his shield. The heartless flew back, dazed and he finished them off by throwing the sharp end of his shield into them. Catching his shield again he ran over to his gathered friends. "What's wrong? Donald, what happened to Sora?" He shook his human friend by the shoulder but got no response. When that didn't seem to work he took his shield without thinking and bonked Sora on the head with it.

That indeed did the trick. Sora snapped out of his daze only to bring both of his hands up and clutch at his sudden aching head. "Ow!" A loud whine escaped the teen as he realized he would more then likely have a headache now.

Donald had stared in shock at what Goofy did and quickly turned his attention on his partner afterwards. "What were you thinking? What did you do that for? You shouldn't just go hitting him over the head like that!"

Before a real argument could start up because of Donald's short temper, Sora spoke up quickly. "I-its okay, Donald. I'm fine, really." He rubbed his head a few more times before he allowed his hand to drop. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling he had. That pain in his chest and the sound of Riku's voice. "I heard him..." The words came out quietly before he had a chance to stop them.

"Gawrsh I'm sorry- huh?" Goofy stopped in mid apology to what Sora said. "Heard who, Sora?" He looked at his friend with concern yet still apologetic considering he'd just literally knocked Sora out of his thoughts. "Did I hit you too hard in the head? Sorry." He frowned and leaned over to speak in a none too subtle whisper to Donald. "Now he's hear'n voices."

"Riku. I heard Riku." Sora spoke on, ignoring Goofy's comment. His eyes slid halfway shut as the apology that had been whispered ran through his head once more. "I swear I heard him just a few seconds ago. H-He said he was sorry. He told _me_ he was sorry." A horrible fear shot through Sora just thinking about such words. "Riku..."

Before Donald had even been able to answer Goofy, Sora's words caught his attention and he became shocked. He immediately started to turn his eyes around the area they were in, but he saw no sign of the boy that Sora had spoken of. "But Sora, there's no one here but us..." He spoke up again when his search came up with nothing.

"Remember Donald," Goofy placed his hand on his chest, "we're all connected. At the heart. No matter how far apart we are, we're always together." He lowered his hand to skritch at his head, confused. "But, why would Riku be'apologiz'n to ya Sora?"

"I don't..." Before Sora could even finish speaking a horrible realization hit him. He could still see Riku being pulled down so far into the darkness and the sudden apology that he heard had chills running through him. "No." He shook his head back and forth, wishing with every part of his being that denial would actually help him. "Please. It can't be..."

Goofy glanced cluelessly at Donald; they could only assume the worst from Sora's reaction. Goofy leaned closer with worry on his long face. "What is it, Sora?"

"The darkness." Sora clutched Oblivion tightly in his hand. "It has him. It's taking him away from me." Sora didn't seem to care how possessive the words had come out. He was too broken to care for secrecy and lies at the moment. "It's happening all over again. Riku won't be Riku anymore." Tears blurred his vision much like they had when he came out of the throne room to tell his friends everything. "I couldn't save him..."

Donald gave a distressed sound of his own at seeing Sora so upset. The news was worse then hearing Riku's fall at the hands of Axel because whenever the darkness took over their friend it was hard to get their own piece of him back. "We can still try, Sora." The words were meant to help the teenager cope with the situation, but somehow considering the situation they seemed so little.

Goofy held his shield closer to his chest with a whimper. "What are we gonna do? We should do something. We can't just give up." He looked down at Donald and then at Sora. "There's gotta be a way to save him. We've done it before, right?" He tried to sound optimistic for his tortured friend.

"It's all Axel's fault and all those other Organization members!" With Goofy's own sudden optimism, Donald had gotten his usual attitude back. "If we can take out all of them then of course we can save Riku. It's their entire fault that he ended up there in the first place!" He waved his wand around as if to place emphasis on his point.

"Axel..." Sora couldn't help but to repeat the heartless' name out loud. With the name he finally felt that small tug that he had ignored countless times before. His eyes narrowed on the ground below. He didn't know why, but he couldn't feel that same spark that his friend was trying to display. Even though Riku was in danger, he just felt some form of hesitation within himself instead.

"I'm just happy we took out Xemnas' heartless before so we don't have'ta fight him now." Goofy nodded to Donald's fiery determination. "Hmm... do we have'ta beat all thirtee- I mean twelve members of the Organization to get Riku back? I-" Goofy realized how much worse Sora would get at that negative thought. "Oh!" He clapped a hand over his mouth. "I mean. Hm, we might see him sooner along the way." He added with weak enthusiasm.

Donald wasted no time in jumping up to hit Goofy over the head with his wand, glaring up at his partner for his lack of tact. "Nice going." He tapped a web foot against the ground.

Sora ignored Donald's violent reaction and only focused on Goofy's question. It was true the thoughts had hurt, but he still had to think of such possibilities. He had flinched at Goofy's slip up on the numbers, but hid it well to answer his friends. "I don't know. I hope not. I want to get Riku back as soon as possible. There's no telling what's going to happen though. If it means I have to kill them all over again then so be it." His voice had lowered with those last few words.

Goofy rubbed his poor sore head with both hands, wilting. He'd only made Sora's mood just that much worse. He tried to think of a quicker solution or even something to cheer Sora up, but his simple mind came up black; the painful hit he'd received didn't help. "Maybe Axel knows." The words just tumbled out of him. Of course he didn't think past the fact that they couldn't just walk up to the heartless and ask, or that he was the exact reason Riku was in the darkness in the first place.

Donald slapped a hand across his own face and groaned. "Goofy..."

Sora tensed up at the simple suggestion. It was the truth. Axel would know anything and everything about what was happening with all of the Organization members; at least to a point where Sora could have some kind of upper hand. The sad truth was, Axel was the main reason for Sora's loss and had no need to help Sora at all. Axel was a heartless now. He wasn't that same Nobody that stood beside Sora and helped him into The World That Never Was. He had a malicious feeling about him now and Sora himself wanted to stay away from it for his own reasons.

"Axel only cares about Roxas..." Sora brought up a hand to tug at his shirt over his chest. "I don't need his help. He'll only try to make me believe I'm someone I'm not. Besides..." Sora dropped his hand and glanced at his two friends. "I don't want help from the person that put Riku where he is."

"Oh yeah." Goofy lamely nodded, sadder now. "Sorry. Wasn't think'n." He lowered his head but his mind got to working on something else and he said it out loud before he should have. "What if you pretended to be this Roxas fellow? Trick him maybe? Into tell'n ya where Riku is."

Donald was quick to finally slap his hands over Goofy's mouth, having to stretch to do so since the other was so tall. "That's enough out of you! Don't you even remember who Roxas is?" Donald shook his head sadly after those words, knowing that his dumbfounded friend more then likely wouldn't.

Sora's eyes had widened at the suggestion and he opened his mouth before closing it just as quickly. Why had that idea sounded so tempting for a quick second? He had always hated the idea of never being anyone but himself and even the thought of _pretending_ to be his other half should have been a quick no and to be done with the matter. He didn't need Roxas' identity to get Riku back. His Nobody had caused enough trouble already by just existing.

"No, I want nothing to do with Axel." Those words felt so hollow to his ears, but he paid no attention to it. Just the thoughts of how the heartless had touched him and the words that had been spoken to him. He still flinched inwardly at the memories.  
"Mff-m...Sfforry." Goofy blinked. He pushed Donald's hand off his mouth. "Wasn't think'n again. Never really met that Roxas fellow, can't really say what he's like. But you're right, Sora. That Axel fellow isn't one we want to tangle with." He looked up thoughtfully. "Such a shame though that he isn't anything like his Nobody. Nice feller he was. What with what he did for you and all, sacrifice'n his self." Goofy shrugged at a loss. "Wonder what made him turn into a bad guy all'uv'a sudden."

"He's a heartless now, Goofy! That's what made him turn into a bad guy." Donald shook his head as he tapped a finger against his own temple in frustration. "I don't get how you do not understand this after so long."

"Bitterness." Sora spoke quietly after Donald was finished. "Everything he did for Roxas made him bitter. He just wanted to see Roxas again." In a way Sora felt like he was defending Axel, but he couldn't stop himself. "I was the only link he had back to my Nobody." Sora shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "It doesn't matter, though. None of that is any excuse for what he did. I told him that Roxas is gone and it's the truth. He'll pay for what he did to Riku."

Goofy looked to Sora at such a dark threat coming out of the teen. It had him frowning and wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. "We'll get him back as soon as we can, Sora." He smiled a little, growing more optimistic. "And I bet he's trying to do the same. Riku wouldn't give up. He's one of your closest friends after all."

Close friend. That phrase almost had Sora laughing. If they only knew the half of it, but Sora didn't dare speak such a thing out loud. Donald and Goofy were two friends he could talk to about anything, but not such secretive things that he and Riku had sworn not to tell anyone. "Yeah, you're probably right." Still, he couldn't shake that feeling of dread even when he tried to give his friends a weak smile. The chills just wouldn't leave him and he felt as if they never would.


	6. Chapter 6

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 06

On and on the trio continued with weapons drawn. Surprise attacks were suddenly a common thing for the heartless as per usual, but they weren't the heartless that the three friends were really searching for. Only the same rogue ones that always came and went brought down by the three in a few quick attacks before they continued their search.

Sora had continued to feel a small bit of regret for not being able to save Riku in time or for not being able to save him at all, but his friends refused to give up and kept trying to lift up his spirits whenever they saw his thoughts trying to bring him down. They weren't used to the quiet side of Sora, but the teen just hadn't been in the mood to be his usual cheery self for a while. It gave his friends the hint to let him have his space for the time being as they kept walking and silence was the only thing between them for a long time.

Goofy glanced back at Sora, watching his friend drag himself along as he stared at his shoes. It had the dog frowning; he wanted to say something but a glance at Donald's scowling face had him being quiet once more.  
They continued walking in silence through the forested area of a simple rural area. Normally under such warm, sunny weather, without a cloud in the sky they'd be chatting up a storm about nothing at all important without a care in their heart. But despite the smiling weather it felt like a dark, stormy weather that hung over them; their own personal cloud of gloom.

It wasn't long before Goofy was glancing back at the dejected Sora. Despite the warning look of the angry duck, Goofy felt the need to lighten Sora's mood, at least a little. A frown just didn't belong on Sora's face.

"Nice weather, huh?" Goofy smiled friendly like at the teen.

Sora actually looked up for once to give Goofy a quick glance. He hadn't even noticed the scenery around them to be quite honest. His boots had been much more interesting, but even those hadn't been the one thing on his mind while he stared at them for however many hours they had been walking. "Hmm?" He chanced a glance up to look around and shrugged the shoulder that Oblivion rested on for the moment. "I guess so."

Of course all he could think about as he looked at such a clear sky was his home and the island. That only brought him back down to why he was so distraught in the first place and he let his eyes fall down to his boots once more as he kept walking.

Donald let out a sigh that was crossed between frustration and sadness for his friend. He knew Sora was upset, but they needed him to be much more determined then he was acting at that moment. He refused to push his friend though, which was why he had kept his mouth shut unlike Goofy, but getting his partner to do the same thing was always a lost cause.

"Don't think any heartless will wanna strike on such a beautiful afternoon." Goofy inhaled the sweet air through his nose and exhaled with a content noise. "This is pic'nic'n weather. Gawrsh. I haven't done that for ages now that I think about it." He scratched his head as he gave that some serious thought, but gave up on it when nothing came to his mind. "We've been fight'n all day long. Maybe we should stop and take a breather. Enjoy the scenery." He looked back at Sora hopeful that it would bring him out of his funk. "Whatchya think, Sora?"

"Are you crazy?" Donald was quick to cut in on the conversation with wide eyes. He was always amazed and quite annoyed at his partner's simple mind. "We can't just stop in the middle of nowhere like this. We have heartless to find. There's no time for rest."

"Actually Donald, it doesn't sound like that bad of an idea." Sora finally spoke more then a few words to his two friends. "It's a really nice place and we've been fighting for so long now. It couldn't hurt." Oblivion vanished, leaving Sora with both hands free to stretch out above his head. It felt good to finally do such a thing. Despite the nagging guilt of just suddenly stopping, he knew he needed the time to just unwind as best he could and clear his thoughts. Maybe it would help.

"That'a boy, Sora." Goofy's smile widened. He put away his shield so he could do the same, stretching out his arms with a jaw stretching yawn. He scratched his side and smacked his lips, happy to relax, fight after fight. "You'll feel better once you stop and smell the flowers." He leaned back against a tree.

"I quite disagree." A cool voice spoke up beside Goofy. "No _flower_ will help you gain what you've lost."

Goofy jumped away from the tree with a yelp, and for a moment he thought it was the tree that spoke until a familiar figure stepped from behind it. What had been ashen blonde hair was now white, the black skin and yellow eyes easily depicting what he now was. "So unproductive. At least the darkness has gained a most powerful puppet. A most impressive specimen."

Sora's relaxed state dropped instantly at the sound of the voice as well as their new company. His eyes narrowed and the keyblade instantly came back to his hands as he stepped back, causing his friends to do the same. "Vexen..." The name of the former Nobody was nearly hissed through his teeth, but just as quickly Sora's eyes widened.

The mention of the darkness had something inside of him jumping instantly and he couldn't help shouting the first thing that came to mind even though he knew the person in front of him was nothing but trouble. "You mean Riku, don't you? Where is he?! Give him back!" Sora's eyes narrowed further on the heartless and he took a step forward.

Vexen shrugged out his hands. "Sorry, but I'm helpless to that little variable. You see, I'm not in cahoots with that fiery barbarian you're after, who stole the one you seek." He crossed his arms, relaxing back against the tree. "You see, the darkness is far greater and far more vast a place than you take to consider." He pointed to the sky. "Take our own glorious space for instance- so limitlessly expansive that there are an uncountable amount of possibility for planets with people on them." Vexen shrugged again. "Think of the darkness as infinitely more expanded, considering all those people with that much coarse emotion adding constantly to the darkness itself." He tapped his lips. "I wager there will never be an end to it.

"That said. Axel seems to have taken advantage of that fact, and hidden himself and your little dark inhabited friend as well in it." Vexen looked back upon Sora with his soulless glowing eyes. "But here lies the common ground, Keyblade Master; we both despise that traitor."

Sora's eyes narrowed even further at those words. He remembered what Mickey had told him when they had been at the castle. The other heartless had no business with Axel, but Sora never stopped to think that they would obviously see him as a traitor. He was easily disappointed over such a fact. It only meant that the search would be twice as hard if a run in with every other Organization member left him empty handed aside from Axel.

Sora could still see the blade driven in Riku's back. The way Axel had looked so pleased with himself over the entire situation. It tore Sora up inside. Slowly he stood up straight and allowed Oblivion to dangle lightly at his side, refusing to let it vanish just yet. "Why should it matter to me what Axel did to you?"

"My, my, such apathy from one I've heard so highly of, so disrespectful of your elders, but I'm glad you're willing, if not begrudgedly willing to hear me out." Vexen looked over his fingers which were more heartless like than human now. "I'm more a man of science than a fighter. But I suppose what I am now gives me a chance to study the subject I've devoted my life to. Live life on the other side, a first hand experience." He looked back to Sora. "But now being a heartless it gives me privy to insight. This is how I know about your friend taken in by the darkness."

Vexen stepped away from the tree to properly face Sora, but he made no move to near the teen. He didn't want to set off the already high strung boy with the powerful weapon. He wasn't there to fight. "I can also surmise that you're walking blindly right now. No leads." He shook his head. "All while your friend grows weaker and weaker to fend off the evil that wants to consume his heart." Vexen tilted his head, observing Sora as if he were a thing instead of a person. "He won't last more than a day I'm sure."

Sora let out a shuddering breath at such words. He refused to believe them no matter how much they taunted him and old memories tried to arise. "That's not true. Riku is stronger then that. He can hold out against the darkness. He would never give into it so easily. Not like he did before." At the same time Sora tried to forget the broken apology he had heard in his head in Riku's own voice.

Sora took a calm step forward, but stopped right after. "We'll find him before it even has a chance to take him completely. You don't know what you're talking about." The last words were spoken harshly.

Vexen blinked. "A heartless not understanding the darkness? That's like forgetting how to breathe." He shook his head as if Sora were a failing understudy. He tapped his temple. "A strong heart can only last so long... especially if they're terrorized. And Axel has been relentlessly doing so to your dear friend. Riku is relentlessly subjected to his own demons once again. If Axel continues tormenting him, I'm sure he'll break down far sooner." Vexen sighed. "Torture is so primitive. But it's right up Axel's ally."

Sora could feel his eyes widen at what he was being told. He couldn't even imagine Riku having to go through such a thing. It was too much. First Axel had taken his friend away and now this? It set Sora on edge and Oblivion was gripped tightly once again in his hand. "He'll pay for it. I'll make Axel pay for everything he's done. He can't hide in the darkness forever." Sora ignored the worried glances he was getting from his friends because of his sudden dangerous tone. He lifted Oblivion up to point the end of the blade towards Vexen. "If you're so smart, then tell me how I can get to Axel. I want Riku back _now_."

Vexen pulled a crown card from his sleeve, holding it up between two fingers. "On here is the location of the world where you want to go." He sent the card flying over to the Keyblade Master. "To an icy area, called Northern Crater. Deep inside there you will find what you wish. It leads to the heart of the planet, but I warn the darkness of a heart that big is poisonous. A great war happened there, and it scarred the area with the bitter memory. The heartless are vicious there. A place Axel would be sure to do evils most foul."

Sora had caught the card between his fingers and looked the image over that was held within it. With that one card he would be so much closer to getting Riku back. It had him a bit hesitant as he turned his gaze back to Vexen and kept his blade drawn. "Just like that? You're so ready and willing to help me, just like this?" He blinked his eyes, but his voice still held some suspicion despite his command for the help. "All because you have the same hate for Axel?"

Vexen pressed a finger against his temple, not looking completely proud of himself. "Let's just say that the last time I went up against Axel I did not fair so well." He quirked his lips, "I wasn't in the Organization for my brawn, sadly." He lowered his hand to splay it. "Two birds with one stone. It saves me dieing a second time."

Donald frowned at how easily Sora seemed to be giving into the idea that Vexen had given him. "I don't know about this. Don't you think we should just continue trying on our own, Sora? We can find Riku together, remember?"

Sora had looked back down to the card and stared at it for a while as he thought over Donald's words. They had been walking for what felt like forever and still had nothing to go on. If they didn't at least try then Sora knew he would feel even worse for letting go of the only chance he might have. "Together, yeah." Sora gave in and threw the card up. He stepped back and pointed the keyblade towards it, watching as light shot towards the card, keeping it steady. "But we're going together where we might actually have a chance at seeing him again."

As the card glowed a door started to appear. It slowly opened and only when it was finished did the keyblade stop it's task and the card returned to Sora's hand as the teenager stared at the door that would lead them to the world which had only been an image on it moments ago.

"H-hey." Goofy blinked and looked around. "Where'd that Vexen fellow go? He just kinda disappeared." He continued to look around but didn't see any sign of the heartless, or where he could have gone.

"But Sora- what if this is a trap." Goofy looked at the door unsurely, he hushed his voice just incase the heartless was lurking around still. "He was a member of that Organization. How do we know if he's telling the truth?" He looked at Sora. "He is a heartless after all."

Sora didn't seem all that interested in Vexen's sudden disappearance at the moment. The heartless had only seemed to want to give Sora his opportunity at fighting Axel and the teen was fine with that. If Vexen caused trouble later on then he would take care of him when the time came. "We have to take the chance. Riku is stuck in the darkness right now and if Vexen is telling the truth then we need to do whatever we can to get him back, even if that means taking this one bit of help from him. We're just lucky he's not on Axel's side." With those words he made his way through door, knowing that his friends wouldn't be far behind despite their worries.

Goofy and Donald exchanged a hesitant look before they followed Sora through the door.

Everything went bright and the door closed and disappeared soon after.

The light around them faded leaving them in a barren ice waste land. The biting cold was shocking to say the least. The hard winds blew mercilessly against them, pelting dry snow and ice against their bodies, chilling them through their thin clothes.

Donald gave a 'brrr' that ended in a loud fit of angry quacks as he shook his fists and wand at the offending wind. He thrusted his wand into the air and in a flash they were all in clothing suitable for such harsh weather.

"Lookie." Goofy pointed to the extensively large crater before them. "This must be Northern Crater. Guess it's easy to see how it got its name- Ahyuck."

Sora took a few steps forward, but stopped before he could be in any danger of tumbling into the large crater before them. The image on the card didn't really do the scene that was in front of them much justice at all and Sora found himself looking around to get a better view. Despite Donald coming up with some better clothing for them to wear he still found himself shivering. For some reason he knew it wasn't just because of the cold that surrounded the three of them.

"You shouldn't stand so close to the edge like that, Sora" Donald spoke the warning in concern for his friend's safety. Sora had been so spacey lately that he wasn't quite sure what the teen would do next. "Also, remember what Vexen said. The heartless around here are much more vicious. We need to be careful and stay close together."

Sora nodded in understanding and stepped back for at least the time being. "Axel might be down there. Trap or not this is the one chance we have to check it all out." Sora closed a fist tightly. "Things might actually have a chance to get better."

"Right. No time like the present then." Goofy strolled through the snow to the edge to take a look himself. "I suppose we can follow that path there. It's pretty narrow so- we should go one at a time in a line up." He peered down further. "Looks pretty dark... and pretty deep." He gulped.

Donald jumped up on top of Goofy's head to lean his weight on his partner and get a better look down. Once he saw how right Goofy was he let out an annoyed noise over the entire situation. "I still say this is a bad idea, but no one ever wants to listen to me."

Sora actually laughed at Donald's words; a sound that had been so foreign to the group for such a long time. He shook his head as he tried to suppress his giggles and finally quieted himself after a few seconds, waving off the strange looks he got from his friends. "You're right Donald, no one does, but we need to take chances every once in a while." He smiled sadly at that and looked back towards the path, wasting no time in heading down it first.

Goofy glanced up at Donald and gave a brief shrug before a smile and laugh of his own. Sora's brief moment of good humor was enough to motivate him to follow. He put Donald down on the ground so he wouldn't be off balance and fall; he wasn't called 'Goofy' because he was graceful.

The further down they walked, the darker it got, which was a change from the white snow above. Between the large rocks of the walls of the crater little green crystals eerie glowed shedding their soft emerald light just enough for the party to see. A light fog hung in the air, blown by a wind that wasn't seen or felt.

The feeling Sora felt earlier grew heavier, and Donald and Goofy could begin to feel it as well. There was a familiar something, like the tugging of a nostalgia that you just couldn't place; the more you tried to think where or what, the more it disappeared into your mind.

"... Sure is spooky." Goofy whispered.

"That's putting it mildly." Donald rubbed at his arms as he looked around, but the chill refused to go away.

"Oh come on guys, it's not that bad." Sora tried to reassure his friends, but it was mostly to help them relax. He felt just as nervous about the sudden darkness around them as his two companions did. His stomach churned and his breath had grown shaky long ago, but he tried to mask it. It would do him no good to grow nervous as they continued deeper on into the crater since he had been the one so willing and ready to go.

"If this isn't bad, then I'm afraid to see what 'bad' actually is like." Goofy hunkered down in on himself as he continued to walk behind Sora.

It was only getting darker, the flecks of light from the crystals the only source to be seen. Above the vast opening of the crater appeared as nothing more than a small white circle above.

A heavy feeling of morose crossed over Sora's heart, someone else's' disquietude; someone who was very close to Sora. It was a sadness that clung to Sora's insides with each breath he took. The feeling grew with each step Sora took, deeper into the crater which seemed near bottomless.

Sora lifted a hand to clutch at his chest. The feeling that was suddenly moving though him was starting to become unbearable. He tried to take in a breath of air, but it did no good and he nearly choked instead. That sadness was trying to turn into a dull pain and slowly Sora started to slow down until he actually stopped almost causing his friends to bump into him as well as each other.

"Sora?" Donald leaned over to look past Goofy at his human friend. "What's the matter? Why did you stop?" A concerned look crossed over his face when the teen seemed to have become spacey again.

Sora kept silent, keeping a tight hold near his chest. He had no idea why he was feeling such things, but it worried him greatly. Slowly he started to realize he had been spoken to and shook his head to try his best and let his friends know he was okay. "I-It's nothing. I'm just cold. That's all." He left it at that and started going once again despite the pain.

Goofy watched as Sora's condition got no better as they walked. He was forced to watch as his friend grew more and more haggard, his breath near erratic. But it would do no good to talk to him about it, since Sora seemed set on denying any ailment that plagued him. It had Goofy feeling bad for his friend, ignoring how bad the place made him feel.

Destiny Islands; the image of the quaint little beach flitted through Sora's mind. The sounds of their young laughter, his, Kairi's, Riku's, happy care free, so badly missed.

Sora nearly choked on a sob as the image came to his mind. Combined with the feelings that continued to tug at him inside it was just too much to bear any longer. His hand moved from his chest to hold tightly to his head, willing the image to leave, but it refused to go away. He stumbled from already nearly being off balance and finally fell to his knees in the middle of the path, but didn't seem to notice much except the pain in his head and the rest of his being.

Donald jumped up when he noticed his friend had fallen, but he was just too short to get past his partner who was blocking his way. "Sora!" He let out an annoyed sound when the teen wouldn't respond and looked up at Goofy for help.

"S-Sora!" Goofy nearly tripped over the teen. He waved his arms to get steady before he caught his balance. "Sora, are you alright?" He leaned down to look at the boy's face, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? It's this place isn't it? It isn't good. We should go." He glanced back at Donald.

Donald nodded quickly in agreement which was something rare when it came to his partner. "We should leave right away. I knew this place was no good." Donald looked around as if something would suddenly jump out at them at any moment.

Sora quickly shook his head, having finally snapped himself out of the trance he was in when Goofy touched his shoulder. "No, I have to. I need to find out what's going on." Sora tried his best to stand back up. It took a few tries, but he was steady on his feet again while he still clutched his head. "I'm not just going to run away from this. Something is going on and I'm going to find out what. Besides..." He dropped his hand, but still felt the pounding. "...it just means we're closer to _something_." He tried his best to keep walking again despite his friends' worries.

"Something that's not good I'll wager." Goofy followed after the teen. "Please Sora, even if we found Axel in here, you'd be in no shape to be fight'n." He hated seeing Sora in this state, dragging along himself despite what it was doing to him. "There's a thin line between determination and stubborn, Sora. I think you should reconsider doin this."

Sora flinched at such words and stopped once again for only a second. "I...just want to find Riku, that's all." The words were spoken sadly. "I'm not being stubborn at all. I'd do anything to find him and bring him back to me. It doesn't matter what shape I'm in. I'd do anything and go through anything. Even try and fight my way through someone like Axel." He turned around to face his friends in the narrow path and frowned. "You'd both do the same thing if it was me, right?"

Donald wilted at such a look on Sora's face. The words had an effect on him as well and he quickly nodded his head in response to the teen. Sora was their friend. They would do anything for him if anything were to happen to him. "Of course, Sora."

Goofy nodded with Donald. "Yeeah, but-.." There really wasn't any 'but' to it. Sora was right; Donald and he would go through any odds to save Sora, or any friend. ".. Guess it just hurts to see ya like this is all. We're just worried." He gave a weak smile. "Just... don't push yourself too hard, okay?" He looked down past the path they walked on. "Looks like we're nearing something." There was a cool green glow now visible in the deepest part of the crater.

Sora perked up a bit at those words. He turned around and saw the glow that Goofy had pointed out. The pain was still there tugging at him and his legs were still shaky, but he refused to give into any of it anymore when he realized that they had to be close to something. "Come on, guys!" He shouted the words at his friends, but didn't even wait up as he hurried along to see what the strange glow could be about and nearly tripped over his feet in the process.

The ledge broke off into rocky steps that they all had to leap across, but it didn't seem to hinder Sora, and Donald and Goofy nearly fell a few times as they tried to keep up to Sora's sudden enthusiasm.

But soon the source of the glow could be seen; a vast stretch of water, glowing with the very life and source of the world itself. Thousands of little warm puffs of light floated in and out of the water like playful little fireflies. They danced about the little streams of light that would swim out from the water, the stream twisting around the air across its glittering surface before it returned back. The life of this world came from this stream and then returned once they passed away; one and the same.

The magnificent pool itself was shaped in a heart; symbolisis personified.

Sora stood near the pool and felt that all he could do was stare. The entire scene really was beautiful in his eyes. He had never seen anything like it. He watched as a small light floated up from the water and kept his eyes on it for a few seconds before his attention was brought back to the pool itself. "Axel is in a place like this?" He walked closer to the water, but continued to keep some distance. It was such a change from the chilling atmosphere from before when they had been walking.

Goofy whistled his amazement. "Who'da'thunk'it."

Something bubbled near the center of the pool. A few of the puffs of light curiously flew near, swirling around the air before whatever it was bobbed up to the surface, scaring them away.

The small item was easily recognizable, small, star shaped and yellow. The memory of the crooked tree with the many little star shaped fruits flickered into Sora's mind; so many hours just wasted together there, leaning against that tree, watching the sun rise and set. The colours washing the world in warmth and promise, whether the day was starting or even ending.

Sora's attention had immediately gone towards the center of the water to watch what it was that had come to surface. "Paopu..." The name of the yellow fruit left his lips while the memories ran through his mind. His heart quickened in that instant and he took a step forward, intending to run towards the pool. His curious and jumbled mind told him to grab at the fruit while it was still there.

A tug at his arm had Sora staying right where he was, though. He quickly turned his head back to look at the source and found Donald grabbing him to keep him right where he was. "Let go, Donald!" His words were desperate.

Donald only shook his head. "No way, Sora. It might be a trap." He kept a firm grip on his friend's arm and frowned. "Besides, you never know what could happen if you go near that water."

Goofy watched Sora literally drag Donald along with him towards the pool. "S-Sora." But the teen wasn't listening, too busy arguing with the stubborn duck. "Sora!" Goofy grabbed onto Donald to try and anchor the teen down. "That water could be dangerous."

"It doesn't look dangerous." It was the only defense Sora had at the moment as he continued to try and drag his friends along. The added weight Goofy gave had him slowing down and he started to reach for the pool instead. "Let me go, guys. I need to figure out why the paopu fruit was there. It doesn't make any sense. I need to see for myself. Let go."

The three continued to bicker as Goofy and Donald tried to keep Sora back from the pool. But the teen seemed to prove far stronger in his compulsion. Either's loud voices echoed in the bowels of the crater as they all struggled against one another, scaring off the puff balls of light.  
It wasn't long before one of them slipped, one weight pushing into another setting the next off balance, and like a line up of three dominos they all fell with a splash into the life stream.

Sora felt as if he were falling. It was the first thing he noticed as soon as his body hit the water. He tried to reach up to grab onto something, anything to pull himself back up, but there was nothing but endless water all around him, pulling him further down. He let his arms fall limp at his sides and shut his eyes, giving into his descent into what he thought had only been a shallow pool.

The little puffs of light gathered near Sora and his friends, swirling around them along with the wisps as they sunk deeper into the water. Little glowing souls, millions of little of possible beings flew down with them. All around it grew brighter, warm on them. Their winter clothing changed back into their regular attire with a shimmer. They could feel the very life of the planet, the flow of all; of people, animals, and plants.

One light ball touched Sora's nose; it was to be a monarch butterfly, and its imagery fluttered through his mind until the light flew away.

The water held no resistance so it felt more like they were falling through air rather than water. Below them was darkness, and the puffs of light fled as Sora and his friends descended into it leaving the calm peace to the darkness of the very planet.

Sora's feet touched ground; he was somewhere new and maliciously cold. The walls were crystalline, icy but never truly shining.

As soon as Sora was sure his feet were firmly on the ground he took a look around. The fall through the pool hadn't been an entirely bad thing, but where they ended up was a different story. The feeling he got from the place had him wishing that he had taken his friends' advice and stayed away from it completely. He took a tentative step forward, but then thought better of it and kept right where he was.

Donald and Goofy were no where to be seen.

All around Sora felt the weight of anger from the entire world. An anger and bitterness for the people living upon it that gave it constant pain without thought. The same people that were connected to the planet was destroying it without care; mining, draining the very stream of life to run dirty inefficient homes. They dumped their very filth in rivers killing the innocents of life. They clogged the air with thick unbreathable smog that blocked out the sun for trees and plants causing them to wilt and die in silence.  
All of this hatred, this betrayal, was gathered and stirred in the area that Sora stood.

Sora's entire body went completely rigid as so much anger poured into his thoughts at once. He was forced to take in a sharp breath at the impact of it all. Images continuously ran through his mind and he tried his best to shut his eyes and force them to leave, but it was no use. His hands moved up to clutch at his head, but it did nothing at all to dull the pain either. Nothing would get rid of what he was feeling at that moment.

Then out of no where a star fell from the sky and hit Sora in the head. The familiar fruit fell at his feet.

"...Sora." All of the world's utter hatred quieted to that familiar whisper of his name.

Before Sora light illuminated, bright and beautiful. It was the very heart of the world in all its magnificence. A massive crystal in the room's wall that gently pulsed, the mark of the key hole glowed brightly at the presence of the Keyblade Master.

And there on higher ground in front of it stood the silhouette of Sora's friend.

Sora's hand fell away from his head where it had rubbed the abused spot. The sudden voice had caught his attention and his eyes widened as he bent down to pick up the fruit. "Riku?" He looked up immediately to where he had heard the voice. He stared at the silhouette as his heart hammered in his chest. Oblivion was called forth to his hand and he gripped the blade tightly before he pointed it towards the key hole. The familiar light shot forth from the keyblade in an instant. "This will all be over soon." He kept the piece of fruit held in his hand the entire time and held it only a little tighter after he spoke.

The loud click of a lock echoed the vast room and soon the key holes out line faded.

The colourful light from the locking danced on the dark cloak of Sora's friend. After it faded they stepped forward, stopping at the slope of higher ground they stood on. "..Sora." They whispered again, longing and sorrow straining their voice.

Sora turned his attention back on the cloaked figure right away. Oblivion vanished just as quickly as it had appeared as Sora ran over to the bit of higher ground with hurried steps and held out his hand. Every thought in his mind told him that he had finally found who he was looking for. Riku was safe and he no longer had anything to worry about. Just that thought had a small smile coming to his lips as he reached out a little farther to get the other to take his hand. "Everything is okay now." He said the words out loud with a sigh of relief to ease the both of them.

A dainty hand reached out and rested itself on Sora's palm, slender fingers curling around his hand. Ungloved, it wasn't the strong hand Sora expected, the skin was too soft to be the hand of a friend who he'd played sword fighting with since they were young. But it was a hand that Sora wasn't unfamiliar with, he'd held it before many times in games. And now it squeezed his, nearly clung to his hand, touched by words that they didn't know weren't meant for them.

".. I thought you forgot about me." They sniffled, their free hand going under the hood to wipe at their face.

"K-Kairi..." The name slipped past Sora's lips instead of the one person's that he had been searching so hard to find, and with it came the disappointment all over again. The same disappointment was clear on his face as the smile faded and he dropped his gaze to stare at their hands. He hadn't meant to sound so down suddenly, but his chance at finally finding Riku was gone in an instant.

"W-What are you doing here?" The question ran through Sora's mind. They had left Kairi back home. "How did you get here?" He looked back up as that last question left him and his hand grew slack in the girl's grip.

The girl pulled down her hood to reveal herself, but Sora's unhappy expression had her own usual smiling one frowning. "..You aren't happy to see me." She looked away dejected.

"This place is dangerous Kairi. You shouldn't be here!" Sora spoke up immediately in answer to what the girl said. A small sigh left him after he shouted and he dropped his gaze. "I thought you were Riku. Something happened to him and we've been looking for him." He quickly shook his head before he turned his attention back on his friend. He didn't want to worry her with what had been going on. "It's just very surprising to see you here. That's all, Kairi..."

"He was right..." Kairi's voice started to crack and she raised her free hand to rub at an eye. She turned her head more, not wanting Sora to see any possible hurtful tears. "... All you care about is Ri- _him_."

"Kairi?" The girl's words had startled Sora. He leaned in a bit closer to the high ledge she was still on, but couldn't get a good look at her face. "What do you mean 'he was right'? Who was right, Kairi?" Sora's eyes narrowed a little and he stepped up closer. "What's wrong? You still haven't told me how you got here in the first place."

The girl threw Sora's hand away from hers, suddenly disgusted by the other's touch. "It doesn't matter now!" Kairi suddenly shouted, taking a good few steps from Sora. She turned and angrily wiped at her eyes. "You think I can't help. You think I can't take care of myself. I-I'm a _burden_ to both of you." She sniffed. "Just some damsel to be saved or left behind."

Sora was shocked by Kairi's sudden outburst. He looked down at his hand which had been thrown away and closed it tightly before he looked back up. "Kairi, that's not true. We don't think of you as a burden." A frown tugged at Sora's lips as he tried to console the girl. "You're our friend. Why would we think such a thing about you? If anything we just don't want you to get hurt. That's all. There's nothing wrong with that."

Kairi turned around to scream back at Sora. "Then why did you bring along Riku!?" Tears had already welled up in her eyes, and all it took was one blink to send them rolling down her soft cheeks.

Sora flinched back at the harsh question and the way it was shouted at him. He took a few steps back as he frowned even more when he noticed the tears on Kairi's face. "Because..." He didn't know how to continue from there. All he could think to say was how Riku had been asked to help fight alongside him. How they could both fight off the heartless with no troubles. He never stopped to think of Kairi ever doing such a thing. It was so rare which was why he and Riku decided to keep her safe back home.

In the end Sora looked away and down at the ground. It was all he could do to avoid the question, but he knew it would only upset the girl further. It was something that couldn't be helped, though.

Kairi waited, but Sora didn't seem like he was going to finish his answer. It only added insult to injury. She clutched her hands to her chest and sniffled. "..I helped you fight before. Remember? Ri-" she swallowed at the name, forcing herself to continue "Riku gave me that keyblade, remember?" Her voice became to quiver.

"I remember." Sora spoke up quietly with his eyes still down. "You have to understand, Kairi. What we're going up against now is so much more dangerous." He finally looked up again, having the courage to speak to the girl again and try to tell his side of the story. "Nothing is as easy as it was before, and Riku has been taken away to the darkness because of it." He clenched his free hand into a fist at the remembrance. "You shouldn't be put in such danger either."

"...Because you think I'd just get in the way." Kairi's voice was barely above a whisper. She took another step back and shook her head. "Because you think that I can't help like _Riku_ can." She rubbed under her eye. ".. You were going to leave me on that island again. Waiting. Waiting until I forgot your name, both your names again." Fresh tears fell down her cheeks. "I don't want to forget you again Sora." Her shoulders shook, a few soft sobs leaving her. "You mean too much to me. It would hurt too much."

Sora shook his head, denying each word that Kairi threw out at him. "No, Kairi. We were going to come back. We weren't going to be forgotten. It took us so long to even come fight because I was being selfish and wanted to stay behind in the first place, but I realized that I couldn't run away forever from what I had to do." He took a step closer to where his friend stood, but didn't go any nearer then that. "I thought you would understand, Kairi."

"I do. But what you don't understand is that I can help. I can help now." Kairi stared at Sora with wet pleading eyes. "I can't stay on Destiny Islands and hope and pray that you'll come back to me safely. It makes my heart ache to have you so far away... To wake up each morning and wonder if you're still okay." She sniffed. "S-Sora.. I.."

Sora's face fell even more at Kairi's words. It hurt him to know he had caused his friend so much pain, but it couldn't be helped since he had been asked to protect his friends once more. He didn't want Kairi to be caught in the middle of it all again. It was bad enough he had lost the one person that mattered most to him. He didn't need to lose his other friend too. "What is it, Kairi?" He urged the girl to continue as he took another small step forward.

"I..." Kairi stuttered, unable to get the words out. She lifted her hands near her mouth and shook her head to clear it. "Sora, I l-... I..." She took a shaky breath, holding it a moment. "You.." Kairi slumped. ".. You don't love me do you?"

Sora's hand closed tighter at his side as he started to chew at his lip. Kairi seemed so upset and her last few words had him taking a step back instead of near her. He tried his best to be optimistic for his friend, forcing the sad expression away from his face and giving a small smile while he tried his best to answer. "You're one of my best friends Kairi; of course I care about you." He knew it wouldn't be the exact answer the girl would want, but that was something he couldn't give her.

Kairi blinked but her head lowered. "We've been friends for as long as I can remember... I can't remember where I used to live or who my friends where before I came to live where you two were." She frowned, looking at the cold ground. "... I always thought it was cute the way you two would fight over me. Such two silly boys." Her brief smile soon faded. "Sometimes I would play along, favouring one of you to make the other jealous. Hee, you used to pout so much when I hugged Riku's arm." Kairi toed the ground. "But...even though I would flirt with Riku…or whenever we held hands... It was your hand I wanted to hold the most."

Kairi glanced behind her at the heart of the planet. "...But all you did was tell me lies thinking it would protect me."

Sora's smile had fallen away also at such memories. It all seemed so far away and the tone in which Kairi spoke in caused a pain inside of him. He watched as his friend looked away from him and his own gaze traveled where her attention had fallen. The next words out of her mouth had his stomach dropping and he was quick to shake his head. "No Kairi, that's not true. I'd never lie to you. Besides, you and Riku both know that I'm a terrible liar." He tried his best to joke with the girl, but the tense situation made it seem more awkward then anything.

".. You never came home." Kairi quietly retorted.

Sora's smile faded once again and his eyes dropped. He had nothing to say to that. It was true. They had told Kairi that they would be home soon, but after falling asleep on the Island they had immediately left. There had been no going home at all. It left him speechless to know that the girl was right and he had nothing to say to defend himself. All he could do was look at the fruit he still held in his hand and feel guilty all over again.

Kairi's expression grew incredibly sad. "... And I didn't go home right away either." She quietly admitted.

Sora's eyes widened at that small admittance. A nervous feeling came over him and he hoped that what the girl said didn't mean what he thought. He lifted his eyes back up to stare at Kairi's sad expression and tried to keep his own as neutral as possible. "W-Where did you go?"

Kairi's expression only grew sadder and she slowly shook her head, turning to walk towards the heart of the planet. She placed her hand on the stone, warm with each beat under her palm. She felt a little strength from it.

".. I love you, Sora." Kairi quietly spoke the words that had plagued her since near far back as she could remember.

The smiling image of Riku, tinted in the colours of a sunset, flashed into Sora's mind; Kairi had said those meaningful words before Riku. There was something hurtful about that.

".. But I know you don't love me back. No...not the same." Kairi softly finished.

Sora shook his head when the image showed itself in his mind. Kairi was saying the words to him that Riku never had a chance to. It hurt a lot to think that maybe he would never hear them, but he had also shared something with Riku that meant so much to him. With that thought he clung to the fruit he held as he tried to find his voice and speak. "I'm sorry, Kairi. I never wanted to hurt your feelings. I never meant for this to happen. Riku and I...we just..." He didn't know how to go on and felt helpless in that moment, deciding to stop.

"... So you do love Riku." Kairi could barely speak the words herself. She leaned her forehead against the rock, feeling unable to stand on her own power anymore.

Sora was quick to finally climb his way up to the high point Kairi was on. He hated to see his friend so troubled and was quick to go to her side despite what she was troubled about. "Kairi, please don't be upset." He grabbed the girl by the shoulder to try and make her face him instead of the rock. "I was worried to see you here, but I really am glad to see you all the same. I just don't want anything to happen to you, that's all. Please don't be mad at me or Riku."

Kairi stared at Sora for a good long moment but found that it was too much to bear. Sora's expression was just too gentle and sweet. It broke her heart all the more.

Kairi pulled away from Sora's grasp, turning from him. She grasped her chest much like Sora had when he'd entered the crater.

"Kairi?" Sora narrowed his eyes in concern. His hand was still held out that had been on the girl's shoulder, refusing to drop. He hadn't expected Kairi to turn away and the way that she was holding herself had him worried. "Kairi, are you alright?" He reached out for her again, wanting to help her in some way.

The heart of the planet suddenly stopped beating, fading, darkening the room. And Kairi straightened, her sad noises stopping just as quickly.

"... I'm sorry, Sora." Kairi whimpered. ".. I shouldn't have brought you here." She quickly turned around and threw her arms around Sora for a tight hug as the room went entirely black. "I'm sorry." She whispered against his shoulder.

Sora had nearly stumbled with the force that Kairi had thrown herself at him with, dropping the paopu. His immediate reaction was to wrap his arms around his friend in return to comfort her, but the way the room had darkened set him on edge and he caught Kairi's words as well. "What do you mean? What did you do, Kairi? What's going on?" His questions came a bit more frantic near the end.

".. Can you hear the planet crying?" Kairi whispered.

Something was slithering about their feet, Sora felt something brush against his leg and Kairi hugged him just that much tighter.

"I wish what he said was a lie..." Kairi was suddenly ripped from Sora's arms.

The heart of the planet began to glow again, illuminating the room in an angry glow. It's once warm beat was now a fierce palpitation. Black tendrils of darkness lined the walls like thick veins. Several vines of it had wrapped around Kairi, lifting her into the air, trying to wrap around and consume her. From her shadow several more burst forth to slither around like vile snakes.

"Kairi!" Sora reached out to try and grab his friend who was slowly being stolen away from him. A panicked expression came over his face when his hands met nothing but air, and he watched the tendrils wrap around Kari, pulling her with them. Still he tried to reach further despite the distance.

"Sora.." More tears fell down Kairi's cheeks as she was lifted high above. Several drops fell, hissing when they hit the dark vines. ".. I'm sorry." She tried to pointlessly reach out but the coils of black wrapped around either of her wrists pulling either of her arms straight out like mock crucifixion.

Above the heart of the planet she was placed, sinking into the black until just her head and shoulders hung out, her hands draped out. More tears fell, plipping on the dark with a hiss akin to acid.

".. The greatest light..." Kairi strained to speak. "..will always have the darkest shadow." She gave a pained cry as from her heart a large black flower bud began to grow.

"Kairi, no!" Sora let out the last desperate cry as his hand fell when there was no use reaching any longer. He watched in horror after Kairi spoke as the sudden flower burst forth and took a few steps back away from the scene. "K-Kairi..." The name was choked out and he found himself shaking his head back and forth, disbelieving anything that was happening, despite it going on right in front of his eyes.

-

In the deepest of the darkness a long prone figure began to stir. He'd felt it, something far more horrific it woke him from the torpor his mind wanted to stay in.

 _..Kairi_

A tremor ran through Riku, he could feel it, her surrender to a hateful jealous that surfaced from her perfection like a vicious weed in a beautiful garden. She both loved and hated them, Sora; a bitter battle that fought inside her. Now, it had taken her.

Riku tried to push himself on aching, weak arms but there was never any ground to begin with. He was lost in the worst of everyone, as it ate away at his reserve leaving nothing but empty.

He couldn't help.

A broken noise left Riku. His hands tightened into fists. He was so tired of losing.

"SORA!"

-

The black bud burst open, its sharp petals lying open to reveal Kairi's glittering crystalline heart. Kairi gave a small scream, her head flying back, before she went limp and lifeless where she was hung.

The heart gently floated from its birth, leaving a trail of sparkle and petals after it.

Sora watched with a stunned expression as the heart was taken from his friend. Tears blurred his vision and for a quick second he felt that same ache run through his body that he had felt before when he had heard Riku's voice. "N-No..." He tried to step forward, but his legs felt much too shaky to hold him up and he nearly toppled.

"Kairi...Kairi!" Sora screamed his friend's name, hoping that in some way she would answer. That the entire scene had all been an illusion or some trick. He didn't want to lose both of his friends. It killed him to think such a thing.

From the heart little colourful flowers bloomed, shedding petal tears, forming the girl's feminine keyblade in a burst of light. It was like a mockery to see such a beautiful thing in such a disturbing time.

Sora nearly broke down at the sight of the keyblade that had been a memory of what felt like so long ago. His eyes stared one last time at Kairi's still form before he took a hesitant step forward towards the blade while tears fell down his cheeks. His whole world fell apart at that moment.

The flowery keyblade quivered, swaying one way and then the other before it quickly flew towards him.

 _'SORA!'_

The blade embedded itself in Sora's shoulder. His gaze followed up the staff to its handle where a delicate female hand held it. The same hand that had rested in Sora's hands just moments ago, squeezing it holding it desperately. Except now the skin was as black as a night with no stars; as was the rest of her slender form. Her round soulless, glowing eyes narrowed at Sora.

Sora let out a scream of pain once the blade was in his shoulder. He hadn't been expecting it at all and more tears followed the rest at just the feeling of the blade driven in. What his eyes saw behind his tears shocked and tore him up. All he could feel was hurt, but it wasn't just from the pain. It was hurt from the fact the one doing this was one of his best friends. "Kairi..." The name left his lips as he stared into the soulless eyes.

The girl seemed unmoved by Sora's tears or utter lamentation, she was as her name sake; heartless.

Kairi ripped the blade from Sora's shoulder, swinging it to gash the flowery blade across the boy's chest.

There was a clash of metal as Oblivion was there to meet it at nearly the last second. The wound to Sora's shoulder had made the teen a little slow. He pushed back against Kairi's blade, trying to force her back so he could gain his own space. He didn't have it in him to fight someone that meant so much to him. Even if they were a heartless. "Kairi! Stop it!"

The heartless cocked a brow, tilting her head. Were Sora's words supposed to appeal to something?

Kairi raised her keyblade to swipe and slam it against Sora's a few times before she flew to the boy's side to swipe at him again.

Sora jumped back quick to avoid the swing and flinched a little when he moved his arm around too much. He raised Oblivion despite, and pointed it at the heartless that was once his friend. Soon flames were shooting out towards her one after the other, allowing himself some distance with such an attack. His eyes narrowed as the magic released from the blade and he felt horrible for even attempting such a thing.

Kairi dodged the poorly shot fireballs. Sora wasn't even trying to fight, and she was going to take advantage of that.

Kairi stretched out a hand and the tendrils of darkness that lined the walls shot out after Sora; to grip, to hit, to stab- it didn't matter. As long as Sora hurt like she.

Sora used Oblivion to swing at the tendrils that came near, but his swings were clumsy because of his wound. A few got through and snaked their way around his legs and arms, gripping tightly. He struggled while he still tried his best to swing the keyblade, but the darkness held tight causing him to cry out.

The floor went out from under Sora as he was yanked up into the air by the coils around his legs. He was swung around violently like a rag doll, many tendrils of darkness whipping across him without mercy.

Sora's torment was ended when the edge of a flowered keyblade swung with inhuman strength into his front, those hollow glowing eyes danced with something akin to amusement in Sora's face. The hit sent him flying back from the tendril's grasp, slamming into the hard crystal surface of the heart of the planet.

The back of Sora's head hit the crystal hard and the teen let out a loud gasp of pain. He hurt all over, inside and out. He felt himself slumping over while his good arm held close to his middle where Kairi's blade had hit him much too hard. Oblivion had vanished long ago while the tendrils had thrashed him about and Sora knew he wouldn't be able to summon the blade again. Not in the weakened state he was in. Everything felt black around the edges and he felt like crying all over again.

-

Black tears wouldn't stop coming. Too many tears they had shed for each other and how many more would come.

The tears seeped back into the darkness as Riku stretched his hand out in the nothingness; Sora so far and untouchable. His heart felt so crushed it was near fracturing into tiny unsalvageable pieces.

 _He begged for your help.. It hurts, doesn't it?_ Zexion's words plagued him.

"S-Sora.."

 _You're nothing special without that darkness. It's the only thing that can save what you need._

 _Give in. That's all you need to do. Give into what you've given into countless times before._

Riku's hands fell shaking on the blind fold that rested over his eyes. He feared it. The darkness. The utter and total isolation it brought. So numb. He wouldn't be able to feel. His ultimate fear; of losing Sora, and being utterly alone.

 _Sora will suffer no matter what. You're still too blind that you can't realize it._

-

A sharp kick had Sora pushed over onto his stomach. A hard kick soon came to his ribs, then another, the heel of the boot then grinding into Sora's spine.

Sora scraped at the floor with gloved hands. The kicks had caused him to let out more pained sounds and he tried to get away, but the boot to his back caused him to stay put. "K-Kairi..." The girl's name was whispered through clenched teeth, hoping that it would finally get through to her somehow, but in the end it was a lost cause. That horrible pain was still there. She was still the one hurting him and so another name made it's way past his lips instead, knowing that the one he called for wouldn't be able to help, but still he couldn't help it. "Riku..."

-

So it was over before it started.

That was enough; hearing his name slip past bruised lips so desperately.

"Sora.." Riku shut his eyes; it felt like he was falling. Giving in was just as easy. He resisted those next three words that wanted to leave him before his end, knowing such pure thought would only reject what he had to accept.

".. Goodbye."

His heart shattered, kindness, good intentions, joy, love- all of it lost from inside him. It flew from him, leaving him gutted and hollowed by jagged hate, jealousy, conceit- all the hurt until he felt no more.

He'd never see Sora as he was. Never feel Sora's smile on his cheek or lips as he giggled. He wouldn't feel the silly bliss when the boy leaned against his side as they sat in comfortable silence.

Only nothing was left in Riku's heart...-for Sora.

All for Sora.

What was left of Riku flew as a bright shot from darkness to disappear forgotten.

-

Kairi ceased to grind her foot in Sora's back. The fight was easily over, and she seemed disappointed at that. She picked up her keyblade in both hands, kicking over Sora so he lay prone on his back. She wanted him to see as she raised her keyblade up with the intent of plunging it straight into Sora's chest, into his precious _heart_ that yearned for someone else than her.

Sora groaned as he was kicked over and looked up at what used to be his friend with the keyblade, which was so dangerously close to impaling him, with only half slitted eyes.

 _'.. Goodbye.'_

Something inside Sora ached at that very moment and Riku's name just barely left his lips again as only a whisper when he felt it. He tried his best to summon Oblivion, but he just didn't have the strength. Even his eyes didn't want to stay open as much as they had to, but tears continued to leak out of them all the same.

He had failed everyone.

Kairi's keyblade came down fueled by the new hatred at hearing Riku's name leave in his last breath. But as quickly as it flew down it stopped.

Kairi trembled. A familiar blade protruded from her chest, stuck through the gap of handle and guard of her weapon keeping it where it was. The blade was cruelly yanked up, cutting through her flesh with ease, up and out her shoulder, flinging her keyblade away and out of her hands.

A strangled scream left the heartless, a mess of Kairi's voice and something twisted with hate. She groped at her wound, black spraying from it. She fell to her knees by Sora's side, revealing her attacker; the colour was drained of him, his hair, leaving anything that wasn't black palest white, a sickly white. There was no guilt, no remorse, nor even shock to who Riku had just cut into, though his blind fold still remained. There was nothing. And so Riku raised Way to Dusk to finish the job.

Despite having no energy left, the scene had Sora's eyes widening to the best of their ability. He had watched Kairi tumble down and couldn't help letting out a near gasp as he saw all of the liquid black that came from her wound. His eyes shot up to the figure that had done the deed and his breath became shaky in that one instant. "Riku..." It was the one he had been searching for, but at the same time, Sora knew there was something completely different about the older boy. It was in his expression and the way he looked all around.

"Stop! Riku, please!" Before Riku could bring the blade down Sora shouted loudly, trying his best to get the other's attention. But this wasn't Riku. Not his Riku. He had a sinking feeling that the other wouldn't listen to him. "Riku..." The name was spoken again, but in a much more broken voice.

Way to Dusk plunged into Kairi, black splattering from her chest across Sora as the blade came through. The heartless girl shuddered, her eyes terribly wide as her mouth moved to speak but no sound came out. She slumped forward, her arms dangling down at her sides.

"..So-..r..." Kairi tried to form the syllables of words.

Riku firmly placed his foot on her back as he took the handle of his keyblade with both hands and yanked it up and out, tearing a gaping wound from Kairi's soft chest.

Up above the real Kairi coughed, choking out blood. The girl had always been so closely linked to her heart.

Sora sat stunned at what just happened. The one small cough had him turning his eyes to what had once been just a still figure in the darkness and he watched as the blood dripped from Kairi's lips. "K-Kairi." His heart hammered hard in his chest and he quickly moved his eyes back on Riku. "W-Why?" But he had a feeling that he knew exactly why.

With his last bit of strength, Sora hurried to his feet. He stumbled more then a few times, but didn't care. He just wanted to get to Riku. As soon as he did he grabbed onto the taller teen and nearly shook him with his good arm, flinching because of his bad one. "Why?! Why, Riku?!" He shouted the words at the other as he held onto Riku for dear life. Tears blurred his vision of what had been his friend, but now, no longer was that same person.

Riku didn't 'look' at Sora, nor seem to give him any acknowledgement that Sora wished and hoped for. There was no answer to Sora's sobbing question. Nothing.

The older teen just placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, but it wasn't in comfort, the tightening of fingers wasn't a squeeze of endearment but one to grasp Sora's good shoulder to push him firmly away at arms length. The heartless girl wasn't dead yet, a twitching mass curled up in a whimpering fetal position on the floor; Sora would only get in the way of finishing her off.

But cutting up the heartless wouldn't destroy it; this weed had to be killed at the source.

Riku raised Way to Dusk and pointed it at living, flesh and blood, Kairi. There was no second thought or hesitation in any of his movements. It was simply a task, something to start and finish; nothing more, nothing less.

"Riku...no..." Sora saw what the older teen intended to do. It had a broken noise escaping him. He looked quickly, back and forth between his two friends. Before he could even think much about it, Sora was in between Riku's line of sight, right between the blade and where it was aimed. He raised his one good arm up to block Riku off, while his bad arm tried to summon Oblivion, but still the blade refused to even flicker to life. "R-Riku...stop! She's our friend! Remember...please!" The last few words were choked out between tears.

Riku's attention finally fell on Sora, if only because the boy stood in the way of finishing the deed. He was unmoved by neither Sora's compassion, nor the big tears that rolled down his soft young face.

"She tried to kill you." The words were lifelessly spoken from Riku, no compassion or need for recognition; only cold hard fact and purpose.

"I don't care!" Sora continued to shout brokenly at the other, wishing he could get through to Riku in some way. "She was hurt inside and she felt jealous. It all turned against her, but the same thing happened to you, Riku. I still forgave you, didn't I?" His eyes pleaded and begged the boy in front of him to listen and understand. "Riku, please.." He reached out with his good arm to try and cling to the older boy once again.

Sora's grasping hand was pulled away, Riku wasn't about to be detoured by trivials of the heart. It didn't matter to him what happened in the past. He pulled Sora behind him by his hand out of the way.

Riku raised Way to Dusk once more in the true Kairi's direction.

The heartless girl on the ground by their feet raised her head to stare up at them horrified. Her hollow glowing eyes widened as she raised a weak shaking hand up to the boy behind Riku. "..S-Sora." her tangled voice quivered.

Sora stared at the heartless that had moments before been so quick to try and kill him. The way his name had been spoken had him trying even harder to summon Oblivion to his hand. Kairi was in trouble. Kairi needed him. With a dull flash of light the blade finally came to be and Sora wasted no time lifting it up to point the tip at Riku's back. The action was clumsy since he had to use his bad arm. "S-Stop it, Riku..." He couldn't believe what he was doing. It almost had him losing the control he had, to realize in that instant just who Oblivion was pointed at. He couldn't do this and realizing that made the blade in his hand shake uncontrollably.

Riku was still for but an instant. He squeezed the handle of his keyblade and the blades themselves shifted, the twin wings unfolding to point at the girl. Darkness itself wouldn't destroy darkness. It took something far more primitive.

Riku straightened, he didn't feel any fear for the pain, or death; if anything he found it right that of all people Sora should be the one to end it. He loosened his hold on the handle and the twin blades flew from Way to Dusk plunging deep into true Kairi's chest with a _squelch_.

The heartless girl gave a strangled gasp. She continuously shrieked as she clawed at her throat and then at the gaping wound in her chest, new blood poured out, but this time it was crimson instead of black. But it was from the true, unconscious Kairi that black poured from her wounds.

Oblivion dropped to the floor with a loud noise and with it Sora fell to his knees. All he could do was watch what was happening in horror. It was all a bad dream, right? It had to be. None of it could be real. He watched with wide eyes as black poured from his friend and heard the screams of the heartless nearby. His eyes moved to Riku who stood completely still and continued to act as if none of what he had just done made any difference. It broke Sora in so many different ways.

The heartless girl shook, clutching her chest. She looked to Sora with pleading eyes but the boy's gaze was on Riku, always on Riku. A broken sob escaped her and with no more than Sora's name whimpered longingly from her black lips, she disappeared.

On true Kairi the large black flower on her chest gave a small shiver and then wilted, shriveling up. The black that flowed freely from the wounds of Kairi's unconscious form began to slowly stop trickling. Her soft warm skin began to fade, pale and cool.  
Sora took notice of the flower and his gaze immediately moved back to Kairi. He watched as his friend's skin slowly grew pale and that's when a sob escaped him. The noise that left him was a loud echo in the room, but he didn't care. The image was too much. "K-Kairi..." Under his broken noises the girl's name slipped, wishing that it would be enough to bring her back. A limp hand reached out, barely any strength left in him, gripping weakly at what he could of Riku while he was on the floor behind the tall teen.

"Say your 'good bye's." Riku finally spoke up to Sora, unmoving, no remorse or emotion in his tone. "This place will prove a convenient tome for her."

Sora quickly pulled his hand back at such cold words from Riku, but he had to remember that this wasn't the same Riku that he cared about. This was someone that the darkness had a tight grip on. "No..." Sora spoke up weakly. Crying had made his voice much too hoarse. "We aren't supposed to say goodbye." His entire body slumped forward, knowing that Riku wouldn't remember such a promise. "If I say it then that really means the end."

Those words had Riku turning around to look down at Sora, no empathy or sympathy to be found on his stoic face. "But she's dead." He pointed out coldly.

Sora flinched when Riku spoke the horrible truth, but didn't respond. His eyes stayed locked on the floor and Oblivion which was only a few inches from where he sat. He wanted to go home. Back to the Island with both Riku and Kairi, hanging out with both his friends. Sitting with Riku near the paopu tree and watching the sunset. The fact that he would never get to do any of that again had his shoulders shaking as he tried not to cry anymore. He was amazed himself that he still had tears left.

Riku raised his hand that still held the handle and guard of his keyblade, the other half still embedded deep in Kairi's chest. If Sora was going to remain usefully immobile, he was going to retrieve his blades; they were of no use in a corpse.

Riku took a few steps from Sora and from his own shadow black shadow steps began to appear one after the other in ascension all the way to Kairi's still form. Riku casually walked up them until he was face to face with the girl he used to call close friend. Looking over the handle he had in his hand he then slammed it into the end of the blades and it locked back in with a click. The keyblade glimmered with dark pleasure at being whole once more.

Holding the handle with both hands Riku began to yank the blade with a slight grunt out of Kairi's chest. Riku nearly staggered over at the force it took when it finally slid out with a sick noise. He looked over the wet blade; he'd seen this before, like this.

Riku blinked and a strange sound left him. It continued, odd in the state of being he was. A chuckle, and it twisted into a malevolent laugh, at the bloody blade, and then at Kairi's body. All of it had disturbing laughter taking him completely.

Sora couldn't take the sounds. Every noise that the blades had made caused his body to stiffen. It was Riku's laughter which hurt the most. It was so foreign and something that he never wanted to hear come from his friend's lips. It wasn't that same laughter that Riku rarely gave just for him. This was something cruel and heartless.

Slowly, and on unsteady legs, Sora stood up. He had picked up Oblivion with his bad arm, but didn't seem to care about the pain. "Riku..." He raised his eyes to look at the older boy. "How could you? Why did you give into it again?" He wanted to believe that the one he cared about wasn't completely gone. That somehow the questions would get answered. "Why did you do all of this?" His grip on Oblivion tightened. "Why did you say goodbye?"

The laughter didn't subside, Riku only laughed harder as if Sora's words and horror had been the most hilarious of jokes. He turned to Sora, swinging his blade, splattering droplets across the floor. He himself couldn't remember exactly, but he was sure it was as obvious as the dead girl crucified on the wall.

Riku stretched out his hand and on it darkness swirled to form a shadow mini Kairi. She danced a moment before she was squashed tightly in his fist, new cruel laughter erupting from him. How he loathed her. _That_ he remembered.

Riku's laughter began to subside. "It.. doesn't matter." He began to descend the stairs he made.

"It does matter..." The quiet words left Sora as he kept his eyes on Riku, but his gaze seemed to be going through the other boy instead of on him. Oblivion shook in his grasp, but he did nothing with the blade except for keeping it by his side. "Riku..." The name left Sora one last time, but he doubted the owner was even paying any attention any longer. Sora didn't care. He was left alone with the aftermath of everything and wishing that by some miracle none of it had happened.

"Way to traumatize the poor boy." It wasn't Riku's voice that stated the obvious so simple. "But now you don't care. You've forgotten why." The fiery heartless approached from behind Sora, the tension growing with each step he took towards him. "But I remember.. I still remember his name, the way he felt."

Axel paused just behind Sora. His eyes narrowed as he smiled something wicked at Riku's now stark blank expression. " _I_ can still see his smiling face."

"Axel!" Sora spun around as the name left him and nearly stumbled on weak legs. On instinct he brought Oblivion up to point the end of the keyblade at the heartless, but instantly regretted the action as pain shot through his arm and caused him to let out a groan, keeping it held up only halfway. "This is all your fault. You're the one that made Riku give in." Sora's arm shook a bit more, but still he couldn't raise Oblivion any higher. "You caused all of this..."

Axel looked to Sora on his accusation, his smile faded and he shook his head. "Sorry, I can't take credit for all this. Sadly." Before Sora could speak Axel moved past the keyblade towards him as he narrowly escaped the attack from Way to Dusk behind him.

Axel glanced back to flash Riku a viciously mocking smirk before he captured an arm over Sora's chest to yank the boy with him as he leapt back from a furious swing of the dark keyblade.

Oblivion dropped from Sora's hand and vanished before it even hit the floor. The teen gave a startled sound since he hadn't been expecting the sudden grab and the most he could do was struggle against it much like he had before when Axel decided to grab him through the door in the castle. "Let go!"

"GIVE HIM BACK!" Riku shouted with seething anger. Darkness curled and whipped at his feet from his shadow.

Axel only hugged Sora closer to his chest, it was unusually affectionate given the situation, but the heartless minded the teen's wounds. "No. I think you've disturbed your half long enough." He rested his chin atop Sora's head, watching as that enough had the shadows at the other's feet lashing about harder. "Even as a heartless-.. I won't let his light go out."

For a second Sora stopped struggling with Axel's few words and his eyes seemed to flicker. "Axel..." The heartless' name was spoken in a quiet and distant voice as Sora kept still in the man's arms. Just as quick, life came back to the teen as if the one moment had never happened and an angry sound tore from his throat that sounded much more desperate then it was meant to as he tried to reach for Riku with his good arm.

Axel took a daring step back. Riku grew stiff; he knew exactly what the heartless was going to try. His eyes widened behind his blind fold.

"SORA!" Riku rushed forward, reaching out his hand to Sora's outstretched one. But the black had already started to form behind Axel and he was pulling Sora into it; new horror for an old fear.

"Riku!" Sora tried to stretch further as he screamed his friend's name. New tears blurred his vision and he silently cursed the tight hold that Axel had on him while he feared the darkness that he was being pulled into. He didn't want to go. Not with Axel.

Axel's lips brushed against Sora's as he whispered intoxicating words into the teen's ear; _Sleep.. deeply.. and forget._

Sora's eyes grew heavy and with those few words his hand started to grow slack. "Riku..." The other's name was whispered one final time as his hand started to fall and he was completely pulled in by the heartless.

Riku's fingers barely brushed against the tips of Sora's before he disappeared with Axel into the dissipating darkness. With a desperate cry Riku grasped at the empty air, stumbling with a whimper.

The two were gone as quickly as Axel had made himself known and in the small cavern all that surrounded Riku were blood soaked floors and the corpse of an old friend that was high up on the wall.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 07

The rays of sun peered through the window, a much kinder awakening than any obnoxious alarm clock or shout of parent. The sun always warmed skin and bedding like an affectionate embrace, bringing good tidings to the promise of a new day.

Colour spilled in like it always had into the room, bathing the decor of stars in hues of oranges and pink. Though the bed was so comfortable, it was hard to think of being anywhere else but cuddled deep within blankets.

Although something seemed off. Someone sat on the edge of the bed watching him sleep, and it felt like they'd been doing so for quite a while; though their gaze was the furthest thing from ill intent. Disturbing the sleeping form was the least of things they ever wanted.

The sun had taken to moving across blankets to the face that peeked out, causing eyes to flinch. It wasn't only the light which had Sora letting out a muffled sound as he started to wake up. It was the feeling of eyes on him which caused his body to grow tense as he moved around in the bed and peeked one eye open slowly.

The face Sora saw had him quickly sitting up in the bed despite anything that had happened earlier to put such a strain on his body. Oblivion was summoned and pointed towards the neck of his captor with a shaking hand as Sora tried not to lose focus this time around on keeping the weapon with him.

Axel didn't look at the keyblade but the bearer of it. His gentle expression didn't falter through the threat of death; he kept his eyes on Sora as if the boy were still peacefully asleep.

".. You should lie back down or you'll open your wounds." Axel gave a slight amused 'heh' before he folded his hands together rather casually. "Heartless can't heal, so I had to make do with what I had." He glanced down to his hands before he looked back to Sora. "I also suggest you put that away. To the heartless you're as bright and shining as a vast star in a cold empty black sky to them when you hold it." He gave a weak smirk. ".. You're in no shape to fight. And we both have dangerous enemies who would love to take advantage of this lovely moment of weakness."

Sora hesitated and seemed content to just keep Oblivion right where it was, but Axel was right. He would only end up attracting enemies that he wouldn't be able to handle in the state he was in. That knowledge alone finally made the blade vanish and his hand drop back down. He didn't dare approach Axel and kept his distance from the heartless instead.

"Enemies like the Organization?" Sora couldn't help question what had been happening and how the rest seemed to see Axel as a traitor. "Like Vexen?" The one heartless' name came forth after what had happened and he kept narrowed eyes on Axel afterwards.

Axel blinked at the name but soon nodded. "Like Vexen." But that topic at hand wasn't one Axel seemed to want to keep. "Recognize this place?" He parted his hands to gesture at the room with a new grin. He scooped up a plush pillow from the cluttered floor and squished it between his hands as he showed it proudly to Sora. "Recognize this stuff?"

Sora's eyes narrowed and he looked around the room. It was a simple bedroom with little knick knacks here and there. Books scattered on the floor as if someone had been too lazy to pick them up. He stared at one of the books for a few seconds and it seemed as if he was about to zone out, but quickly caught himself and shook his head. His attention turned back on Axel, and Sora narrowed his eyes once more. "No, I don't." With those words he looked away from the heartless. He didn't want to talk to the other anymore then he had to.

Axel rested the plush star on his lap, loosely wrapping his lanky arms around it. "I always found it kind of funny how you'd clung so tightly to this life, even though it was a lie. Your very own home, a messy room, a town with neighbors to do odd jobs for so you could earn munny for sea salt ice cream and best friends to share it with." He glanced down at the plush he started to twirl around between his hands. "You had your very own world... just like _He_ did, and that made you happy. It filled a void that we kept telling you existed." He played with an arm of the star. ".. I couldn't blame you for fighting so hard to keep the fake life data that had been downloaded into you. What we had was so empty in comparison. But a lie is so much prettier than the truth, right?"

Axel stopped playing with the star. "Sora... you cried for Roxas' friends. You cried for Riku. You cried for Kairi just now. You have such a big heart." He turned his gaze onto Sora. "... I'm glad that I never made you cry when I died."

Sora tensed up at those last few words. He could remember that moment as clearly had it happened just yesterday. "I couldn't cry." Words were coming from his mouth before he even had a chance to think about what he wanted to say. "You helped me on my way, but despite all that, I just couldn't cry." His voice lowered and his hand moved up to tug at his shirt. "I didn't want to cry for you."

Axel's eyes traveled from Sora's face to his hand. "..Why not?"

"I couldn't feel anything while I was watching you fade except for one thing." Sora looked back at Axel before he continued speaking and not once did his hand let go of his shirt. It was still clinging tightly. "I only felt like you brought the entire thing on yourself and because of that I couldn't, nor did I want to cry." He looked away once again after those words, staring at the wall instead of the heartless across from him.

Axel stared at Sora the silence growing between them after such cold words. But soon Axel looked away; back down at his hands and the plush there. "I did." He quietly agreed. "But in that place I realized something before I let loose that attack." He leaned forward, elbows on legs. "I'd long reached the point of no return. I'd done all I could for him. And as hard as I fought, he still left me. And as much as I missed him, I knew he'd never look back."

A small sound left Axel. "... So I gave him what I had left: my life."

Sora swallowed hard, trying to ignore the pain Axel's words brought on him. "Why are you telling me all of this? Why should any of this matter to me?" He shook his head back and forth as if it would clear the haze that wanted to come through. "I'm not Roxas." He looked back on Axel with a harsh glare. "You accomplished nothing by taking care of me. I'll be after you just like every other heartless. You especially for what you did to Riku."

"No." Axel let the plush fall to the floor as he leaned a hand on the bed to lean nearer to Sora. "It's what you did to him, and then what he did to you." He leaned nearer still. "See, we heartless are very good at hating. Especially things we once loved." A strange sort of smile smirked across his lips. "But, heh, I don't hate you, Roxas. But I will hate those that hurt any incarnation of you."

Sora moved back as much as he could when Axel moved forward, but his back hit the wall. "You're fighting a losing battle, don't you think?" Sora wanted a turn to be in control for once, despite Axel's earlier words. "Roxas never seemed to care very much for you. Besides, he's a part of me now. A part that will stay buried unless I choose otherwise." He finally dropped his hand to cling to the bed sheet beneath him instead. "Just give all of this up, Axel."

"And just _die_?" Axel bluntly pointed out. "My heart has no where else to go." He reached out and flicked a few of Sora's bouncy bangs from his face. "Who knows what Xemnas did, or if Kingdom Hearts still exists. I might just cease to exist if you 'destroyed' me." He lowered his hand back down to the bed. "And wouldn't that be murder?" He snorted. "You'd be no better than that Riku kid who you seem so taken with. For someone you hold so dear, he sure twisted the knife deep in your back."

Axel rested a knee on the bed so he could crawl closer to Sora now that he had the boy cornered against the wall. "... He doesn't love you anymore."

Those words caused Sora to lose his breath for a second as he stared down at the bed with wide eyes. "T-That's not true..." But he could still see Riku's emotionless face as the blade cut through Kairi. The teen acted as if he were doing nothing out of the ordinary. It still hurt to know he had never even heard those three words from Riku to begin with and probably never would since the darkness had him now. "He does." He tried to convince himself more then Axel. "He tried to pull me back when you stole me away." His voice lowered. "Riku still cares about me..."

Black fingers softly toyed with Sora's hair before slipping down his soft young cheek. "..When they ordered me to find you, bring you back or kill you... I found you a lot sooner than when I first appeared to you here." Axel confessed his words in a whisper. ".. I watched you for a little bit. I told myself it was just some simple observation for the mission. But...I'd never seen you so happy. Smiling. Play fighting with those weird foamy swords. You'd found yourself a best friend, kind of like Sora's Riku, but less messed in the head." Axel chuckled just a little and his hand fell away. "You even had your very own Kairi." Axel's other hand came up to touch Sora's other cheek. "But...what I enjoyed most was watching you sleep. I'd seen you sleep before, but never so peacefully as here." Axel paused a moment before going on. ".. I always wondered what a Nobody could dream. Heh... I always figured you'd have the most beautiful dreams, Roxas. You always smiled just a little each time."

Sora stayed silent the entire time Axel spoke, but his entire body had gone rigid. His one hand that was still on the bed gripped the sheet even tighter, nearly tearing it under white gloves. He tried to move his head away from Axel's touch, but found that in the end it just fell right back to where it was under the man's fingers and slowly gave into it. "Shut up, Axel..." The words were spoken in a harsh whisper. "That's not my life. None of that was me." He shut his eyes tightly.

"You can't deny it. It's a piece of your life whether you want it to be or not." Axel's hand cupped Sora's cheek, his thumb softly stroking the warm skin. "Two sides of a coin, and all other clichés. There's you, Sora, the part that can't help but share a piece of his large heart with everyone he meets. Your threads of fate are tied to all of us, straight to our own hearts. Something truer than Kingdom Hearts itself. And then there's Roxas. Apathy. Restless. Needy. But always alone."

Axel placed a small kiss at the corner of Sora's lips. "..His heart can't belong to Riku because he never had one to begin with."

Sora's eyes snapped open with that one intimate gesture. It was that which finally had him trying to pull away as realization dawned on him. The small feelings he had been having every now and then. Roxas had been trying to take a piece of him for his own. It angered Sora to think that the Nobody would try such a thing or even as to when he had been able to. "It can't belong to you either." Sora nearly spat the words, but afterwards the pain washed over him again and he nearly fell over in the bed as he tried to get away from the heartless again. "Deal with it, Axel." He tried to make the words sound forceful, but they came out broken as he tried to get his head clear.

The heartless' hand lashed out to grab Sora's neck, not to harm but to hinder his escape. "I don't want you. See, it's what's inside that really counts." Axel pulled Sora closer despite his struggles. He crawled closer on the bed, grasping the fabric of Sora's shirt to keep him still. He leaned his head near Sora's ear to whisper there. ".. It's time to wake up, Roxas."

Sora went stiff once again at the whispered words. His struggles ceased and the pain washed over him once more, but he no longer had the sheets to grip onto. Instead he clenched his fists tightly, hoping that it would go away in due time, but it didn't. His chest throbbed and he felt as if he couldn't get enough air. It was on his last try for breath that he fell slack in Axel's hold much like he had in the throne room.

It almost seemed as if Sora had only fallen unconscious. It was a good possibility considering how much he had moved around after waking up from such wounds. The theory was thrown away though as soon as there was movement from the small body and after a while quiet laughter could be heard. "You play dirty, Axel." That voice spoke up that was Sora's own, but at the same time had a snarky edge to it.

Axel gave a small shrug but didn't deny it. "I know." His hand slipped from the boy's throat back to his cheek, slipping closer to the other now that he was able. "But I like it dirty. And you can't deny it; it works every time, Roxas." He ran his fingers down the boy's jaw to his chin. "It brings you back to me, so, I must be doing something right."

Axel cleared his throat before the other could answer him. With a flare of hand he gestured to the room, a grin plainly on his face. "Welcome home, Roxas!"

Roxas had been content to just let Axel run his fingers across his skin, but the sudden exclamation of where they were got his attention and caused him to lift his eyes to look around the room. The messy living space which had been home to him for what felt like forever in his mind, but in reality had only been data. "I can't believe you brought me here." Despite how the words sounded it was obvious by the look on his face that Roxas was happy to at least be visiting.

Without any other words, Roxas moved away from Axel and stood up from the bed. The wounds on Sora's body affected him as well and had him catching his balance for a second before he was able to stand completely straight. As soon as he was okay he started to walk around the bedroom to look over everything that was mostly a memory, running fingers across books that had survived not being tossed about. As well as a few pictures on a shelf.

"The mansion was pretty much abandoned, since the real Ansem is gone, and his secret computer area is pretty much abandoned and forgotten. Everyone is pretty much too busy with everyone else to remember about it, and most would just think the old junk you smashed up doesn't work anymore anyway. Thusly-" Axel raised his hands up to gesture to the entirety of the room and world "this world lives on none the wiser, untouched. _Your_ world, Roxas."

Lanky arms slipped around Roxas' chest from behind steadying the boy's shaky stance as Axel loosely hugged him, minding wounds. "It's exactly how you left it. Summer is over and everyone's gone off to start a new school year." He nuzzled his head down on Roxas' good shoulder.

Roxas' hand dropped away from a picture of his friends that his fingers had taken to running across. "My world..." He repeated the words to himself as he leaned back in Axel's arms. He stared hard at the picture for a few seconds until a bitter smile came over his face and he turned his eyes away to look to the side at Axel. "It was all a lie though, wasn't it? My so called life was a lie just to keep me in hiding." The bitter look fell away and he glanced down at the floor under his feet. "I was never meant to exist, remember? Never meant to have any friends or be in a place like this. Why should now be any different from then?"

"What makes one reality have precedence over another?" Axel muttered with bitterness as he held Roxas just that much closer against his chest. "You lived just like any other person; it only makes sense you should be given the same chance." Axel kissed Roxas' ear before he nuzzled the other's head; it felt so good to be holding Roxas again, to be allowed to. "... I wanted to keep you safe. To have that chance. Was 'Sora' really so important?"

"I never really had a choice in the matter." Roxas smiled sadly at his answer. "Once Riku defeated me that was the end and I was taken away." He shook his head as he continued. "I admit I was interested in meeting him, but I think it was just curious nature of being his Nobody. Right now I just don't care about Sora. I want to be myself again. I want to be Roxas and only Roxas. Not the other part of Sora."

Roxas moved to turn around in Axel's hold, facing the heartless and looking up at him. "You think I should be given a chance at a regular life again. What about you? What are you going to do, Axel?" His eyes narrowed a bit and his tone became hard, but the concern was still there. "You and I both know things aren't very easy right now."

"It plays in our favour. You just don't know it yet." Axel grinned down at the boy in his arms. He leaned down to place a kiss on Roxas' nose; Axel found that the boy's face was near identical to Roxas', and begged to be covered in affectionate little places of lips. "But for now, I need you to get stronger. His body is weak, no more fight in it. That crazy blind folded guy made sure of that." He scoffed. "Enjoy yourself, your world. Because here, when you have the cheat codes-" Axel took a step back enough, snapping his fingers. Data circled 'Sora', processing from his head down to his feet, manipulating scripture to change his appearance from who he wasn't to who he had been. When the ones and zeros flitted away, Axel's grin broadened at Roxas' proper appearance. He ran fingers through the proper blonde hair; it was everything he remembered it to be. "God moding is so much fun."

Roxas' own true eyes immediately fell down to take in what was his actual appearance. No longer was it Sora's body he was staring down at, but the hands, arms, everything that he remembered as his own. It nearly had his breath stopping for a second. He never thought he would be himself again, and despite the body only being data he still welcomed it all the same and made it obvious by reaching up to pull Axel down into an appreciative kiss, his hands burying themselves in the heartless' wild hair.

Axel was elated to kiss the true Roxas on the lips, pulling him near and possessively. Roxas felt as he remembered from what brief times the Nobody had let him hold him. His hair was just as soft and his skin under his shirt was just as pleasant to the touch as he imagined.

Axel boldly slipped his tongue along Roxas' lips, running them along the edge of the other's teeth. A slow grin slipped on his lips. ".. I wish we'd done this years ago." He didn't care how forward he was as his hands slipped further under Roxas' coat and shirt. "You looked good in that dark Organization coat."

A grin slowly came to Roxas' lips as well to match Axel's own. He didn't even try to move away from Axel's roaming hands and if anything leaned closer into the touches. "Sorry, if I were wearing that then I have a feeling we'd really be attracting a lot of trouble right now." One of his hands moved out of the man's hair to run down the heartless' neck and shoulders. "I'm glad we get another chance at things now. I just hope nothing gets in the way of it."

Axel placed another kiss at Roxas' lips before he spoke. "Everyone has their own woes and angsts. As long as we enjoy what we have, how it ends doesn't matter." He held Roxas nearer for another moment, placing a kiss against his cheek before he began to let go of him to step back. "Watch this."

Axel stood back a few feet as he stretched out his arms in display. "Heartless Axel." He snapped his fingers and like it had happened with Roxas, data streamed around him changing his visuals. The black in his hair turned red, giving him back his once fiery spikes of hair. His skin gained back its colour and his outfit changed to that familiar attire they all wore. Axel splayed out his gloved fingers. "Nobody Axel." He grinned again. "Impressive, right?"

"Very." Roxas breathed out the one simple word as his eyes traveled up and down the familiar look of his friend. He walked the few steps Axel had taken back and reached a hand out to touch a few strands of red hair that hung near the side of the man's face. "It's like nothing ever changed. Well," Roxas smirked at those words and lifted his eyes to meet Axel's green ones. "Almost nothing. I don't feel the need to snap at you and tell you to leave me alone as I stand here and look at you. I feel quite the opposite actually." He dropped his hand and managed a grin.

Axel ran a hand through his own hair to see if he felt any different. He looked down at the Organization coat and toyed with the zipper a moment before flicking the draw strings that hung down.

"We both have hearts now." Axel placed his hands on either of Roxas' cheeks. "That's the only change." He leaned down so he could rest his head against the other's. "It doesn't matter who we were." He brushed Roxas' cheek with his thumb. "I don't need the rest of me...you make me feel whole, Roxas."

"Axel..." Roxas spoke the other's name quietly as he continued to look in the man's eyes. The sentiment meant a lot to the teen; especially in such a moment where they could be their old selves again. When it seemed like nothing else mattered but the two of them.

"You always made me feel, Axel." Roxas started out quietly as he looked down between them. "Whether I was annoyed at something you did or you found some way to cheer me up. No one else could get under my skin like you could. I was never able to connect with anyone else in the Organization like I was with you." He looked to the side at a fallen book. "Maybe it's because of who I was that no one seemed to want to get as close to me, but I'm glad in a way that you tried." He chanced a look back up at Axel. A frown on his face at everything he had just remembered. "I'm just sorry for everything that happened afterwards..."

"That's all I wanted to hear." Axel smiled softly, and he let his eyes shut. ".. That's all I ever wanted to hear." He let silence fall between them. For all the bitterness and hatred in his heart, he wondered how he could manage to love so much and remain what he was beneath his old Nobody facade.

"Hey-" Axel broke the sentimentality with his casual tone, "wanna go get some sea salt ice cream." He straightened up.

The mention of the treat had a ghost of a smile coming to Roxas' face and he was quick to tease the man in front of him. "That's a silly question." Truthfully it had been so long since he had the uniquely flavored ice cream that he couldn't even remember the way it tasted. It was hard for him not to just shout yes at his friend right on the spot and he had to stop himself from acting like a little kid instead of the stoic teen that he normally was.

That was enough to have Axel grinning widely; seeing Roxas smile would have had his breath caught and heart stop, had he been human. "Then let's." He stood tall once more and fiddled with the necklace ornament on his coat. "But I suppose my attire will only ruin things. Hm. How about this then?" He snapped his fingers and a whole new outfit took the place of the Organization's. The outfit was more normal, a shirt over a long sleeved with a long zipper going down the front and either sleeve of the long sleeved shirt, either shirt stopped short baring midriff, pants, boots; he looked like any other pedestrian save for the fiery hair and pointed tattoos under his eyes.

"Opinions?" Axel splayed out his hands. "Believe it or not, I was once a person too. Heh, I think I had decent fashion sense."

"I'll agree with that." Roxas reached his good arm out to pull on one of Axel's sleeves. "Much better then just decent." He looked back up at Axel's face as he let his hand drop back down to his side and gave the man a small grin. "You pass very well as normal. No one will ever know the difference." He reached back up, but this time to tug on Axel's hand, gripping it in his own after a few small tugs. "Now come on. I want that ice cream."

Axel let himself be pulled along. They left the house hand in hand, heading into town to buy the ice cream.

Although the world wasn't 'real', no one who inhabited seemed to notice or care, hurrying about with their lives with no care to what was real or programmed. There wasn't a worry to be seen in Twilight Town, the people there were happily busying themselves talking with each other or shopping for meals they would be cooking later on.

Axel had been taken with watching the tram drive by, stopping ever so often to pick up people dropping in their fairs before starting off again down the tracks. It was a little strange to live life on the other side of the fence, even if it was just a program.

To live like a normal person, it was a little nostalgic to Axel. He remembered having a world and friends of his own before he'd lost his heart and split in two. But those memories had taken a back seat to who he was now. Roxas had seemed to take precedence.

Axel watched the tram go by once again. None of these people had 'hearts', but they were all happy, smiling people. Sora was wrong, all of the Organization had been wrong. You didn't need a 'heart' to live happily ever after.

"I think schools still going... so all your old friends are in class." Axel managed to pull his eyes off the tram to look at Roxas. "Technically you're playing hooky." He wagged a 'no no' finger.

"I believe that just being able to gain control over my other half again, as well as being wounded, will allow me some free time off." Roxas smirked at his own words. "Although, I would probably just have to go with telling the school I have a cold instead. Somehow I don't think what really caused me to play hooky would be a very smart excuse." An amused sound left him after all of that. "It's so weird to even think about school. After everything that happened I never thought I would be right back here talking about it."

Axel tapped the side of his head. "You should know better by now that you should expect the unexpected." He spotted the ice cream and treats stand and he dragged Roxas the rest of the way without giving the other time to speak.

When they arrived Axel tapped the counter with two fingers in gesture. "Two sea salt ice creams please and thanks."

The tender blinked at Axel, whom he could only figure was some punk kid, but when he noticed his company he looked confused. "Roxas? Shouldn't you be in school?" Roxas was a regular customer with his friends there. But Axel wasn't the teen's regular company, and to the tender he only seemed like bad news. Maybe he was a new member of Seifer's gang. "This punk here isn't making you skip is he?"

"W-what?" The startled question left Axel without thinking.

Roxas could only try his best to hide his amusement. For once Axel was at a real loss for words and it was a rare occurrence for the fire user. He quickly shook his head in response to the man's question as he moved to stand closer to Axel and finally spoke up. "Of course not. Axel is a friend of mine. He just moved here and I was showing him around the town since I wasn't feeling well enough to go into school anyway." He shrugged a shoulder, letting the conversation drop after all of that and hoping it was enough. "I promise he's no real harm." He hid a grin.

Axel blinked at the excuse but soon he was bearing a wide toothed grin and waved at the tender who still didn't seem sold on the idea.

"Hmm. A new kid? Well, welcome to Twilight Town. I hope you enjoy living here." The tender nodded. "You better stay away from Seifer and his gang though, they're real trouble makers." He scratched his head. "Though you look like you'd fit in well with them."

Axel couldn't help but pout his frown. "Oh come on- I'm as gentle as a kitten." He ran a hand through his spiky hair and although his grin was meant to be a friendly one, it didn't ease the tender at all.

"Well, you must be feeling better to be up and about, Roxas." The tender smiled. "Wouldn't want our Struggle champion to be sick." He moved to go to his freezer. "The usual I take it."

"Of course, and don't forget about Axel." Roxas rested an elbow on the small counter that was in front of them while he kept his eyes inside the shop to watch the man get the ice cream. "Don't worry about me. I bounce back from things pretty quickly. I'll more then likely be in school tomorrow if I'm feeling well enough. It all depends." Mostly on the wounds Sora had gotten and the situation he was in altogether, but he couldn't say any of that out loud.

Either of Axel's hands rested on either side of Roxas as Axel took advantage of his height to peer over Roxas' head as well. The heartless knew he was pushing it when he rested his chin on top of Roxas' head. "Hmm. Maybe I should register into this 'school' thing too, huh?" He spoke absently, teasing since he knew the situation full well. "I bet I could do really well." He chuckled. "Bet it'd make that blonde kid you're friends with real jealous."

Roxas made no move to get away from Axel's sudden closeness. He only shifted a little to get more comfortable against the counter. "Hayner?" Roxas raised a brow at the thought of Axel trying to make his other friend jealous and it had him letting out an amused sound. "I wouldn't doubt it. He can get pretty competitive when he wants to." He rested his head on the palm of his hand as he thought over what Axel had suggested. "It would be nice if you could stay and go to school around here. It's not all that bad once you get used to it. It's just a lot of work. Of course, everything we did was a lot of work. So, it's nothing different I guess."

The tender came back holding the ice cream, blinking rather surprised at how chummy Roxas and this new kid was. But he didn't question it as he handed the ice cream popsicles to either.

"At last!" Axel took the ice cream by the stick and moved away from Roxas. He made like he was digging through his pocket and created munny to place on the counter to pay for the ice cream. "There! That should be enough." Axel gestured with the sea salt ice cream. "Think any of them 'like' you like you?" It was hard to keep the wicked grin from his face. "Like that Hayner kid? You two tended to- _touch_ a lot." Now that Axel thought about it, he remembered the rising jealousy that spiked through him whenever he saw Roxas and Hayner touch; _unnecessarily_. His grin quirked with disapproval. "So much touching."

Roxas had taken to licking at his ice cream and nearly choked on embarrassment at Axel's accusations. "W-What?" He looked up at the other with wide eyes. "N-No. Not at all." He quickly shook his head and looked back at his ice cream, finding it the safest thing to pay attention to for the time being. "Besides, they were just friends. I think you're reading too much into the touching aspect of it all." He grinned. "Stalker." With that last word he went back to licking at his ice cream, giving a small noise of satisfaction at the familiar flavor he had gone so long without.

"I am." Axel didn't deny it. He started walking in no real direction; he just wanted to enjoy the scenery while enjoying Roxas' company in a 'normal' sort of way. "But I was your friend." He snuck his long arm behind Roxas to rest a hand at the other's side not caring if the ice cream tender saw. "And now look what I can do." He slipped his hand down, sliding it into Roxas' pocket as they walked. "I think that Hayner kid would scowl if he saw. And then try to beat me up." Axel couldn't help but laugh. "I may be looking too deep, but that sounds like jealousy to me." He pulled Roxas nearer to his side by the other's pocket.

Roxas didn't give any protest to being pulled along and leaned against Axel's side as soon as he was near enough. "If he tried to beat you up then you'd have to promise me that you would go easy on him." Roxas shook his head at just the thought of a fight between the two. It wasn't very pretty. "He's my friend too. It wouldn't be fair if you just decided to hit him with a nice round of flames. The fight would pretty much be over before it got started." He chewed at the top of his ice cream as he glanced at Axel out the corner of his eyes.

"There goes my fun." Axel feigned disappointment. "Fine, alright, I won't beat him up. No use of mystical powers. I'll just kindly withdraw and damage my masculinity by forfeiting. But I will do it for your sake." He finally licked his ice cream. "Heeey, this is pretty good. Who knew ones and zeros could taste _this_ good." He licked at the ice cream that started to melt away, daring to fall on his hand. "Mmm. Good stuff." He licked his lips. "Just as long as he knows what's mine, and he can't have." His hand slipped up from Roxas' pocket to sneak under his shirt, down his front.

"The way you keep going the whole town will know that soon enough." Despite his words Roxas didn't try to stop Axel's hand. He only grinned at his friend before he shook his head at the other's actions and continued eating his ice cream. "I'm sure there won't be anything to worry about, though. Maybe you guys will get along just fine." His voice lowered a little as he pulled his ice cream away to look at it. "I hope you do. I want you to stay as long as you can and be a part of this life..."

A soft kiss from lips cooled by the ice cream pressed to Roxas' cheek. And Axel whispered his words against Roxas' ear. "I love seeing you smile." He nuzzled his nose against blonde hair, continuing to whisper on. "And I would love to live my life with you here..."

Roxas actually did smile for once at such words. Something that was so rare for him aside from the usual smirks he gave. He turned his head to meet Axel's lips with his own, tasting the ice cream on both their lips as he pushed his tongue out as the kiss went on. The flavored kiss had him smiling a little more under Axel's mouth and he had to suppress the urge to let out a noise.

The ice cream was forgotten as Axel enjoyed tasting the salty sweet flavour far more on Roxas' mouth; the smile on Roxas' lips only made it taste that much better. His tongue ran across Roxas', deepening the kiss, he couldn't help but crave what his Nobody wanted years ago. It easily slipped his mind what he was doing in a very public area of town.

Roxas didn't seem to give any real notice anymore as to where they were. Slowly, he stood up on tip toes as the kiss was deepened so Axel wouldn't have to bend down so far any longer. He licked at the other's tongue, curling the two around before he started to nibble at Axel's bottom lip every few seconds. He didn't even notice that his ice cream had slowly started to drip down his fingers. His mind completely on the one he had locked lips with.

Axel drew Roxas nearer, grinning against the other's lips when he stood on his tip toes; it was cute. And it pleased him to know that Roxas wanted this as much as he did. Axel's free hand slid down Roxas' back down to the other's rear, uncaring to what people saw.

Though he should have, considering this was Roxas' world, and people knew him well. For a curt voice cut through their pleasant moment quite rudely.

"Hah! I didn't know you were into _boys_ , Roxas. But I should have known better. No girl in their right mind would like you."

Roxas jumped a bit at the words and pulled away from Axel. He turned to look where the voice had come from and wasn't surprised to see Seifer and his lackeys right behind him. He was easily embarrassed at first since the position they had been in was far from an innocent one, but soon he only gave a light shrug as he tried not to care too much about it. "That's funny, considering I've never once seen a girl throw herself at your feet the entire time I've known you." He brought his ice cream back up to lick up what had started to melt. "Oh, and having one as a pet just so they can agree with you on a daily basis doesn't count." He couldn't hide a grin after those words and ignored the cruel look sent his way by Fuu.

Seifer sneered at Roxas for that remark but his expression soon cooled as he crossed his arms, trying to regain his stand offish attitude once again. "So what city dumpster did you pull this punk from?" He gestured to Axel.

That remark got Axel's hackles up; for a sprite in a program, this NPC sure had an attitude. ".. Man he's good at being a bastard." He frowned as he noticed his ice cream had started melting all over his hand. "Guess every town has to have an inbred hick." He switched hands and flicked the melted ice cream off, licking away the stickiness.

Seifer growled and his arms lowered as his hands drew into fists. "That's a big mouth you got there city boy. But I suppose Roxas already knows about that." He smirked meanly at the aforementioned teen. "This where you've been hiding yourself, Roxas? Kissing your _girlfriend_ here." He scoffed.

Roxas narrowed his eyes and pulled his ice cream away once more. He knew that if he didn't keep his cool then he wouldn't be able to keep Axel from running his mouth, and in the end doing something he'd regret. Of course, Roxas was having a hard time controlling himself as well. "Actually, if you really need to keep tabs on me that badly Seifer, I've just been out of town. That's all." It was close enough to the truth.

"Axel decided to come back with me." Roxas pointed his ice cream towards his friend. "He's going to be staying in Twilight Town for a while." He pointed the treat back and forth between the two. "Axel, Seifer. Seifer, Axel." He smirked and brought his ice cream up to bite into it, quieting himself once again after the introduction.

"New kid, huh?" Seifer sized Axel up. It was obvious he didn't like just how tall Axel was.

"Hmm. Pleasures all yours, I'm sure." Axel realized that being fire orientated didn't work well when you were trying to keep a temper with ice cream in your hand. He decided that he best be done with the delicious treat, and eat the rest of it quickly.

"Uh-huh." Seifer glanced back at his posse. "Yeah, he doesn't look so tough." He glanced back at Roxas. "You think adding some red haired city punk to your little gang is going to make you guys any less lame. Ha."

Axel gave one last lick to his popsicle stick before he threw it at Seifer's head. "Such a charmer."

Seifer growled. "Keep pushing it, flamer, and you'll be eating it."

Roxas watched the back and forth with careful eyes. Mostly to make sure Axel didn't try to bring forth any real flames and get anyone asking weird questions. He already noticed how quick his friend had to get rid of his ice cream. "You should probably shut your mouth Seifer, before it gets you into any real trouble." Roxas couldn't help throwing back his own threat. In all actuality he didn't care what trouble Seifer got himself into, but Roxas wanted at least a little bit of peace on his first day back into town.

Axel seemed to take a calm note, and he slunk to Roxas' side, slipping an arm over his shoulder as he stayed nice and close. "Maybe he's just jealous." He cocked his head to the side as he looked Seifer over with no real interest. "Probably can't come to terms with himself…or find the door to his closet."

"Hey!" Seifer shouted loudly, he gestured to his posse. "You'll regret saying that, punk."

Axel waved them off. "Sorry, made a promise I wouldn't kick any asses." He boldly pressed a quick kiss on Roxas' cheek and then nudged his shoulder gently. "Let's get going somewhere else."

Roxas took one last look at Seifer and his gang, finding a sort of accomplishment in their angry expressions. He had never been able to get under their skin like that while he hung out with Hayner and the others. It was fun to finally annoy Seifer so badly and in the end he smirked at the gang. "I'm sure I'll see you guys later. I always do, right?"

At Axel's suggestion, Roxas turned and finally started walking away. There wasn't very much to the town as far as privacy was concerned, but it didn't bother Roxas that much. He was perfectly fine just walking around with Axel for the time being since the only time the heartless had been around Twilight Town had been to come take him back.

"You don't make a very good first impression I'm afraid, Axel." Roxas couldn't help but tease as he tried to balance himself on one of the rails that led up a small ramp, holding his good arm out the entire time. His ice cream had been completely eaten and the stick discarded.

"Nope." Axel shook his head. He watched Roxas balance along, quite taken with the carefree action Roxas was trying to accomplish. "I have a confession though. And I trust you can keep it from your other half." He looked else where as he continued to speak. ".. It's been here that I've been hiding out from the rest." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Most expected me to be hiding away somewhere in the vastness of the darkness. Or even on an uncharted world. But it's been here I've been staying. Most might find it too obvious; maybe that's why I chose to. Or maybe they thought this place had ceased to function and was all but abandoned." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But I fixed it up the best I could without being conspicuous. Hmm, I guess I just felt closer to you, wandering around in your home town. As a non-descript NPC, mind you."

Axel lowered his hand with a half a laugh as he looked back to Roxas. "M. My bad bringing that all back up when we're enjoying a carefree day together." He waved it off. "Forget it. Tell me about your life here." Even though he'd spent most of the actual 'real time' Roxas had been in the computer watching him, but he wanted to hear about all the fake memories as if they were real. The deceit seemed to make Roxas so happy; he wanted to know all about it, even if it wasn't real.

Roxas had stopped halfway through Axel's speech and stood still on the small rail just to stare at his friend. He would have gladly answered Axel's questions had the man's other words not effected him so much first. "Axel..." He jumped down after the name left him and walked over to the man to stand in front of him, looking up instantly. "They're all after you aren't they? The rest of the Organization or, what they are now at least." His eyes narrowed as that small bit of concern showed in his expression. "And it's all because of what you did, isn't it? Most, if not all of this, is my fault isn't it?"

Axel had always found it easy to pour Roxas' blame on Sora with each time they met. But it had always been to lure the little blonde rabbit out that was inside him. And now that Roxas was with him, standing with him under a soft blue sky and warm sun, enjoying simple things that they were robbed of, Axel found himself learning a new emotion that wasn't of his orientation as a heartless; _apprehension_. Suddenly he didn't want Roxas to hurt like he'd hurt him like before.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Axel rested either of his hands on Roxas' shoulders. "Roxas, the heart remembers even though the body is far apart. I felt for you, that's how I remember. And hatred is a memory that scars the heart as well as love. That's how their heartless know me without having met me." Axel's hands fell down to Roxas' arms. "Even though I'm someone completely different from my Nobody, I'm still the same. So, yes, they're after me to destroy me for what my Nobody has done. ... I've already taken out Lexaeus' heartless. Him, Vexen and Zexion had joined together in their own little group. And I had managed to get the drop on them before they could to me." He scoffed. "Buncha low leveler schemers." He wasn't going to mention the others, not to mention there was probably a psychotic Riku who was out for his blood now.

Axel shook his head. ".. But that doesn't matter right now. Not right now." He held Roxas' arms just a little tighter. "They won't find us here, anyway. It's well hidden. And although I'm not exactly a hacker, I've thrown few safety measures and passwords here and there."

Roxas still seemed a little worried after everything had been confirmed, but with Axel's last few words he tried his best to loosen up again. "That means we can stay here as long as we want and at least _try_ to live some kind of normal life. Or, normal for us at least." He looked down between them, bringing his hands up to stare at his own fingers and palms. "I hope I can keep holding on for that long. I was only in control for a short time before. This is different." His eyes narrowed and he clenched his hands into fists. "Everything that happened though, it just feels like Sora didn't even try to fight against it." He looked up back into Axel's eyes. "Maybe I will get to stay this time."

"As long as you don't summon the keyblade, I'll keep you shrouded in darkness from their sight." Axel leaned down and placed a lingering kiss to Roxas' forehead. "I'll fight to keep this world safe, and yours."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Roxas' lips because of the words as well as the gesture. He really did feel like he would be okay as long as Axel was near him. The heartless was the only one he had and the only one he could really trust. Still, Roxas couldn't help but grin a little as he tried to lighten the sudden somber mood. "Don't summon the keyblade? Axel, that's like asking me not to live. I have so much fun with those things. You know that." His grin grew wider.

Axel snatched up Roxas' hands in his as if that would be enough to keep the keyblades from appearing in his hands. "Nope. No keyblade. Besides, I think the towns folk would think you pretty strange to see you walking around whacking things with a giant key." He pressed a kiss to Roxas' cheek. "No keyblade. You're a giant neon sign for heartless when you summon it. So no, no keyblade."

Roxas huffed a bit, but didn't struggle against the hold on his hands. "And you talk about me ruining _your_ fun." The disappointment fell from his face as he kept a close eye on Axel for a few seconds and finally smiled again. "You did keep your promise to come back for me, so, why shouldn't I believe that you'll do anything to protect me again?" He twisted his hands in Axel's grip so he could hold the heartless' hands instead. "I trust you more then anyone." He spoke his earlier thoughts out loud. "Even more then myself." He laughed a little at that.

Axel grinned a little unsurely at that but he shrugged all the same. To see Roxas smile so much, it didn't matter. He grinned a little more assuredly. "So, you were just going to tell me about your life here, right? Go on." He encouraged Roxas with a nudge of one of his captured hands.

"My life." Roxas actually thought over those words carefully once he was pushed into thinking over the topic once more. "It was so much different then living life with the Organization. That's for sure. There was no real work to be done. I would get up, get dressed and run outside to try and find out where my friends were hanging out first thing in the morning. Usually I was the first one awake, so I'd just hang around at a few of the shops until Hayner ended up coming out along with the others."

Roxas leaned back against the rail to get more comfortable, but kept his hands in Axel's own. "Most of the time we never really knew what we wanted to do during the day. It was usually hit or miss on whether we would all agree on one thing. Not to mention there was practice for Struggle sometimes." His eyes had fallen to stare at their hands while he moved his fingers at random moments. "The one thing I do know I enjoyed most was sitting on top of the tower. It was dangerous, sure, but the sight was so nice that none of us cared. You can see everything from up there. The entire town." He finally looked back up at Axel's face. "It's really nice."

"The one you 'fell' off of." Axel smirked some. "I remember it. We should go up there sometime. Just you and me, and watch the town." He gave something some thought. "You'll be busy studying for exams and stuff soon. You should enjoy your free time while it lasts. Free time is so fleeting." Of course 'school' was such an obscure topic when only moments ago they had bore witness to horrors on another planet. But suddenly the silly minute things were what mattered most now.

"Hmm. Does your school have uniforms? You do so well in uniforms." Axel was grinning again. "I suppose I'd look decent in one." He swayed his hips from side to side.

"You're so full of yourself." Roxas' own comment had him smirking at the fire user, but his eyes weren't on Axel's face. He moved away from the railing to walk closer to Axel so he could slip his fingers though the loops on the other's pants. "I'm not really sure, though. I was only put in this world during a vacation of sorts, so I don't think I've ever seen what was worn to school." He leaned his head to the side as the smirk on his face grew. "But I guess uniforms wouldn't be so bad if it means I would get extra attention from you, hmm?"

"Consider it done." Axel snapped his fingers; whatever he did it couldn't be seen where they were. "All my attention is yours." He ran his fingers through Roxas' blonde hair, enjoying the illusion of the soft swept up hair while they had time to themselves still. "Out doors, in the center of town, in doors," he leaned nearer to finish his words quietly against Roxas' ear, "in your room." His arms slipped lower to wrap around Roxas' middle. "All over town I'll give you attention." He playfully bit Roxas' ear.

Roxas let out a quiet sound at the bite and moved in closer to Axel. "And you think that's wise?" He couldn't help teasing the other just a little bit. "We were already caught once. I take it you're trying for twice with that kind of attitude." Despite the words, Roxas made no move to even try pushing Axel away and instead, inched his hands up to touch the man's bare skin that was showing.

"Afraid that Hayner guy will catch you with some 'punk'?" Axel murmured with amusement against Roxas' ear. "The whole town is probably buzzing about 'Roxas sucking face' with 'that city punk'. 'He looks like bad news, and that Roxas is such a nice sweet boy'." Axel laughed. "I suppose it depends..." He rested his lips against Roxas' ear "what kind of _attention_ you want." He playfully sucked on the rim of Roxas' ear.

Roxas allowed his eyes to fall shut while his hands continued to trail up Axel's skin. "You pretty much hit it right on the nose." Another noise left him, louder then the first, before he was able to continue speaking. "If they only knew what I was really like. Their thoughts of me being nice, sweet Roxas would fly out the window in a second."

"I would feel bad if I tarnished such a 'nice, sweet boy's' reputation." Axel placed a few kisses beside Roxas' ear. "I could always tarnish it somewhere more private. Say-", He slipped his hands under Roxas' shirt, ignoring the staring looks of strangers walking by, "that little area in the ally way you hang out in." He attacked the crook of Roxas' neck with a few fiercer kisses. ".. I remember there being couches." Axel added slyly.

Roxas tried to protest to the idea since that area was where his friends hung out in. It was like Axel was begging him to let the other's find out. The way Axel was kissing his skin had him shutting up before he even had a chance to speak and all he could do was moan quietly.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to go back there for a little bit." Roxas managed those few words finally as he raised a hand to run it through Axel's hair. His will to fight against his friends seeing had cracked long ago. "Especially since we're causing a bit of a show for the people that are walking by." Despite those words, Roxas pulled Axel even closer by his hair.

One of Axel's crafty hands slipped up to Roxas' front to grasp the large X zipper of his shirt and slowly began to drag it down. The teen had such appropriately convenient clothing. "Well then," Axel murmured against moist skin, "lead the way." Otherwise he truly didn't care what intimacies people would soon see them doing.

Roxas didn't need to be told twice. He pulled himself away from Axel even though he didn't want to, but he knew he had to be the one to take them to the spot. He leaned up to give the other one quick kiss before he turned away from the heartless and walked from the stairway, motioning for him to follow.

A few looks were shot their way, either because of their previous show, or just because people had taken to staring at the new face in town. Either way Roxas didn't really seem to care and waved at the few people who waved to him first.

The walk wasn't a long one and Roxas was grateful. Only a few turns and they were soon standing in front of the makeshift door that kept the spot hidden from prying eyes. Roxas wasted no time in pulling Axel inside by his shirt, causing the curtain to ruffle and nearly pull completely inside with them. He ignored it, paying more attention on bringing Axel down so he could better lean up and kiss the heartless, biting at the other's lip a little.

The noise Axel made was muffled against Roxas' lips as he kissed the other near forcefully now that they had their little bit of privacy. He placed his hands on Roxas' shoulders to push him backwards as he kissed him. Despite the wounds of someone else that Roxas harbored, Axel pushed him back until he clumsily fell back on the couch. He crawled on top, not letting Roxas' mouth escape his.

The sound of complaint Roxas made because of his wounds was muffled under Axel's lips and just as quickly silenced by a moan. He let his tongue sneak out, licking the other's lips before it pushed its way past to curl around Axel's own. His hand continued to cling tightly to the heartless' shirt, bringing him even closer which caused his own body to be pinned against the couch cushion.

The sound of a zipper denoted Axel had went and undone the rest of Roxas' shirt. The heartless barely managed to tear his mouth from Roxas', kissing what he could before he dipped his head to kiss the bare skin he'd exposed of Roxas' chest, tasting skin with flicks of tongue. Never in all his years of existing as a Nobody knowing Roxas, did he ever expect anything like this; never did he expect Roxas to be so cooperative or willing. Especially in a place he called 'home'. Thrilling to say the least; he pitied his Nobody never had _this_ chance.

The small flicks of tongue had Roxas squirming under Axel. His eyes had shut and he let out small noises here and there as the heartless kissed and licked his skin. One of his legs had moved up to wrap around the back of Axel's own, and silently he cursed to himself that he still had his shoes on. For the moment he didn't feel like toeing the annoying things off. He had other things in mind and was soon pulling Axel back up so he could bite affectionately at the man's neck, licking each spot afterwards.

There was the loud sound of a school bag dropping at the door.

"What. The. Hell!?" Hayner's voice shouted shocked and embarrassed to what he'd just walked into.

Axel didn't seem detoured by their new audience, noticeably so when the throaty sound he made had Roxas' friends growing far redder in the face than they already were. The heartless only pressed closer in a way he shouldn't have, nibbling on Roxas' ear.

Roxas had to choke down the moan he almost let out at feeling Axel's teeth. The sound of Hayner's voice had nearly sobered him right up and his eyes had snapped completely open. As quick as he could he shoved the heartless away from him which was something he didn't want to do, but he didn't need his friends to see more then they already had. "G-Guys. U-Uh...Hey..." The greeting was weak, but Roxas had no clue what else he could have said.

Olette only blushed harder and averted her eyes after Roxas' greeting. She was curious as to whom the stranger in their spot was, but she didn't speak. She was too embarrassed that the three of them had walked in on what they had and looked towards Hayner who had seemed the most upset.

Axel's tongue still stuck out and he sat upright, running a hand through his hair looking mildly disappointed though more amused. "Hm, there goes my fun."

Hayner was near fuming at that comment, his face beat red. "Who is that guy?" He pointed a finger at Axel who only waved with a sly smile; it didn't help Hayner's anger at all. "And why the hell did you bring him _here_ to- to-!" He stumbled on his words.

Pence frowned, finishing what Hayner couldn't say. "... do stuff on our couch."

Roxas flinched at that and raised his good arm to scratch at the back of his head. "Uhh...his name is Axel and he's an old friend of mine that I used to know. He's moving here to Twilight Town." Roxas dropped his hand and looked up at his friends again, trying his best to move the conversation away from what had been walked in on. "We were trying to catch up with each other since we haven't talked in a while."

Axel took it upon himself to become completely comfortable, more comfortable than Hayner liked, on the couch beside Roxas. "'Talk' being a loose metaphor." He added slyly. He was far more amused that Roxas had given three different stories explaining who he was to three different parties.

Hayner had narrowed his eyes on Axel; they were already getting off on the wrong foot. "Funny, you never mentioned him before." He looked back to Roxas.

Pence glanced at Olette. "Roxas had a boyfriend before?" He couldn't recall a time they didn't know Roxas, so he couldn't really figure a time that Roxas knew someone they all didn't.

Olette could only shrug her shoulders. "I don't know. He never said anything to me about it." She felt less embarrassed about the situation, but that was only because she knew that pretty soon a fight was going to break out between the person known as Axel and Hayner if the two weren't watched carefully. It was obvious enough just by the way Hayner was acting.

"I never mentioned him because it was a long time since I had talked to him. I didn't think old friends would be important to new ones. Besides, I never thought I would see him again." Most of it was true and after the words left him Roxas shrugged a shoulder. He wasn't surprised by Hayner's attitude. His friend became upset very easily and he had learned to deal with it over time unless it affected him too much.

Hayner didn't look impressed over the situation. "..Riight. So you disappear for a long while without saying a word, come back with this punk, and took him here to 'talk' on _our_ couch. Thanks, Roxas." He looked away, if anything disgusted. "Way to sort out your priorities there."

Pence looked at Roxas and pointed to his own chest and made zipping up motions trying to be as subtle as possible without Hayner noticing; Roxas' shirt was still unzipped wide open, and it was best he made himself less conspicuous before Hayner got angrier.

Axel noticed and tapped Roxas' shoulder. "Zip up."

And the faces all around got redder.

Roxas was quick to zip up his shirt, flinching at the loud sound it made in the small area they were in. Once the zipper was as it had been he coughed nervously into his hand and shot a look at Axel as if the entire thing had been his fault to begin with. In a way it was.

"Well, um, I'm sure Roxas didn't mean anything bad by it." Olette tried her best to be the voice of reason while trying to push away the blush on her face. "Besides, it does no good to snap at each other like this. It makes a bad impression on people you're meeting for the first time." She gestured to Axel after those words, hoping Hayner would listen to her and lighten up a bit.

"See, now she's a bright one." Axel pushed himself up and stood up from the couch. Roxas' three friends stared up at him.

"...Tall." Pence blinked several times.

Axel walked over to Olette and extended a hand to her in greetings. "Axel. Although I've already been introduced." Hayner had turned to glare at him since now he was standing near, but Axel ignored him, giving the girl before him a sly smile.

Olette seemed to relax quite a bit and smiled up at Axel as she moved her bag to a different hand so she could shake the man's own. "My name is Olette." She took her hand back to point at her friends. "That's Pence and the one glaring at you is Hayner." She smiled a little more at her own comment. "Don't worry about him. You'll get used to it after a while."

"He's just jealous because I didn't say hi to you guys first, that's all." Roxas had walked over to stand beside Axel, keeping an eye on his friends. In the end his attention fell on Hayner out of them all, trying to lighten the mood around them as he smirked after those words.

"Pence." Axel turned to the boy that Olette named off and shook his hand as well. "Don't worry about your couch. We didn't defile it." He took back his hand. ".. _yet._."

Pence rubbed his hand that Axel shook, not sure if he liked what he said.

"Whatever." Hayner shrugged off Roxas' comment; though it probably wasn't a far cry from the truth. "You obviously seem set on doing your own thing. Just don't be upset if you get expelled for missing so much school." Hayner picked up his bag from the floor and walked away from the group.

"Hayner." Roxas tried to say something else to at least get Hayner to stay, but it was no use. Once Hayner's mind was made up then he was too stubborn to listen unless he wanted to. It caused Roxas to slump a little in defeat since the one reunion he had with his friends hadn't at all gone as well as he had hoped it would.

Olette watched Hayner walk away, but quickly turned her gaze back on Roxas and smiled sadly. "Don't worry about him, Roxas. You two could never stay mad at each other for more then a day at most. He'll come around eventually." She tried to reassure her friend, but still Roxas seemed more then a little upset and it caused her to sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry yourself about grumpy face." Axel sidled over to Roxas and slipped his arms around the boy's small shoulders. He ruffled the teen's blonde hair. "Cheer up; you have so many tomorrows to look forward to."

Pence was still weirded out to see the stranger being so friendly with Roxas. He glanced at Olette before looking back to Roxas. "Soo... how did you two meet?"

Roxas squinted an eye as his hair was ruffled, but made no move to shoo Axel away. The question caught him off guard and he looked back up at his two remaining friends. He hadn't really thought up a story for how he and Axel had met. He couldn't exactly go around talking about how he had been picked up by some type of evil Organization. That just wouldn't sound good at all.

"Uhh, well..." Roxas looked to the side as he tried to think up something quick. "We just sort of ran into each other a lot, here and there. The place I was at before I came here wasn't all that big and it was hard not to, so I ended up seeing Axel pretty often and we just sort of became friends." Roxas shrugged a shoulder and looked back at his friends hoping that what he said was good enough.

Axel cut in before any of Roxas' friends could talk. "He was totally taken in by who I was. Completely enamored." His hand snuck to the X zipper, lazily fiddling with it. "He followed me everywhere, and was always trying to paw me." He tugged down on the zipper just a little bit. "Something came up and we had to put our little obsession on hold. Only now did we pick things back up." He pulled down on the zipper a little more, seeing how far he could get away with.

".. I see." Pence gave a slow nod, trying not to act as uncomfortable as he felt.

Roxas was quick to move his hand up to slap at Axel's own. He looked back to narrow his eyes on the heartless for a quick second, shaking his head before he looked back at his friends. "He gets like this sometimes. Sorry about that." He zipped his shirt back up for the second time that day and smiled nervously at the other two. "He'll learn to behave over time, I'm sure."

Olette blinked her eyes at the back and forth and was once again blushing over what had occurred. Not to mention Axel's earlier words. It was strange to see Roxas acting so forward with anyone. Her friend was usually so reserved and to himself most of the time. Roxas was always the one to sit off to the side while the rest of them sat in the group talking and laughing. It was such a change. "Well, it sure is an interesting story. Especially since you've never spoken up before about your past, Roxas."

Axel pouted, his fun swatted away. "I'm truly wounded." He held his hand to his cheek as if his hand was more than slapped. "Everyone thinks I'm a terrible guy." He leaned down to rest his chin on Roxas' shoulder and tried to look as sad as possible; it didn't help that the corners of his lips kept perking up in amusement. "I'm harmless, really."

Pence looked from one to the other and raised a hand to scratch at his hair. "Sooo..." He hesitated, wondering if he should be so forward. But no one else was taking initiative. "You two.. are-an item now?" He coughed but his cheeks grew hot again. "Never thought I'd see the day you'd go out with someone, Roxas." Pence blinked and waved his hands. "Not I- er- you're not very- uh.. well, you're not very social. And I'll shut up before I stick my foot in my mouth further." He gave a nervous laugh.

In truth Roxas wasn't sure how to answer Pence at all. The question was something he knew he would have had to think about, but being a Nobody most of his existence he'd been told that feelings didn't matter much in his case. Even now, when he wanted to feel for his own he still didn't believe he would ever be able to, and it seemed as if three words were still too far away for him to be able to say.

"No worries, Pence. Besides, some things just change I guess." Roxas shrugged a shoulder. He decided to just bypass Pence's question in the end. "Axel is just someone I can loosen up around. That I feel like I can be myself around a lot more." He realized how that came out and quickly shook his head. "I mean, not that I can't act like myself around you guys. Of course I can. It's just.. well.. you know..." He quickly quieted himself and let out a frustrated sigh.

Olette laughed a little at Roxas' sudden struggle to find the right words. "It's alright, Roxas. It's good to see you finally happy in some way. It was always so hard to get you to smile most of the time. I was beginning to think it was impossible." She shook her head at such memories, letting out a sigh as if it were the saddest thing ever.

"Even in the previous place we lived it was hard getting a smile out of him." Axel waved a hand at what he knew all too well. "He was such a disgruntled Roxas." He placed a kiss on Roxas' cheek right in front of his friends and patted his chest before he let go to go back and lounge on the couch.

Pence watched Axel go and make himself quite at home on the couch in their hangout. He looked back at Roxas. "Guess he's a permanent addition to our group, huh?" He laughed a little. He knew Hayner wasn't going to like this one bit.

Roxas hadn't protested to the one simple kiss he was given and watched as Axel claimed the couch for his own at the moment. He turned his eyes back to his friends when Pence was finished speaking and smirked at just the thought of Axel hanging out with them constantly. It was an idea he actually enjoyed. "I guess so. Maybe people won't mind him as much if he's hanging around with us. Although, so far the people in town just think he's some bad influence that's hanging around me." He tried to joke around with his friends, but slowly Roxas' thoughts seemed to stray towards where Pence's own had gone. "I just hope Hayner can warm up to the idea as well as you two have."

"He will. Just give him time, Roxas." Olette reached out to place a hand on her friend's shoulder, trying her best to cheer him up again. "He's your friend, right? He'll see it your way if he sees that you're happy. Besides, Hayner can be just as understanding as the rest of us if he tries hard enough." A small laugh left her after those words.

"Hmm." Pence slipped his hands in his pockets. "Why don't you go catch up with him, Roxas? I bet if you talked to him now you could smooth things over. Better than letting him stew until tomorrow." He moved a hand to loosen the tie of his school uniform. "You're going to school tomorrow, right?" He glanced at Axel a second. "Axel signed up to go too?"

"He still has to check some things out first, but he might be signing up soon. I'll be going tomorrow for sure, though." Roxas couldn't believe what he just said. It made the entire situation seem even more normal, but that's what the two of them were trying to do. To live life and be normal like they wanted to be. Or for however long it was allowed.

Roxas turned away from his friends, deciding that Pence's idea of talking to Hayner hadn't really been much of a bad one. He wanted to make some kind of amends with the other teen and to do that he would have to catch up to him first. "Hey Axel, I'm gonna go find Hayner. You wanna just stay here until I get back?" He gave the other a small grin. "I promise my friends won't bite while I'm gone."

Axel waved a dismissive hand, returning the grin. "Sure. I can't promise that I won't bite though. But I'll try to behave myself. Go on."

Roxas almost laughed at how Axel's words had caused his other two friends to tense up. He held his amusement in and only shook his head, saying nothing and trusting the heartless to behave himself like he said he would, leaving through the small curtain in the doorway to go out and search in town for his missing friend.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 08

The day was ending, and the setting sun was colouring the town in warm hues; the town truly lived up to its name, day in day out.  
The sight was always most beautiful at the top of the clock tower. A place currently claimed by one disgruntled teen. He cussed aloud as he loosened his tie, yanking it off. He hated the stuffy feel of the school uniform and blamed it for his bad mood, and not the red haired individual who had been slobbering all over Roxas.

Hayner tossed his tie aside, throwing it over his bag. He unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt so he could take a proper breath, cussing out loud more since he had the privacy to. He dragged a hand through his messy hair, glaring at the sunset. Even the wondrous sight did little to ease his aggravation.

Hayner sighed, his scowl lifting just a little. He dug through his pockets and pulled out a small red bobble. He stared at it on his palm, the light twinkling on its smooth surface. Tightly his hand clenched around it, and for a moment he got the sudden urge to chuck it as far as he could from the clock tower. He pulled his hand back and nearly did, but stopped. With a sigh Hayner let his hand drop to his lap. "...Jerk." He fiddled with the red stone between his fingers.

The irritated teenager's privacy would be short lived as the door that led to the outside of the tower started to open, allowing another individual on the small space that was usually considered dangerous to most of the people in town. Narrowed eyes watched Hayner where he sat until a voice cut through the silence, knowing that the other had probably heard him from the moment the door opened. "I figured I would find you up here. This is always where you come when something is bugging you."

After the words, Roxas walked carefully to where Hayner sat. Ever since he 'fell' the tower freaked him out a little more then it usually would have despite everything in the town only being a collection of data. This time was no different and he found himself trying not to look down until he was safely sitting beside his friend. "Axel isn't a bad guy once you get to know him better. He just likes to speak what's on his mind. That's how he is." He tried to explain the heartless' behavior to Hayner, hoping it would help clear things up a little. "I had a feeling you two would butt heads a bit."

"Right. And he just shoves his tongue down your throat when he feels like it. Nice. Real nice, Roxas." Hayner's hands tightened around the bobble. He didn't want Roxas to know he had it with him; most to all of the time. "Great place to do it too. What- you didn't expect us to walk in like that?" He scoffed. "How would you like it if I suddenly disappeared and then you walked in on me sucking face with some _thing_."

Hayner stared down at the world below, before he looked up to the horizon; blue, pink, orange, fading into night. "You were acting so weird at the end of summer. You wouldn't tell us anything." He sighed. "It was right after you won the Struggle game. You started losing things... and then seeing things. And then POOF!" Hayner splayed one hand out in gesture. "You just disappeared off the face of the planet."

Hayner still refused to look at Roxas, turning away from him best he could while sitting on the edge of the clock tower. "But what do you care. You seemed to have found yourself a new 'friend'."

Roxas frowned at the last small accusation. "Of course I care." He shook his head and looked out towards the horizon instead of the town below. "I had to leave for a while. Nothing could be done about that, Hayner. I wish I could have let you three know what was going on, but I couldn't. Things were difficult. It was just some personal stuff that I couldn't and still can't really share." He dropped his eyes down to his hands which had rested in his lap. "I didn't mean for you to find out about Axel like that. I wanted to tell you guys, but I guess things just got carried away." He flinched at his own choice of words.

"Guess so." Hayner replied coldly. But he felt bad after it left him. He didn't mean to come crashing down on Roxas, if he had his personal reasons then he shouldn't press it. But Roxas was always such a distant friend. Hayner just had enough of it, especially with what he had to walk in on to find out.

Roxas' expression became a little more troubled at Hayner's response. He kept his gaze down and started to pull at his wristband for lack of anything better to occupy his hands with. "I missed you guys. I never wanted to leave this place at first. I was upset as soon as I found out that I had to go." He shook his head and looked back up, finally turning his attention on Hayner to look at his friend with narrowed eyes. "I know I worried all of you a lot during that summer. Things were weird for me too. There's not really much I can do except say that I'm sorry."

Hayner sighed, long and heavily. He fiddled with the something in his hands for a moment before he leaned back. ".. Things weren't the same without you. Time crawled by. School was even duller than it normally was." He looked down at what he held. ".. Not to mention I had no one to spar with to practice for the next Struggle." Without looking he stretched out his hand and offered the red bobble he'd been fiddling with to Roxas. "Here."

Roxas looked over and instantly reached out to take the red object in his own hand. It was something from the past that he remembered giving to his friend as if it were only yesterday, sharing the trophy with his three friends just like they promised. He was saddened inside that he didn't have his own piece to hold onto any longer.

Roxas held the red sphere out much like they had that day, so that what was left of the sun could be seen through the near clear color. "I'm here now. I don't plan on leaving any time soon. At least I hope not. I just want to live my life here with you guys again, and Axel too if the both of you can get along well enough." He managed a small smile at his own words before he continued, his hand dropping back down at the same time. "Everything we used to do together we can do again. Everything can go back to normal if you want it to. I know I do."

Hayner stared at his empty hands, but Roxas' sentimental words had him finally looking at the other. It was rare to hear Roxas go on so heart felt. And so Hayner found he couldn't argue with it. "Yeah... I guess." He frowned. "I just-I just don't trust that Axel guy. There's just something about him. I can't place it... It just makes me feel uneasy. Like he's going to do something that we'll all regret." He looked to the bobble Roxas held. ".. That you'll regret." He added quietly.

"Axel?" Roxas said the heartless' name in a surprised tone of voice. It was as if he couldn't place what Hayner said with the person that had brought him back. Sure, Axel had done a number of things to harm his other half, but such things didn't matter to Roxas. Those were the things that had woken him up. "Nah, Axel wouldn't do anything to harm me in any sort of way. Not emotionally or anything like that. We're really close and I don't just mean it in the way you're thinking either."

Roxas turned his head to look at Hayner and shrugged a shoulder. "Besides, lots of people get the wrong impression about him. I have to admit he can have a bit of a temper and says some things he shouldn't half the time." Roxas thought about that one. "Well, most of the time, but that's just who he is. It's probably what freaks people out about him at first. There's nothing bad about him, though. I can promise you that." Roxas left out the little detail about being on Axel's bad side. Hayner didn't need to know that.

Hayner was quiet a moment, and soon he was letting out a slight sigh. But it was obvious his anger had subsided. ".. You really like this guy, huh?" He nervously glanced at Roxas.

Roxas narrowed his eyes a bit before he quickly dropped them back down. He was hesitant to answer, much like he had been to Pence. He was still afraid he wouldn't be able to get the words out and would end up feeling awkward in the end. "Axel and I went through some tough times and I was a real jerk to him before I came here to live in Twilight Town. It just feels good to be able to patch things up between us." His eyes slipped shut for a moment as he tried his best to grab that one piece of Sora that he had taken as his own. Just for the opportunity to feel something other then what his other half felt for Riku.

Roxas was shocked himself when he finally spoke up again as his eyes opened. "I like Axel, a lot." They weren't the three words that he had wanted to say, but it was close enough to them and it made Roxas realize that the trauma Sora had been through had taken more of a toll on his other half then he thought. "We make each other feel whole..." Hayner wouldn't understand what he meant, but to Roxas it was the truth and meant everything.

"Guess that's why you never mentioned him before.. because it would have brought back a lot of bad memories." Hayner spoke up, sympathetic. "Understandable I guess." He rolled up his sleeves, still annoyed at the fabric, but it gave his nervous hands something to do. "Still the guy is cruder than Seifer. And that's a stretch. He needs a lesson in subtly." He gave Roxas a slight glare. "And you need to pick better make out spots. Not what I wanted to see first thing getting back from school."

Roxas gave a nervous laugh at that and looked back out at the town below. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Axel can be pretty persistent when he wants to be and we were getting strange looks." His embarrassment was lost when Hayner's earlier remark made him remember something. "Speaking of Seifer, he ended up catching us too. That was rather awkward, but Axel had fun putting him in his place, that's for sure."

Hayner gave a small chuckle. "He put Seifer in his place? Heh, maybe he isn't so bad." He looked down as well. "Heh, great. So now Seifer knows about you and that guy." He rubbed the back of his head. "We'll never live it down. Things are going to get more interesting." Hayner scoffed as if all of that wouldn't break down his tough persona. "But things have been pretty boring anyway." He shrugged it off.

"That's one way to look at it, I guess. At least I'm good at causing some excitement around here, and I just got back." Roxas turned his attention back on Hayner and raised a hand to push at the other's shoulder gently considering they were up so high. "See, you got all upset for nothing. You need to learn to control your temper. Or at least let people explain themselves better before you go running off. Such a bad habit." He grinned.

Hayner smirked some, loosening up. "Yeah, I guess. Still, you can't blame me for what we walked in on." His grin faded a little. "Doesn't mean I'm going to be buddy, buddy with this guy. I still don't like him. You can say what you want, but he's still got to prove himself to me." He gave a friendly punch to Roxas' arm. "And sticking his tongue down your throat doesn't count. If anything it puts me off more." He laughed a little.

"Well, then it's going to be a very long time before you two get along." Roxas couldn't help but tease while he raised his hand up which still held the jewel to rub at his arm. He remembered the conversation he had with Pence earlier and his humor fell away immediately. He more or less became a little nervous instead. "You know what this means, right? Axel will be part of our group." He looked back down as he dropped his hand from his arm to toy with the sphere he held again. "I mean, it would only make sense, right? Since he and I are so close."

"Guess there's no other way around it." Hayner sighed more dramatically than normal. "Which I guess is alright. Just, try not to paw each other when we're all together. Save it for when you two are alone. No one wants to see it. Least of all me." He looked out to the horizon again. "... I hope this won't change anything." He couldn't help his honesty. ".. I like the way things are."

Roxas shook his head. "Of course it won't. Everything will be just the way it was before. Just because Axel is part of our group now doesn't mean anything has to change in our friendship." He made a face as he remembered something. "The only downside is school. We can't just laze around and do whatever we want like we did during vacation." He threw the small sphere up and easily caught it as it fell back down, handing it back over to Hayner afterwards. "Doesn't matter, though. We'll still find plenty of time to have fun like we used to."

Hayner shook his head and pushed Roxas' hand back. "No, you keep it. Since you lost yours. And you did win it after all." It was funny how he had the red bobble; Axel was red. Hayner felt no need to keep it. It was time to let things go, without telling Roxas.

A slight frown came to Roxas' face for a moment. He hadn't expected Hayner to just suddenly give up the small piece of the trophy so easily. It left him a little speechless and guilty at the same time for having lost his own due to circumstances. He didn't want his friend giving it up just because of him. He took the sphere back, holding it tightly as his hands dropped to his lap so he could look down at it. "Are you sure? I mean, it's no big deal. I'm sure I'll be able to find mine..." That was a lie. He knew he would never be able to get it back, but he would never say that.

Hayner nodded. "Sure. Keep it...so that if you do end up having to leave again, you'll remember all of us. And come back someday... maybe." He rubbed his arm and glanced at Roxas. "Just don't lose this one." He grinned. "Or I'll kick your ass."

Roxas' good mood easily came back with those last words and he smirked at his friend. "You wish." He took one last look at the small sphere. "You don't have anything to worry about. Even if I do leave, I'll always come back and I'll never forget you or the others. Nothing could make me forget..." He smiled sadly, pocketing the round jewel after he had spoken.

"Guess so. Since you're back again." Hayner looked up at the sky which was growing dark; it truly wasn't the summer anymore. Fall was here, and soon the weather would get colder. Hayner really did miss those last few days they'd spent together. ".. I hope someday you can tell us 'why'."

Roxas kept still for a few seconds after Hayner spoke, but looked out at the darkened sky much like his friend was doing. "Hayner, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you. You just have to trust me when I say that I had a lot of stuff that I had to take care of. That pretty much sums up everything." He stretched his arms out in front of him to loosen up how tense he had suddenly gotten with just that one change in the conversation. "You shouldn't worry about it so much."

"I try not to." Hayner shrugged and leaned back, trying to relax much the same as Roxas was. He looked at his friend and finally grinned. "It's good to have you back, Roxas." He stuck out his fist.

Roxas looked over at his friend and all of the tension from earlier melted away at seeing a grin finally on his face. Olette was right. They never could stay mad at each other for long. He lifted his own fist to hit it against Hayner's and let out a small laugh. "It's good to finally be back here."

Hayner let a full out grin spread on his face. Things felt alright. Even with that punk moving in on their territory, it was worth having Roxas back and seeing him so upbeat.

"Hmm, I guess the next round of sea salt ice cream is on you then." Hayner added sly and casually. "For disappearing and then for that scene we walked in on. It's only fair." He grinned a little more. "Then we'll be even."

Roxas rolled his eyes at that, but his smile never fell. "Fine, sure. Next round is on me, but not right now. I'm sort of broke at the moment. Axel's been paying for stuff so far." He remembered the ice cream he shared earlier with the fire user and the smart little trick used to come up with the money. He wasn't really willing to, nor did he think he could, try it himself. "I promise as soon as I get some though, I'll treat all of you to as much ice cream as you want."

Hayner grinned and pointed at Roxas. "I'm holding you to that." He stretched his arms above his head with a satisfied sound and soon laid back on the area behind him, his legs still draped over the edge. "You'll be spending the entire day doing odd jobs to get munny." He smirked up at Roxas.

Roxas groaned and buried his face in his hands. "An entire weekend is going to end up being dedicated to getting jobs just so I can pay for you guy's sweet tooths. What have I gotten myself into?" He shook his head a little and let out a sigh. "I didn't think making out on a couch would get me into this much trouble." He peeked his eyes out between his fingers at Hayner.

"Hmm, should have thought of that before you did it." Hayner laughed a little. "Good thing to keep in mind for the future. Unless you want to end up doing the same thing again."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure to take him to my room next time instead." Roxas couldn't help speaking the thought out loud, figuring it would make his friend uncomfortable which was always fun. He stood up from the ledge and stepped away from it as far as he could. Once he was safe enough he looked over at Hayner and motioned with his head to the door. "We better start heading back. It's getting pretty dark and the others might wonder what's up if at least one of us don't come back at some point."

Hayner craned his head back. He didn't want to leave yet, he knew what was waiting back at their hang out, but Roxas was right. "Fine, fine." Begrudgingly Hayner got up and gathered his things, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "But if I have to watch him paw you while we're there, I may just end up getting out the foamy sword and practicing for the Struggle on his head." He smirked.

Roxas laughed nervously at that. Mostly out of worry for what would happen if Hayner really did decide to do just that to Axel. He feared the consequences. "Don't worry. He told me he would behave. I'm holding him to it for now. Hopefully he's actually kept his word while I've been gone." Roxas turned away and headed towards the door, opening it and waiting for Hayner before he made his way back inside to walk down the stairs that would lead them back down the tower.

"He's _especially_ loud when you nibble his ear. You wouldn't think him a screamer just from the way he acts- so apathetic and nonchalant." Axel droned on to the two red faced friends of Roxas; it was like a train wreck, they didn't want to hear but they listened attentatively anyway.

"It's always the quiet ones. You just need to know what buttons to press." Axel made a suggestive gesture just as Hayner walked in. "Roxas likes it hot to start, then a little gentler as he-"

And Hayner walked out.

Outside Roxas stared at Hayner as he pushed past him. He hadn't expected his friend to suddenly walk right back out and nearly right into him as he was making his own way back into their hide away. "Hayner? What's wrong with you?" He grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him along back inside. "You can not still be upset about Axel still being in there. We just went over this."

Just as Roxas had finished speaking he let the curtain fall away from them and stared with wide eyes at the crude gestures Axel was making along with the words spewing from the red head's mouth. His hand dropped instantly from Hayner's arm and he realized why his friend had walked out like he had. "Axel! What the hell are you telling them?!" His eyes got bigger before they instantly narrowed on the heartless.

"Roxas!" Axel grinned at his friend as if he'd said 'hello' instead of yelled at him. He waved at Roxas. "Olette just wanted to know if you were 'loud' or not." He pointed to the girl. "They've been bombarding me with these most embarrassing questions." He stretched his arms up to pillow them behind his head casually. "They are your close friends, so I couldn't help but oblige them, and answer them all honestly to the best of my ability."

Olette blushed harder then she already was at being singled out with such a question. "I-I didn't...I mean. R-Roxas, he... uh..." She quickly shut her mouth and tried to look anywhere but at her friend which had been the focus of all conversation suddenly.

Roxas groaned and waved off Olette's stuttering so he could once more focus on Axel instead. "I can't believe you. I highly doubt there was any honesty in most of your answers." He raised a brow and walked closer to the couch so he could have more of an effect on Axel with the look he was trying to give him. He doubted it would work. "I can only imagine what else it is you told them. Are you _trying_ to find every way possible to embarrass me?"

"Yes." Axel admitted honestly, nodding with a grin. He grabbed Roxas' wrist and yanked the boy onto his lap, capturing him in his arms. "I think a demonstration is in order for all my answers."

"N-no. That's alright!" Pence waved his arms only to cover his eyes. "I'm good."

"Well- at least proof." Axel's hand slid under Roxas' shirt, to run across skin. "Since Roxas won't believe I was honest." With a grin he took the rim of Roxas' ear to nibble upon.

Roxas had struggled a little as soon as he was on Axel's lap and made a show of trying to glare at the fire user as best he could. "Damnit, Axel. This isn't funny." His words were cut off when he felt the man's tongue near his ear and he almost let out the moan that wanted to escape him. It would have only proved everything Axel said right and that was the last thing he wanted to do, but the man was making it so hard the way he was nibbling like that, just right. "I'm serious, Axel." He groaned at how weak those words sounded while he tried to push away from the other, pushing a hand on Axel's chest.

Olette had taken to blushing harder at the sudden show, but she also had to hide her mouth behind her hand to hide her amusement. Even though the scene was rather embarrassing, it was also a little funny to see Roxas fighting so hard against Axel to get away.

"M-m." Axel denied, the sound humming against the ear he held in his mouth. He found it too amusing how feisty Roxas was, and wanted to see just how far his reserve would hold to a little affection. He let go of Roxas' ear to attack the teen's neck next, playfully biting the skin as he kissed it. "Don't fight it." Axel murmured against skin. "I have a statement to prove." His arms wrapped tighter around Roxas, his hand stroking skin under the teen's shirt.

Hayner blankly stared. "Right... Where did I put the foamy bats?" He went looking.

Roxas ended up letting a small sound slip, not able to keep it in any longer under Axel's touches and small bites. He just barely caught what Hayner said and remembered his friend's threat while they had still been on top of the tower. He weakly tried to struggle once more and was successful in raising his wounded arm to try and push Axel's face away, wincing a little at the same time. "Axel, this doesn't count as behaving."

Axel grasped the wrist of the hand that tried to push his face to pull it away. He slowed his attack and loosened his hold on the other. "No? Well, I've proved my point." He kept his arms around Roxas, figuring that was good enough for behavior.

"Is it safe?" Pence peeked through his hands.

"Not entirely." Hayner found the foamy bat and tapped his palm with it as he glared at Roxas and Axel; mostly Axel.

"Hayner." Olette's voice became a little strict as she walked over to her friend and tried to snatch the bat away. "These weren't made to cause real bodily harm to people. Stop being rude." As soon as she had the bat in her hand she waved it inches from Hayner's face to emphasis her point with each word she said, the stern look still on her face.

Roxas let out a relieved sigh that Olette had been the one to step in. So far Axel hadn't been doing so well in the behavior department and he would have hated to see how well the heartless kept his word if Hayner really did try to take a swing at him. He seriously doubted Axel would back down like he said he would. "Actually, Axel is the one being rude. He doesn't know when to keep his hands to himself." He rolled his eyes after his own words, but made no real move to get up from Axel's lap.

"I'll say." Hayner crossed his arms and glared at the wall.

"He complains, but he likes it." Axel commented about Roxas, tightening his hold around Roxas again for an affectionate embrace instead of restraining him like he did before. He behaved himself and cuddled Roxas, keeping his hands in more appropriate places on the teen's body.

Roxas relaxed some since Axel seemed to have given up for the time being. The sudden way the other decided to hold him instead caused Roxas to loosen up and lean back against the heartless instead of struggling to get away much like he had been before. "It's so nice of you to speak up on my behalf. I'm more then capable of telling my friends what I like, thanks very much." Roxas tried his best to shoot out the snide remark at Axel, but realized immediately after how it had sounded and turned his attention somewhere else. "Not that I would." He frowned when he heard Olette laugh at his misfortune.

Hayner groaned and sat down beside Pence, as far from Axel as he could. "Please don't."

"No, please do." Axel leaned his head on Roxas' unwounded shoulder. "I want to hear you tell your friends what you like." He nosed Roxas' neck, trying to keep the action innocent.

"No way. Not now, not ever." Roxas twisted a little in Axel's hold so he could move his neck away from the man's lips. He knew how crafty Axel could get. He wasn't going to chance the other taking advantage of what skin he could get to once again. "They can keep guessing if they really feel the need to." Although he doubted any of them would. Unless Olette really was interested in all of the questions she had been asking. "I promised that you would act at least some what civil. You're not helping me keep that promise, Axel."

"I'm acting civil, I'm acting civil." Axel settled for leaning his head back on Roxas' shoulder. It was hard to be good when he finally had what he wanted; and making that Hayner guy squirm angrily was amusing to say the least. He sighed, bored now that he couldn't paw Roxas. "So what do you guys do here to keep yourselves amused?"

Olette had thrown the bat she stole from Hayner, somewhere off to the side for the time being and sat down on one of the few boxes they used in the area for seats. "Well, since we have school there isn't a lot we can do aside from our homework as soon as we're let out for the day. We should be doing that right now, but seeing Roxas back sort of made us forget." She shrugged a shoulder and didn't seem all that upset about such a thing. "There's usually a Struggle tournament going on that Hayner practices for. It's held down by the Sandlot." Olette seemed to realize something after she spoke and an excited look came to her face. "Roxas! You and Hayner can start practicing again. It will be just like before."

Roxas had turned his attention on Olette as soon as the girl shouted his name and blinked his eyes for a few seconds before what she said had any real impact. "Heh, I guess we could. No real harm in it." He looked towards Hayner, grinning at his friend. "Then Hayner will be able to get rid of some of that anger he has bottled up right now with that bat he's so fond of."

"A chance to whack you a few times upside the head? Sure, count me in." Hayner smirked as he crossed his arms.

Pence patted Hayner on the shoulder. "You already forgot that Roxas beat you in the first round." He laughed as Hayner shot him a look.

Axel blinked, he remembered the Struggle match. It had been the opportunity he'd taken to try and single out Roxas to talk to him. It hadn't gone well; Roxas was so deeply rooted into that world. That bastard DiZ.

Axel half buried his face in Roxas' arm, not wanting to remember the failures of his Nobody. His heartless was doing so much better. "Hm... maybe I should try this Struggle thing." He spoke off handedly.

Roxas glanced back at Axel. He had noticed how much closer the heartless had gotten during the conversation and had a feeling he knew exactly why. He couldn't help the sympathetic look he gave the man while he allowed one of his hands to drop down and run over Axel's own. "If you really want to then I see no problem with it."

Olette clapped her hands together at the thought and smiled. "Even better! It's actually very simple, Axel. You'll get the hang of it in no time if you really want to try. Usually the two of them just end up bashing each other with the bats instead of really practicing. You won't have any trouble as long as you can do much of the same."

Hayner seemed to perk at the thought of having an excuse to bash Axel with the foamy bat. "Sure. You can practice with us next time." He rubbed his lips in thought. "Tomorrow if you like."

Axel narrowed his eyes on Hayner, but he kept his temper. Instead he turned his hand to clasp Roxas' hand on his. "I don't know. I made a promise to be good. And I wouldn't want to beat you up and make Roxas feel bad." His sly grin returned and he placed a lazy kiss on Roxas' shoulder.

Hayner's cheeks grew a little hotter as he glared.

For once Roxas made no move to shove Axel away and had to suppress the grin that wanted to show itself on his face at both of his friends' back and forth. "Well, what real harm could a foam bat do? Besides, Pence, Olette and I will be there to make sure you don't kill each other. I'll step in if you two start pulling hair instead of just bashing each other with the weapon you're supposed to be using." He shot Axel a look at those last few words. They were more for the heartless then they were for Hayner.

"How am I supposed to have fun with all those rules?" Axel pouted as he nuzzled Roxas' shoulder hoping that would win him some points. "But perhaps I do have the advantage. I am a lot taller than that grump."

"Grump!?" Hayner scoffed indignantly. "I'll show you who's short. Olette- where'd you put my foamy sword?"

"Whoa-! Settle down, Hayner." Pence grabbed his friend's shoulders to keep him sitting. He laughed nervously. "You let him get under your skin too easy. That's how most people trip you up in Struggle battles."

Olette pushed the foam bat even further away with her foot. "He's right, Hayner. You need to learn when to control your temper. It won't do you any good. Axel might just end up beating you when you two go to practice if you keep up with the attitude." She smiled a little, knowing that those words would only upset their friend even more, but it was fun to tease him in such a way.

Roxas shook his head and let out a sigh. "The way the two of them are getting worked up it will be amazing if they last until tomorrow." He raised a brow. "We'll have to make sure they don't attack each other in their sleep. Or at least in Axel's case that is. I wouldn't put it past him." He grinned.

Axel let out a lazy laugh against Roxas' shoulder. "... Darkness never sleeps." He quietly spoke. But the others didn't seem to hear.

"Let's hope not, Roxas." Pence patted Hayner's shoulder while he was finally calming down.

Hayner sighed and shooed Pence's hands away. "Speaking of sleep- how late is it? I think I've got a few chapters to read. Just a few days into school and already they're pilling the homework on." He groaned. "You're going to have so much to catch up on, Roxas."

Roxas waved a hand, dismissing his friend's worries over such a thing. "I'll catch up quick. I'm sure it won't be that big of a deal. If anything I can get you guys to help me out whenever I need it. Piece of cake." He turned his head to look towards the make shift door. "It's probably really late right now. It was getting pretty dark on our way back over here. Time sure did fly by." Those last few words were a bit distant as they left him.

Olette quickly stood up from where she sat and brushed off her skirt. "We should all start heading home. Hayner is right. We have a good amount of homework to start on before we have to get some sleep tonight. Well, not you Roxas, but you still have to at least get ready for school tomorrow." She reached down to pick up her bag which she had set aside at some point.

"We expect you to be there." Pence added as he picked up his bag as well. "No more hooky. I'm sure your parents aren't too happy about it." He walked over to Olette. "C'mon Olette, I'll walk you home. Can't be too careful at night."

Hayner watched his friends, but he didn't want to leave just yet. The idea of leaving Roxas with that Axel guy didn't sit right with him still. The night was young; he could stay out a bit later before his parents got really angry about it.

Roxas kept his eyes on Pence and Olette as they made their way outside and watched as the curtain closed behind them. He noticed the one person missing from the group and instantly his eyes moved towards Hayner as he gave his friend a curious look. Hayner had been the one to bring up how late it had been to begin with, so he couldn't help being a little surprised that he was the one that stayed behind. "You're not going with them? I thought you had a lot of homework?"

"What I can't finish at all hours of the night I can finish in the morning on the way to school." Hayner gave a shrug. "What about you? You have school tomorrow too. You can't stay up till all hours of the night." He looked down at his school bag, not in the mood to watch Axel so smug and draped over Roxas.

"Well, it's my first night back so I think I should be allowed just a little bit of freedom." Roxas kept his eyes on Hayner even though his friend had averted his own. "I won't stay up too long, though. I know that I have to be responsible and all that, so I'll make sure I go to sleep at some point." He shrugged a shoulder and dropped his eyes to where his one free hand rested. "I just want to enjoy finally being back here for as long as I can before I actually do have to worry about actual school work."

Hayner got the underlying message; Roxas wanted to be alone with fire head in _their_ hang out spot. He dragged a hand through his hair but still refused to look at Roxas. "Yeah. Guess you need some time to settle back in." Begrudgingly he stood up and picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Guess I really should get started on that assignment."

Hayner stood there for a moment, staring at the floor. He felt replaced, but he didn't say it out loud. He walked over a few steps and stuck his fist out towards Roxas, looking at the couch instead of his friend. "See ya tomorrow. Take care of yourself."

Roxas was a little upset that Hayner still refused to look at him, but it didn't stop him from raising his own hand to tap his fist against his friend's own. "I always do. I'll make sure to catch up with you tomorrow first thing." He smiled as best he could at the other, but his mood had already gone a little downhill.

"Hm, yeah. See ya tomorrow, Roxas." Hayner turned and headed out of their makeshift hang out.

Axel clicked his tongue once Hayner was gone. "So much touching." He sighed his complaint as if it were truly so dreadful.

Roxas tried his best to elbow Axel in the stomach, but the action was weak. He didn't feel much like rough housing at the moment. "I think he's still mad at me or just upset in general." He let out a sigh and kept his eyes on the make shift door despite Hayner having already left. "I thought we had at least talked things through a little bit, but I guess it's still going to take some time." He shook his head, turning his attention away from the door and off to the side instead. "You didn't help matters." The words were mumbled quietly under Roxas' breath.

Axel rubbed his stomach. "Hey, I didn't see you crawling off my lap anytime soon." He leaned back on the couch. "I'm not the only one to blame, my grumpy little friend." He ran a hand through the top of his spiky red hair. "Most people don't usually like me, I'm used to it. I guess it can't be helped when your digital 'best friend' has a crush on you."

Roxas blinked his eyes at that and quickly turned his attention on Axel. "What?" He turned around to better look at the other, straddling the heartless' lap instead. "Hayner? A crush? Where could you possibly get an idea like that? He couldn't even stand the sight of you slobbering on me, as he so nicely put it. I mean, sure he gets jealous easily, but..." Roxas stopped midway and just stared. "Oh..."

Axel nodded. "'Oh' is a good word for it." He reached up to cup either of Roxas' cheeks with his hands, brushing blonde hair aside with his fingers. "You're very good at seeing what you want to see." His smirk went a little smug. "One might even call you 'ignorant' when it comes to seeing things as they are." He tilted his head with a laugh. "Unrealistic."

"Name calling will get you nowhere." Roxas narrowed his eyes with a smirk and pushed Axel's hands aside to free his face. He leaned back a little and dropped a hand to reach inside his pocket. The red sphere Hayner had given him was taken out so he could look at it once more, holding it out between the two of them with only a couple of his fingers. "He gave this back to me. Makes me wonder as to the real reason he did it." A frown replaced the earlier smug look he had given Axel and he sighed. "He asked me if I liked you."

Axel leaned closer to inspect the red sphere. "I remember these things. Each of you had one. I forget what colour you had." He poked the crystal. "You used to hold them up to the horizon. I always wondered what you saw in them when you did that." Axel ran his finger down the side of the sphere, down Roxas' fingers and hand. "Can't say why he'd give it to you though. Maybe he just didn't want it anymore." He looked at Roxas' face. "Maybe he wanted to give you something sentimental." He shrugged. "Maybe he just wanted to replace the one you lost. Who knows."

Roxas frowned a little more at the thought of Hayner giving him the sphere because he didn't want it anymore. "He told me it was because I lost mine. To have something to remember them if I ever had to leave again." He shook his head and moved the jewel around so he could hold onto it a little tighter. His eyes moved away from it and back on Axel and he leaned in a little closer to the heartless.

"The one I took was blue. I was upset when it went missing. Or, I guess I should say when it was stolen." Roxas gave a small smile. "It's not that we could see anything inside of them when we held them up. It was the way the sun reflected on them which was what we liked about them." He shrugged a shoulder and toyed with the red sphere. "It was something really important and I felt bad when I didn't have my piece any longer. Of course, it's just data, right?" He smiled sadly.

"No, it's not just data." Axel slipped his hand up to brush along Roxas' cheek. He then played with the blonde hair at the back of Roxas' head. "The worlds outside might be a part of an even bigger computer program; worlds inside worlds. You never know." He sat up a little more to lean nearer to Roxas. "I've seen first hand this world is more than 'just data' to you. You treat these people here as if they were your real friends because they're your real friends." Axel leaned his head against Roxas'. "I can see why you didn't want to come back with me. You'd found a real home. And that's what you left searching for; a meaning to your life. It wasn't fake because it was real to you. You gave this empty code a heart, whether you had one or not." Axel traced Roxas' jaw line with a few fingers.

Roxas leaned into the touch. Axel's words had an effect on him and he couldn't help but feel a little better after the heartless spoke. Still, he also continued to feel a little troubled about something. The entire conversation reminded him of who he was. Not just about where he was. He lifted his empty hand to touch Axel's own, but dropped his eyes to avoid the other's gaze. "It's not just this town or my friends. It's me too." He looked down at his hand that still held the jewel. "Even though I look like me, I'm not myself at all. This body is just as fake as anything else is." He finally found the courage to look Axel in the eyes, but there was no real expression on his own face. "I'm happy, don't get me wrong. I'm glad that we're here and finally able to patch things up and have time with each other. I just wish _this_..." He held up his hand in front of Axel's face, and wiggled his fingers. "...was real."

Axel stared at the hand, and sadness washed over him; he'd always tried so hard to please, but it was never enough. Never ever enough.

Axel raised his own long hands, encasing Roxas' with boney fingers. He seemed unsure what to do with it, but eventually he pulled it to his own cheek to keep. ".. It's real to me." He quietly spoke against their hands. But he knew that wouldn't be enough either. "But I guess I'm just a heartless.. I'm not really the real Axel." He squeezed Roxas' hand before he let go. "I'm not the real Axel you knew." And of course that wouldn't be enough. Roxas' lack of heart was always so insatiable; you could never love him enough for him to be truly happy.

Axel skirted his fingers across Roxas' cheek. ".. I'm sorry." And his hand fell away.

Axel's first few words had caused Roxas to narrow his eyes, but not in annoyance. A sad expression came to his face as he continued to listen to the man and it was when he felt Axel's hand going slack that he reached up to grab it as quick as he could. "You have no reason to be sorry." His words started out quiet. "As soon as Sora came back to fight you were right there trying to get me back. Even before that, you've always been right there just for me. You have the same memories as your Nobody, so to me you're the same annoying Axel." He managed a small smirk at those words.

"I just..." Roxas let out a frustrated sound before he was able to continue. "I guess I just want to be able to be myself again. Not only for me, but for you. I don't want to be Sora and borrow his feelings and such just so I can exist for however long it's allowed." His grip tightened on Axel's hand. "W-When Hayner asked me if I liked you I tried to answer him and I was actually able to feel something and answer him truthfully. I was able to tell him that I did like you and it felt so good to say that finally, but I'm afraid that it can't last long because what if I lose that part I've tried to take for myself?" His voice lowered again as he thought over such a thing. "I'll just go back to being the other half. The Nobody."

Axel's mouth hung open for a little while before it closed as he looked at their hands. Heartless didn't see the problem with ruses, but Roxas was quite taken with the truth, and wanted his own. Everything hurt now.

Axel leaned his head on Roxas' chest hugging him close with his free hand. ".. I know a way." He quietly spoke up. "I know a way we can fix you and me." He nuzzled Roxas' chest, shutting his eyes; he was sure he heard a heart beat, but it wouldn't be Roxas' for long. "... But I'll have to leave you for a very long time. And I might not come back at all." He suddenly felt numb at those words; numb and cold.

Roxas set the sphere he held back in his pocket so he could have his hand free to cling onto Axel, wrapping his arm tightly around the heartless' body. What Axel told him caused Roxas to be a little hesitant to anything the other might say at all. Even if it meant they would both be fixed. "Would such a thing be worth it? We just found each other again..."

Axel wasn't sure. They'd been so happy just moments ago; but had that been real happiness? Axel could only tighten his hold, unfeeling. No, a heartless couldn't be happy. And a heartless couldn't cry. They were just as damned as the Nobodies they left behind.

Axel's hold started to grow slack; he didn't want to die again, to lay there on the cold ground, disappearing into nothing while Roxas watched, and never cried. It was too heart breaking for his heart that was lost to his bitter, sad darkness.

"... I love you." Axel whispered against Roxas' chest; perhaps the saddest part was he meant it.

Roxas nearly choked on a noise he wanted to let out, keeping it in as best he could. He had tried to cling tighter not ready to let go of Axel just yet when the man eased up on his hold. He wanted to try as hard as he could to repeat the words said, but they were so much stronger then just saying he liked the heartless. He still wasn't allowed to take such a feeling for his own. The most he could do was let out a weak noise against the top of Axel's head in apology, saddened he couldn't return them since they meant so much.

Axel trembled; Roxas would never say it back, because he couldn't feel the same. Not because he didn't want to, but because he could not. Axel's chest felt heavy, tight and aching. He just leaned heavily on Roxas as he clung tightly feeling nothing but apology and regret. He hated Roxas for it, but for some reason he couldn't hate Sora.

Axel found his reason, but he knew Roxas wouldn't cry if he was gone.

"... It's worth it." Axel spoke the words lightly. Just for those three words meaningfully said, he'd give up his second chance.

Those words had Roxas pulling back, away from Axel, so he could have a chance to look the heartless in the face. His eyes narrowed, more in concern then anything else and he found himself trying to understand everything better and possibly talking Axel out of anything stupid he might try. "What are you going to do? Why would you have to be gone for so long? What about our chance here in town?" He continued to cling to the other's shirt after his questions.

Axel blinked slowly, he felt so lethargic at heart. "... You're right... it's not real. Not _really_ , real." His eyes fell half way shut. "... You can't love anyone but who he loves." He shut his eyes but no tears fell; though he felt them inside. ".. This beautiful dream will end sooner or later. And we'll have nothing, because you'll be him, and I'll just be another heartless in his way."

"Axel..." Roxas reached up a little with his hand to touch the other's face. His thumb barely brushed against the other's lips before he let his hand rest on Axel's cheek. "We can learn to get around it all like we have so far. You shouldn't have to go out on a limb just for us to be completely whole." He averted his eyes to look down at the couch, but kept his hand as it was. "It's what we're used to, right?" He let out a sigh, knowing that although such a thing was true neither of them had really been happy with it in the end. What they tried to have was over before it started. "Why can't things be simple for us?"

".. Because you had to leave to find _him_." Axel whispered coolly. "You." He shook his head and pulled Roxas' hand away, keeping it in his. ".. It's better this way. Even if I don't come back.. you'll have nothing left to anchor you to this world. And Sora can be whole again without remorse."

Roxas narrowed his eyes angrily at those words and his attention immediately snapped up to Axel. "Idiot..." He snatched his hand back and clenched it tightly by his side. "I _want_ you to come back. You _better_ come back. I don't care about Sora. I just want to have my own feelings. I want to be myself. I want to be Roxas! Even if that means I have to try and keep control over Sora and take every little piece of him that I can then I will." His angry expression fell, knowing that such a thing was impossible and much too difficult. "I just want to be able to say it too." His voice was quiet with those last few words.

Axel kept his watch on Roxas sadly. He didn't have words; there was nothing more that could be said. So instead he reached up and buried his hand in Roxas' blonde hair, pulling him down as he slammed his lips against his. Axel pulled back just enough to whisper those same three words knowing it would only hurt the other more to hear them without giving a return. But before Roxas could protest he pressed his lips back, his other arm yanking him close.

Roxas had tried to give a weak sound when he heard the words, but couldn't help giving into the kiss as he pressed as close as he could to Axel. His one good arm moved up so he could bury fingers in red hair as he let out a muffled moan, biting roughly at Axel's bottom lip and letting his tongue dart out to lick at the spot afterwards. He continued to press nearer to the taller body, pressing Axel into the couch cushions this time around.

Axel's whimper against Roxas' lips was muffled; he wanted so much from Roxas that the other just couldn't give. Axel dragged his hands down to the bottom of Roxas' shirt and jacket, slipping under. He wanted to throw it off of the teen, everything, he wanted it all off. But they couldn't do that, underneath the data, it wasn't Roxas' body to give. It didn't stop Axel from pulling Roxas as intimately near as he could.

Roxas let out another small moan, louder then the last as he pulled back from the kiss. He started to trail smaller kisses down Axel's jaw until he got to the heartless' throat where he started to lightly suck on skin. His free hand moved around until it found one of Axel's own, grabbing onto it to clasp it and link their fingers while he continued to lick and nibble on skin.

Axel squeezed Roxas' hand, not bothering to keep quiet like the other did. He pressed their hands to his cheek, kissing Roxas' hand as he tilted his head to give the other more skin. He ran his fingers through Roxas' hair, keeping his head near. ".. I love you, Roxas." He murmured against their twined hands.

Roxas pulled back from Axel's neck where he had started to suck on each little bite he made. When he lifted his head he looked down at the heartless, studying him because of the words that had left his lips. His eyes narrowed, but after a few seconds Roxas leaned forward to press his mouth to Axel's own, keeping them there to run his tongue out across Axel's lips before he pulled back again. "You're the only one that matters the most to me, Axel. I wish being able to say that could be enough..." He spoke the sad words before he pressed their lips together again.

"It's good enough." Axel murmured against Roxas' lips. "..For now." He possessively captured up Roxas' lips, moving to pick up and push the other against the couch cushions like before. He didn't listen to any protest Roxas had, he just wanted the other pinned, and his below. He kept a tight hold of Roxas' hand, keeping their linked hands rested above the teen's head on the cushion. "I'll fix this... or die trying-again." His grinned his amusement with a cold perk of lips before he pressed them back to Roxas'.

Roxas would have given some snarky remark in return out of concern, but his lips were too busy returning the kiss to really utter much except for a muffled moan. He squirmed against the cushions, pushing up to get as close as he could to Axel and wrapping a leg around the fire user much like he had before they were interrupted. The heartless' name was muttered as a small whine in between kisses from the teen's lips and bites from teeth.

Axel groaned deep in his throat; he couldn't get enough of those sounds Roxas made. He craved the way Roxas whimpered his name through lips he couldn't stop bruising with heated kisses. He loved tasting each whimper on Roxas' tongue despite the hurt that caused them to be so needy.

Axel yanked up Roxas' shirt, too impatient to be bothered with the zipper anymore. He let Roxas bite at his lip one last time before he pulled away to slink down, one hand slipping down to Roxas' bare back to keep him near as he kissed the skin he exposed.

A sharp gasp left Roxas which turned into another needy moan as Axel started to kiss his way across his chest. He arched his back up off the couch to lean into each touch against his skin. He never really cared about quieting himself, but still leaned forward to clamp his mouth around one of Axel's ears to bite on the rim of it. The action causing his sounds to be muffled, but he didn't care. He only focused on licking the skin under his teeth.

Axel's moan was muffled against Roxas' chest as he ran his tongue across the teen's chest. He slunk his hand along Roxas' side, moving it across his front and down to his arching back. It was there he decided to be wicked and dragged his nails down the teen's spine, slipping his hand down further than he should have.

Roxas nearly shivered when he felt Axel's nails and pressed even closer to the man. He made no move to stop how low the other's hand was going. Instead he only let out another loud noise which was muffled by Axel's ear. He pulled his lips away to lick at the spot he had abused before he leaned in a bit more to pay attention to the spot behind the heartless' ear instead.

Axel melted with a throaty cuss atop Roxas. He pushed Roxas further into the couch, needing to feel him squirm against him. His breath came harder on Roxas' chest, which surprised Axel since as a heartless he needed none.

Axel pulled his head from Roxas' mouth so he could move enough to look down at him with heavy lidded eyes. He didn't have anything to say, and he didn't want to. He wanted to be impulsive, brash, and disregard everything to violate a body that wasn't even Roxas'; though he wished so badly it was. ".. Roxas."

The sound of his name had Roxas barely opening his eyes to look up at Axel as best he could through the haze his mind was in. He let out a quiet whine which was something so rare for him, and lifted his free hand to pull Axel back down. As soon as the heartless was near he captured his lips with his own and pushed his tongue past to curl it around Axel's own. His hand dropped down to slip under the man's shirt, feeling across skin since he had the other close again.

It wasn't fair that sound that Roxas made, or the touch. It only coaxed the sadistic enjoyment of their horrible situation; the worse, the better it tasted against Axel's tongue. Axel only pressed roughly against Roxas, his nails digging into the hand he still dedicatedly held.

Axel bit the teen's lip more fiercely as he drew away from the kiss. "... I want to hurt you. So I should go." He kissed down to Roxas' jaw, down past to neck where he bit more fiercely instead. "I won't regret it.. but _he_ will."

Roxas gave a hiss at each bite given to him, but in the end he enjoyed it all. The words had him narrowing his eyes and wanting to yell at Axel. To say to hell with anyone else and to be the selfish person that people always said he was, but he knew Axel would continue to resist. Instead he scratched at skin in retaliation and tried to keep the heartless as close as he could for as long as he could. "Promise that you'll come back for me again." His one leg tightened around the back of Axel and he let out a small moan as it pulled him intimately close. "You have to..." The words were nearly whispered.

Axel arched nearer to Roxas, groaning his whimper as he held the other as best he could back. He loved the feeling of Roxas clinging desperately to him, needing him, wanting him to return; these things his Nobody died for. In some masochistic sense it all felt worth while.

"... and we'll come back." Axel whispered back against the crook of Roxas' jaw and neck. "And it'll be like nothing has changed." He barely brushed his lips against skin. "... We can sit here again, and bother your friends." He grinned a little against Roxas' neck. "Make Hayner squirm just by touching. But it'll be the real you this time." Axel's voice hushed more. ".. We'll go to school together.. and.. you can say.. what you want." What Axel pinned to hear. He raised a hand to run through the soft, ruffled blonde hair; there was a chance he would never feel it again, or the warm touch of skin, the impatient looks and even rarer smiles.

Roxas leaned his head into the touch, enjoying the sudden gentle change compared to how rough they had both been seconds earlier. "I'd like that. All of it. I'll tell you what I want to say as soon as I'm allowed to. I want you to hear it and I know it's what you want too." He opened his eyes which had closed during the simple touch just to look back into Axel's own. "Just don't do anything stupid." His gaze narrowed and although his words were harsh it was just his usual way of showing concern. "What would be the point if something ends up happening?" He chewed on his abused lip after those words, narrowing his eyes further.

Axel smirked softly; that was Roxas, always refusing to be sentimental. Axel leaned down and very gently kissed the corner of Roxas' lips; someday he'd hear those words from Roxas' real lips. ".. I can't promise I'll come back." The words were barely a whisper in breath. His fingers brushed through blonde bangs, tracing meaningless marks over skin, any excuse to touch.

Those words only seemed to annoy Roxas and his usual temper started to make itself known. He pushed Axel back only a little so they were face to face again. "You better come back. What's the point of being whole if I can't share the experience with you?" He pulled the heartless back down so he could press their lips together, moaning softly under the contact, but pulling away after only a few seconds. He licked his lips and looked up at Axel again. "I wish I could go with you. I could help in whatever it is you need to do."

Axel couldn't help the lazy chuckle at Roxas' differentiating reactions; angry and clingy. And he couldn't help loving it. ".. You're only being so nice because you're feeling ' _needy_ ' right now." He captured up Roxas' lips before he could say something snarky, a gentle yet fiery kiss. ".. But you make a very convincing argument.. with your hips." He hid a laugh behind a hand.

Roxas groaned at those words and tried his best to look angry at Axel. "You started it." He twisted his one hand which the other still had in a tight grip, but made no real move to try and free it. "I can't help it if I ended up pinned down here again. You're just a bad influence, that's all." He finally grinned after he spoke and leaned up to take one of the heartless' fingers between his teeth to lick at it with his tongue.

Axel's eyes fell half closed heavily lidded with a throaty noise. He ran his tongue across teeth. "Damn right I am." He pushed his finger a little deeper into Roxas' mouth. "Mm.. Of course you're just procrastinating."

Roxas licked at the finger a few more times as it was pushed farther in his mouth. It was only after a few seconds that he pulled away again to look up at Axel, giving the digit one last lick as he did. "So what if I am? Only shows how much I don't want you to leave." A frown came to his face and he looked away from the other, finally giving into the situation despite how much he didn't want to. "What about me? I'll have to go back, won't I?" He asked the question with a good amount of anger in his voice.

Axel lounged more comfortably on the couch, having to drape his legs down since he was so tall. He settled himself on Roxas' chest since the boy was in no hurry. "I don't know. How long do you think you can keep in control and hide away here?" He reached a hand over to brush fingers against Roxas' cheek although the teen refused to look at him. ".. If you change, Riku will find you. And then they'll both know the computer is functioning." He frowned some. "..Though Sora probably already knows."

Roxas thought over what Axel said and let out a sigh in frustration. "I don't know. I think I've only been able to keep in control so long because Sora was wounded. Not to mention everything that happened that caused his mind to just kind of collapse. He just didn't really fight me off as much as he did the first time." Roxas finally turned his head to look at the other, lifting his free hand to touch Axel's own. "I think it helps that I'm around you as well. I have some kind of purpose to stay. I don't know what will happen later. It's hard for me to say how long I can stay like this."

Axel sighed and rested his head against Roxas' chest. He grunted in annoyance when the zipper pull poked him. He raised his head, taking the X zipper to yank it down, nuzzling his head down against skin instead. "Much better." He pushed the clothing aside as best he could to cuddle nearer. "... Riku is fiercely searching the darkness for Sora. He's not all there. If he finds us here... He'll destroy more than just me here." He shut his eyes, his brows furrowing.

Roxas' eyes narrowed at such a thing. He moved his arm up to wrap it around Axel while he thought over just what Riku would do. No outcome was a good one and he felt his hand clenching into a fist near Axel's back. He didn't want to put his friends or his home in such danger. They didn't even know what was going on. They shouldn't have to be involved. "It's dangerous to stay here..." The quiet words slipped past his lips after a while and he let out a sigh.

Axel nodded against Roxas' chest. He let silence settle on them for a moment, memorizing the feel of Roxas below, his skin, the way he felt, he even smelt the same as he remembered years ago. Damnit.

".. I had fun. It's nice here." Axel spoke up, masking his grim mood with nonchalance in his voice. "From the angry, jealous best friend to the ice cream; I liked it all."

Roxas managed a small smile at what he heard. "I'm glad. You deserve to have a good time just as much as I do, right?" He shrugged a shoulder before he clung just a little tighter to Axel and ran his fingers up and down the man's back in his own comforting way. "We'll be able to relax like this again and maybe then we won't have to worry about anything."

The heartless relaxed completely, less plaguing his mind than his once Nobody companion. Axel placed a little kiss on Roxas' chest, over his 'heart'. "... Love conquers all, right?" He grinned a little, chuckling in his throat when he remembered saying that the 'first' time they met.

Axel's amusement caused Roxas to let out a small laugh of his own and he lifted his hand to run it through the heartless' hair. "Of course." He gave the other a smirk as his usual attitude returned, leaving the somber feeling behind for the time being. "Nothing has been able to stop us so far. We both seem to bounce back from anything." He got a little cozier against the back of the couch. "And we always will."

Axel nodded against Roxas' chest. "Good." He pushed himself up, never daring to let go of their forever twined hands, and properly embraced Roxas in his arms, gathering him up. He nuzzled Roxas' cheek with his own; he already missed Roxas, so much.

Axel touched his lips to Roxas' ear, speaking softer than a whisper; _Sleep... deep... and dream sweetly, Roxas._

Roxas let out a noise, but it was too quiet to really hear. His eyes were falling shut and in an instant the hold he had around Axel started to go slack. "Axel..." The heartless' name was the last thing on the teen's lips as his eyes shut for good. The fingers on the hand which were still held no longer gave a tight grip in return.

Axel held Roxas' limp form tighter, embracing him possessively, for a long moment. His hand hit something in Roxas' pocket and hesitantly he delved into his pocket to find the red sphere. He pulled it out to look at it, smooth, beautiful in depth; he could see how real this place truly was to Roxas, why it meant everything. He turned it in his fingers before slipping it back into Roxas' pocket.

Data peeled away, the mask dissipating quickly one pixel at a time to reveal their true forms. After the data dissipated Axel was holding Sora's prone body in his tattooed arms. He brushed away the soft brunette hair from his forehead, feeling no less for Roxas in his 'true' form.

Axel finally let his hand slip free of Roxas' hand, placing a small kiss on 'Sora's' cheek. He bared his palms up, a black tattoo of his chakram on either. His fingers tensed and splayed, the tattoos peeled from skin like dark flame. Axel shut his eyes, and the fire spun, growing fierce a moment before he willed them another form. They fell back into his hands, twin black chakram on key chains.

Axel tightened his fingers around them before he tightened his hold around 'Roxas'. "... Just for you." He slipped them in the pocket the sphere was. "Not for _him_. They won't be able to find you as easy if you use these." Axel held the prone body tighter still, burying his face against a small shoulder. With a shaky breath darkness formed around them, drinking them in, swallowing them until there was nothing left- but promises to break.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 09

White. The sun. It was so bright, it washed out everything else like an over exposed photo. But it wasn't unpleasant; it was warm, prickling skin to life. It shone through eyelids, urging them to part and wake. It caused pale brows to furrow, and a soft sound of waking to leave the one it shone down upon.

There was a gentle fragrance in the air, sweet and delicate; flowers. They were all around him, pillowing him, their soft petal faces nuzzled against him.

Finally oceanic eyes peeked open, taking in the serene world gently laid about him. The sun was glowing down in slender rays from a hole in the old ceiling, warming him and the flowers he laid upon. He didn't know where he was, or why, he just knew he was safe and okay. And that's all that mattered for the moment.

He gave a long sleepy yawn, raising a hand to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Awake?" The question came from out of nowhere, stopping the moment of peace that the one waking had for himself. Footsteps soon followed the voice and the sun that had forced him to wake up was nearly blocked as a tall figure stood in its place to study him instead. "It didn't seem like you ever would." Eyes narrowed slightly as they tried to place who the person that was so casually lying down could be, but seemed to give up just as easily. "What are you doing in here?"

The teenage boy in the flowers stared up blinking curiously at the new visitor who quizzed him; blonde, spiky hair, and narrowed unnaturally blue eyes on what the boy could only assume was always a somber expression. The boy was reminded of something, maybe someone, a tinge of nostalgia, maybe déjà vu that pricked his senses.

The boy raised a hand to block what light the man above him didn't; he noted the arm warmers on his wrists, striped near his elbow. This was all so new. A new day. ".. I guess I-…fell asleep." It sounded reasonable enough.

"Fell asleep, huh?" There was a hint of suspicion in the man's voice, but he seemed to ease up after a few seconds. "I doubt you were asleep when you came in here." The man took another step forward and was able to get a better look at the teenager: tinted white hair with a few strands that framed his face, and eyes that weren't quite green at all, but came off as familiar in some way. It had him staring for a bit longer before he spoke up again. "What's your name?" He tried to sound at least somewhat curious.

"Name..." The boy echoed quietly, zoning out a moment. He blinked a few times, looking to the side and was a little startled when he was face to face with a flower. He pushed himself up to sit, the chain, to the upside down star charm that was clipped onto his shirt collar, jingling. He rubbed the back of his head and looked down and around to see that he'd taken the term 'flower bed' much too literally. "Oh! I'm sorry. Is this your flower patch?" He pulled his hand from the flowers to toy with his warmer guiltily. "I hope I didn't hurt any of your flowers, sir." He poked at a few flowers beside him to see if they were indeed alright.

"They're not exactly my flowers." The man watched as the teenager poked each one of the flowers, but he didn't seem to be doing any real harm to them, so, he made no move to stop him. "I just come around here every now, that's all. That's how I found you here. I thought you were unconscious, so I kept an eye on you for a while." He finally stuck a hand out towards the other to help him up to his feet since the teenager obviously didn't seem to want to do harm if he was so worried about the flowers underneath him.

"Thanks." The boy took the other's hand and stood, giving a quick dust off. Carefully he stepped out of the flower bed, being careful where he treaded. A wave of vertigo hit him and he placed a hand to his head, nearly stumbling into the man who helped him. "M... Stood up too quickly I guess." He looked up again at the other. "I guess I owe you then, Mister- um... Mister uhh..?" He tapped his lips; he didn't think he knew him. No, just as quickly as that feeling came, it was gone.

"Cloud." The man spoke his name as soon as the teenager seemed to need it. Since the boy was finally on his feet, Cloud took a step back away from him. Especially since the other had already nearly fell into him once. He didn't want to try for a second time. "There's nothing to owe. Just tell me what you're doing in here besides finding a place to take a nap." He kept his eyes on the teen, looking him over once more before he went on. "Or at least what your name is. You have yet to even do that."

"Ikkuris." The boy answered with a wide greeting smile. He stuck out his hand to shake in meeting. "Sorry. I didn't mean any harm. I guess I must have been wandering, and it's so peaceful here. I guess I must have laid down in the most comfortable of places and slept longer than I should have." The details were fuzzy, but Ikkuris was pretty sure that's how it came to be.

Cloud looked at the boy's hand for a few seconds before he reached out to finally shake hands with his own. "No harm done." He dropped it away just as quick as he had lifted it only to cross both over his chest. "This place seems to have that effect on people. It can't be helped I guess." He turned around, walking away from the teenager to make his way down the aisle. "Ikkuris." He spoke the name for the first time after hearing it and shrugged a shoulder afterwards. "I take it you're new around here?"

Ikkuris smiled a bit, leaning a little sideways to watch Cloud walk. "Yeah, I guess I am." He leaned a little more, balancing on one foot. "I take it you're not?" He looked every which way; despite the dilapidation of the church, the rotting pews, and the slightly shattered stained glass windows and broken pillars. The poor state seemed to make the area even more beautiful. Delicate. Fragile.

"You would be right." Cloud stopped near one of the more stable pews and rested against it. He turned his head and kept a close eye on Ikkuris, watching as the teen balanced himself while looking around the church. "So, how did you end up here?" Cloud looked away from the boy after a few moments, but continued questioning him. Still just a bit curious as to how or why he ended up in the church. "If you're not from around here then where are you from?"

Ikkuris nearly fell again and quickly righted himself on his booted feet. "Hmm." He raised a hand to rub his lips as he gave Cloud's questions some serious thought. "That's a very good question, Mister Cloud." His brows furrowed as he gave it a deeper thought. He crossed one arm over his chest while his hand tapped the side of his head. "Mmm."

The boy then hit his fist against his palm in his sudden epiphany. "HA!" Ikkuris pointed up with a smile. But just as quickly his smile faded and he looked away with a pouted frown, crossing his arms. "No- wait.. that's not right."

Cloud turned his attention back on the teen that seemed to be struggling to come up with just the right answer. It caused Cloud to narrow his eyes in thought of the situation as he continued to watch Ikkuris think over the questions he was asked. "You can't remember where you're from or how you even got here?" He looked away from the teenager and towards one of the shattered windows instead. "Amnesia maybe?" He spoke the words more to himself then to get any real answer out of the boy.

Ikkuris looked up through the hole to the nearly clear sky, the sun barely peeking through the mess of roof. A bird fluttered in to perch on a dislodged board of the roof, it chirped and hopped around, deciding if the abandoned church was a good place to roost.

"I... remember the sun and the stars." The boy turned and picked up the little charm at the end of his chain to show Cloud. He pointed at it but then dead panned. ".. That's pretty vague, huh?" He dropped his charm and crossed his arms, tapping a foot as he thought harder on it. "Maybe I hit my head when I fell from the sky... hmm."

"From the sky?" Cloud thought over Ikkuris' last words for a few seconds after his eyes had dropped away from the chain the other had shown him. Finally he shook his head and let out a simple sigh. "I just think you hit your head a little too hard. That's all. It's the only simple explanation for it at the moment." He took a quick look around the church to see if there was anything the teenager could have harmed himself on. It was hard to say considering the broken down state of the area. He gave up and decided to turn his attention back on Ikkuris. "Is there anything important you do remember aside from the sun and stars?"

Ikkuris slowly shook his head. "No. I don't think so." Disappointment crossed his features. He looked down at the flowers, but nothing came to his mind. It was like there was nothing there to recall from; a blank slate, wiped clean and sterilized. Ikkuris ran a hand through his hair and blinked; no pain, no bump. Quickly he looked up; how could he have fallen if there was no injury on his person?

Ikkuris turned back to Cloud and gave him a sad smile. "I think I'm supposed to do something. Or I was doing something." He looked down at the floor again but his weak smile never left. "Or find someone." He raised his head back up to look at Cloud. "Was I supposed to help you?"

Cloud could only shake his head in response to such a question. "I don't see how or why." He turned his attention back to the broken windows. "We only just met a few minutes ago. It's probably someone else you were supposed to help. There's no telling now with how lost your memory is." He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he tried to at least give the boy some kind of hope. "I'm sure you'll remember in due time, though."

Ikkuris took a step towards Cloud. "You sure it isn't you?" He cocked his head curiously as he took another step towards Cloud. "I mean... do you need anything?" He gestured vaguely to the room as he continued to walk towards the man. "Have you lost anything?" He clasped his own hands together. "Maybe.. someone?" Ikkuris' eyes fluttered shut as his foot steps stilled. "Have you lost someone? Have you lost apart of yourself, Cloud?"

Cloud's eyes narrowed as he tensed up. He just met the kid but a few moments ago and already he was trying to get under his skin in a way he didn't want. "What kind of questions are those?" He answered the teen carefully. "Especially to ask someone you just met." He gave a slight shake of his head, trying his best to relax as much as he had been before Ikkuris had spoken up. "Besides, any answer I give you wouldn't really make a difference in the end, would it?" He left it at that, hoping the boy would drop the subject.

Ikkuris' eyes opened and he walked the last few steps between himself and Cloud. He smiled up at the man, something sincere yet sad. He knew Cloud wasn't going to trust someone he'd just met, especially someone who claimed they 'fell from the sky' with nary a bruise or a scratch on his person. But in a way he felt he owed him, if not a little. _This_ , this was what he was born for.

"Tell me about _him_." Ikkuris piped up. He shook his head and closed his eyes again, his smile softening. "Not the one in shadows... the other one. The one in light. A piece of your light, Cloud." He raised a hand, his brows furrowing with his hesitation. Carefully he rested a pointed finger on Cloud's heart. "... He's gone very far away, hasn't he? A place that even you can't go and save him."

Cloud grew still once again and he stared down at Ikkuris feeling near shock, but tried to keep a calm expression despite. He couldn't believe what the boy was saying and he had to resist every urge there was to push the finger away that was pointing at his chest. It was strange to have someone say such things to him when he had only told the teenager his name and that was all.

"Far away..." The words left Cloud quietly and for some reason he couldn't stop himself from indulging the teen in front of him. "Yeah, he has and it's my own fault." Cloud moved a hand up to finally grab onto Ikkuris' wrist, moving the boy's hand away until it was at least away from his chest. Only then did he let go, dropping his own hand back down. "I wasn't there to watch his back." His eyes narrowed further as he seemed to realize what he was saying. "But why is it any business of yours?"

"I do remember something, Mister Cloud." Ikkuris raised either of his hands to clasp the star that hung from his shirt collar. "Something very special. I was born with a very special gift that only I can do... and you helped me remember." He raised his head to smile just a little up at Cloud. "I want to repay you for that."

Ikkuris stepped back a few steps from Cloud, unclipping his charm from his shirt. He held it to the side; white light gathered, flittering to his hand, fracturing into colour like a prism to reveal an angelic, twin bladed weapon, the star charm dangling on a chain from the handles end.

Cloud's hand immediately shot to the handle of his sword which rested behind him. He still had a hard time trusting this kid after all the strange things he had been saying and the sudden flicker of light and movements didn't help. It was only after what took form did Cloud ease up and he let his hand drop again. His eyes stayed glued to the weapon before they finally moved back to Ikkuris' face. "How?" It was the only word he could get past his lips at the moment.

Ikkuris shrugged his shoulders and smiled for he was just at a loss. "I don't know." He gently swung the blade, white streaking softly behind it. He stepped back and spun the blade to point behind him. He gave a slight laugh; it was actually kind of neat.

Ikkuris let his eyes shut, moving with the blade in graceful motion, tracing soft white light in the air. He then stopped, and as his feet halted on the ground, light etched itself across the ground surrounding Ikkuris in a shinning star. Light seeped up, glowing brightly as glimmering prism colour curled around. It reached to the sky as Ikkuris, now a gleaming silhouette, held the angelic blade in front of himself, and it lifted from his hands.

The boy smiled softly to himself, he didn't know why, but some how, the warmth of light brought him closer to something he knew he'd never forget; even if he'd never remember its name, knowing was enough. Ikkuris whispered a name only familiar to Cloud, and the entire area shone white.

The light began to fade, dissipating in gentle little puffs. Ikkuris wasn't alone anymore where he stood. A tall man about Cloud's height stood beside him, built, with shaggy black hair falling in jagged locks down his back. The man was in awe, staring at his hands as the glimmering light that was around him was fading away to a more caporal form.

Cloud had been on guard through the entire scene that played out before him. He was used to strange things here and there, but some things still put him on edge such as what he saw right in front of him. He just barely heard the teen mutter a name, but didn't have much time to really think on it. The light had faded and he soon noticed that Ikkuris was no longer alone.

Cloud took a step forward to get a closer look at who was suddenly standing by the teen and when he did he had to stop in his tracks. He felt like he was seeing a ghost. It was unbelievable, too unreal, and nearly had his usual stoic expression falling away completely. "Zax..." The name left him, sounding just as disbelieving as his mind did of what he saw.

Zax looked up from his hands, and when he saw the other man he blinked a few times as if he were the one seeing a ghost. But soon that familiar carefree grin spread on his face, widening to the biggest shit eating grin ever. "Cloud!" He ran a hand through his thick black hair, laughing.

Ikkuris wobbled on unsteady legs, falling to his knees with a small 'oomf!' The weapon had long disappeared, leaving him with the charm still in his hands. He gave a small laugh of his own from the ground; he felt completely spacey, dazed and dizzy. He poked one of the few remaining puffs of light that fell down near him. ".. Now you're whole again, Mister Cloud."

Cloud took the few steps there were between them to get a better look at Zax. He still had a hard time coming to terms with the fact his friend was actually standing right there when seconds ago he had been lost to the world. "I can't believe this." He lifted his hands to place them on Zax's shoulders and as soon as they made contact he knew he could be sure the other was real. "You're really here. He did it. Somehow he did this..." Cloud tore his eyes away from his friend just to gaze over at Ikkuris with that same unbelieving expression over what the teen had been able to do.

A hard but friendly pat came to Cloud's cheek; cementing the realness of it for Zax as well as Cloud. Zax laughed as he firmly gripped Cloud's shoulders and gave him a firm shake. "You're REAL! You're really real!" He laughed again but louder. "Cloud! It's really Cloud! Cloud Strife!" He shook Cloud more.

Ikkuris clipped the charm back onto his shirt's collar. He clasped his hands around the star, linking his fingers together. "... Never say 'goodbye', right?" He grinned up at Cloud and his friend.

Cloud tried to focus on what Ikkuris said, but Zax was shaking him so much that all he could do was give the teenager a simple nod in response. It didn't mean he was any less grateful for the act that had been preformed. He was overjoyed to see his friend again and despite his earlier attitude, he finally slung an arm over Zax shoulder in a half decent hug, bringing the other closer as he shared the moment he finally had back with someone he thought he had lost for good.

"What kind of hug is that for your old friend, huh?" Zax grinned widely as he threw his arms around Cloud and gave him a proper, tight hug. "Always still resigned to show you're happy." He gave a half hazard laugh. "Same old Cloud Strife I knew." He hugged the other man tighter, perhaps too tightly, but it felt good to feel again, to live again; he doubted Cloud would care.

Cloud was sure the breath would nearly be squeezed out of him if Zax kept it up, but he really didn't mind it. He allowed the other man to hug him as tight as he wished and even let his own arms encircle Zax as well to return the friendly gesture. "You haven't changed much either." Cloud shook his head at his own words and his arms seemed to tighten a little, making sure that Zax really was there and it wasn't just some kind of horrible dream trying to trick him. "I'm glad you haven't. It's good to have you back. It really is..."

Zax couldn't keep his laughter in, he was so happy. His embrace on Cloud lessened from it's vice grip, and instead became more clinging. His mind was soaring and his shoulders shook with silent laughter that really had no means. But he didn't care how much of a loon he looked like. He was too grateful to do much else but cling to Cloud for dear life. "Damnit, I missed you too."

Cloud watched Zax's shoulders shake while he felt the clinging hold his friend had on him. "Yeah, that's not really hard to see." It was still all too unreal and with each of those last few words Cloud actually managed to crack the smallest of smiles. It was hard to really fight it anymore and he didn't really want to. Not with everything so perfect for once. He shook his head a little, disbelieving that for once he could enjoy himself, but he finally had reason to. He didn't want to let go of Zax at all because of that one simple thought.

Zax clung to Cloud a moment longer before he patted his friend's back, it was then he noticed the board sword on his back. He knocked on the metal a few times. "Hey, you still have my Buster Sword." He laughed. "It's all bandaged up." He grinned mischievously, pulling back enough to look Cloud in the face. "Hey, have you finally married Tifa yet?" He grinned even wider with the forward teasing question.

Cloud had gripped the handle of the sword which had once belonged to his friend after it was pointed out. He was about to speak on it, but the last question actually caught him off guard and the smile fell from his face. "What?" He narrowed his eyes and let his hand drop back down to his side. "Tifa?" Cloud shook his head and looked away back to where Ikkuris was still resting on the floor. "What kind of question is that?" It was obvious by his tone that Cloud didn't appreciate such a question.

Ikkuris gave a blank look up at Cloud, blinking a few times; the expression 'wha..?' plastered all over his face.

Zax's good humor wasn't at all detoured by Cloud's pouty annoyance. "Aw, lighten up. I just figure-" He shrugged, "since she was always there to get your back. You two were always so close." He went back to grinning, keeping his hands on Cloud's shoulders. "I figured you two would be at _least_ be married by now. With at _least_ three kids crawling all over you."

Zax knew he wasn't winning any favours, but he chuckled all the same. "And what about my girl? Been taking good care of her while I've been gone, right?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes further at the continued questions. He looked away from Ikkuris since it was obvious the kid was still okay and instead turned his attention on his friend. "She's fine." He shrugged a shoulder and had to stop himself from actually sounding as annoyed as the sudden change in topic had made him feel. "Everyone is fine. They'll all be just as happy to see you." He tried his best to switch the subject.

"Everyone." Zax echoed, remembering each face of the gathered resistance that he fought along side against the heartless. "Leon and Yuffie. Heh. I missed seeing them. Even Tifa. Barret, Vincent, Zell, Laguna, Rinoa." He squeezed Cloud's shoulders. "Specially my girl, Aeris. Bet she'll be completely blown out of her mind to see me out and about again." His smile went a little sad. "Course, when I _left_.. she did take a slight shining to you." His smile grew again. "Because you're just so cheerful." Zax patted Cloud's cheek in a friendly fashion. "Hey! Where'd that smile for me go?"

Cloud squinted an eye at the touch to his cheek. The question had him raising a brow and he decided to do some teasing of his own if only to get back at Zax for his earlier questions and words. "Was I smiling? Hmm, I must not have noticed." He shrugged a shoulder to act as if the entire thing wasn't a big deal. "Oh well, the moment is gone now I guess. You'll just have to make do with what you get from now on."

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Zax smile went playful as he went along with Cloud's teasing, acting hurt. "That's not fair! Is that anyway to treat a-" He paused in mid sentence to blink. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth; the air was unusually dry. "Does it taste.. staticy to you?"

Ikkuris made lip smacking noises as he glanced around. A cold feeling rested in his chest. Something was off. "... I don't taste anything."

Cloud's good humor fell in that instant at the question Zax had asked and Ikkuris' own response. He was easily put on edge by such a switch in the conversation, but it wasn't just the two people around him that did it. "Something's going on..." Even without trying to taste the air like the other two had, Cloud could still tell just by standing in the sudden dry area that nothing was as it had been moments ago.

Zax eyes suddenly widened. He lashed out a hand over Cloud's shoulder to grasp the handle of the Buster Sword. In one swift motion he yanked the sword off Cloud's back, shoving the other out of the way with his free hand as he swung the heavy blade up just as an incinerating black bolt slammed down upon them. The blade cut the electricity neatly down the middle, saving them from a deathly hit. The parted energy smashed into the ground, sending planks of wood, splinters and debris flying.

Cloud hadn't expected the sudden push to the side, but didn't protest to it when he saw why. As the bolt was cut in half he watched as both halves were sent away and pulled Ikkuris over just in case the debris it caused went astray. As soon as all was clear throughout the room he let go of the teenager and looked to where the bolt had come from. His eyes narrowed as he addressed Zax. "At least we know your reflexes are still good. We won't have to worry since it seems like we have company."

Zax gave a smug grin as he twirled the vast blade in his hand, catching the handle firmly again as he glanced at Cloud. "Yeah, looks I still got-" A sharp hit sent him flying back, smashing into the pews, the Buster Sword clattering away.

"Boys... such egos." A feminine voice sighed as if it were a true, sad dilemma.

Ikkuris coughed from the dust, staring wide eyed as he paled. "... They've found me." With a shaky hand he clung to Cloud's shirt.

"Zax!" The name left Cloud as soon as his friend was hit and instant fear tried to take over him since he had just gotten the other back. The female's voice caught his attention and his head snapped back to the source, but it was Ikkuris' words which had him the most confused. Without moving his eyes away from where he heard the voice he spoke up, staying alert at the same time. "Who found you, Ikkuris? Tell me what's going on."

"The Darkness" A girl heartless, looking no older than Ikkuris himself, suddenly stared Cloud in the face with her wide, excited glowing eyes. "Of course." Just as quickly she disappeared to re-appear, round housing Cloud in the face sending him flying back much like she did Zax.

Cloud had no time to really react and was forced away from Ikkuris by the painful kick. His back made contact with the wall and hit rather hard, but still the pain in his face continued to feel just as awful. He tried to keep his eyes opened and narrowed them as he noticed the heartless was still near Ikkuris and gave a groan as he moved.

The heartless girl touched a pointed toe to the ground, standing there as if she were weightless. Her long, slender sleeved arms poised with sharps of fingers pointing from the bottom. Antenna, now where the wisps of hair used to stand up from the slicked back hair, twitched as she gleamed more than wickedly at the easy defeat of either supposed 'strong men'.

"Really now." She sighed, waving a long arm, completely unimpressed now. "Why didn't you just put up a neon sign? That might have not given you away as much." She clacked a few claws together.

Ikkuris stared in wide eyed fear up at the heartless. ".. I ..." His mind blanked out.

Cloud managed to get back to his feet and as soon as he did he wasted no time in picking up the sword which had fallen earlier. The heartless was busy with Ikkuris and he planned to take that chance to get rid of her since she wasn't paying attention. He quickened his pace to the two and as soon as he was near he swung the large blade right at the heartless.

The girl leaned backwards to near an almost impossible degree to avoid the cut of the blade. "Sorry, that little distraction trick only works on stupid boys." With a laugh she disappeared.

Cloud cursed loudly when the heartless faded out. He kept his sword held ready just in case she reappeared somewhere nearby, planning to attack again, and kept himself close to Ikkuris for the time being since the girl seemed so interested in him.

Ikkuris continued to stare where the heartless had been. He clasped onto his star charm before realization donned on him. ".. Mister Zax." He scrambled to get back on his feet, and without thinking he ran to shambles of pews where the man had fallen. He reached out to yank away the boards to unbury him but cold claws grasped around his wrist yanking him back.

"Disappointing how easy this is." The heartless girl flew higher in the air with her prize. "I thought I was going to have some real fun with a challenge."

Cloud watched as the heartless had grabbed Ikkuris so easily, but he refused to let her take him away like she planned. "It's not over." He muttered the words as he ran over to one of the few pews that remained standing. With a leap he jumped on top of it and used it as leverage to launch himself towards the heartless, taking another swing at her to force her to let go of the teenager.

Rather than losing an arm the heartless girl let the boy go, yanking her arm free from the hit. She cussed when the boy fell to the ground hard.

Ikkuris lay dazed for a moment, stars flicking in his vision when he shut his eyes. With a shaky intake of breath he forced himself up on hands and knees, nearly stumbling back down when he scrambled onto feet.

But Ikkuris didn't run away, he went directly back to where Zax had fallen. Desperately he yanked the boards and pieces away. "Mister Zax!" His quickened breath halted and Ikkuris stopped. His heart should have been thudding hard in his chest, as quick and fearful as he felt, but he didn't feel any beating. There was no hammer of palpitation against his ribcage, just empty.

Ikkuris staggered, his legs threatening to give out again. "... Something's wrong with me." He squeezed his eyes shut a moment; no throbbing pain, no ache, no anger, no hope- no fear. There was _nothing_. He clutched his shirt, grasping the star charm at the same time. He felt nothing.

A groan came from under the debris, and the wood was roughly pushed aside so a haggard Zax could emerge. It was just in time for he saw Ikkuris begin to fall, and he caught the boy before he came crashing down. "Kid? Kid, are you alright?" But the boy didn't seem all there to answer.

Above the heartless narrowed her eyes on Cloud, flying back to keep a safe enough distance. "You should be ashamed. Is that anyway to treat a lady? So impolite. The rudeness must make your mother cry."

Cloud turned his attention back to the heartless after having landed back on his feet. He had watched Ikkuris run towards Zax and felt relieved when he saw his friend get up from where he had landed. His eyes narrowed on the woman and her words only caused him to shrug a shoulder in response. "You're not really much of a lady, so manners are out of the question." He continued to keep his sword ready and aimed at the heartless despite her sudden distance.

The heartless' eyes widened at such insulting words. She narrowed her illuminated eyes. ".. No wonder you've resorted to raising the dead. No living person would want you." Swiftly she raised her claws to the air, and from the shadows crawled forth strong twitching heartless. More and more poured forth from the shadows, their thick antenna wiggling as their heads jerked around in random seizures.

Zax pulled the catatonic boy more protectively to him as he watched the gathering swarm surround them. ".. Oh yeah this isn't good."

"It's only a few heartless. That's all..." Cloud spoke the words after Zax's own while he watched more and more gather around him. So, the girl didn't want to fight him herself for the time being. Fine. He would still take out whatever she wanted to throw at him in order to keep her away from Ikkuris.

The first few heartless that had come up started to make their way to Cloud and he didn't wait at all for them to reach him. With one swing he let go of his sword to send it flying towards the herd that were running towards him. The spinning blade took them out one by one and caused a good many to scatter that wanted to get out of the way. It landed in a pew not far from the herd of heartless with the blade imbedded in the wood and Cloud wasted no time jumping across each one to retrieve it since most had scattered.

Cloud's feet touched the top of the pew and he was quick to pull the sword out of the wood. Many of the heartless had scrambled back to try and follow him since he had been without a weapon for a few seconds, but he was quick to swing the large blade at each one as soon as it was out. It wasn't nearly enough to get rid of them all and he realized this the minute he started to fight them again. He jumped down from the pew to land a few feet away from it and pointed the sword at what was remaining. He raised the large weapon up and brought it down and with that one swipe a blast of energy shot from the sword directed right at the heartless, hoping to hit what he could dead on.

Zax stared at Cloud a moment before he smirked; same old Cloud. ".. What a show off." He leapt with Ikkuris in arms from where he knelt soon after to avoid the swipe and swarm of in coming heartless. "Of course he has to have the weapon." He landed with a huff, moving again to avoid the swiping claws of oncoming heartless.

Zax hated doing much else other than dodging the onslaught of hits. He kicked fiercely out, slamming his boots straight through a heartless' head, which exploded into dark mist on impact. That had Zax grinning. He kicked a few more who dared to get close, but his ground was getting smaller as the twitching creatures drew closer.

"Sorry if the rides bumpy, kid." Zax threw Ikkuris over his shoulder, freeing an arm. "I can't let Cloud have all the glory." He leapt up in time to avoid the crashing swarm of claws, stomping on one hard as he landed. He continued to leap forth, stomping purposely on heartless as he went.

The heartless girl up high was greatly amused by the hopeless battle attempts below. Even with the constant addition of irrepressible heartless, she decided that just wasn't enough for the two. She raised a long sleeved arm up, the air around grew incredibly tense, dry like before. Sparks traced down the many zippers following down her sleeve, picking up voltage as they conducted. The raw energy gathered to her hand and she threw it into the air where it exploded into separate charges. Instantaneously the energy thundered down, destructive black bolts like before raining down upon the party below.

Cloud had been tearing through a few of the heartless that managed to escape the attack from his sword when he noticed the sudden switch in the atmosphere around them. He didn't even have enough time to look towards the source when a bolt of the harmful energy came down right in front of him knocking him back and into some of the remaining heartless. They were quick to swarm on him, but he didn't allow them to stay near long, kicking most of them in the face or anywhere else he could land a hit, causing them to fade away into smoke as he got back to his feet.

Another one of the bolts dropped near, but Cloud was quick to react and put his sword up as a makeshift shield. As soon as the bolt touched down he swiped his sword out at the energy, batting it away with the large weapon and towards the heartless, using it against the swarms that still surrounded him.

Zax didn't have the luck of a weapon, he sprinted to avoid the hit of the intense bolt, dodging debris of planks and rubble as it flew by. The bolt followed him, smashing through heartless and support pillars as if they were nothing as Zax ran by them to get away.

A rush of heartless decided it wise to get in his way. With a grunt Zax jumped over them and gripping Ikkuris' body tight over his shoulder, he hand sprung from the ground. Twisting round in the air he dug his heels into the ground to stand his ground to the on coming energy.

"Enough of this." Zax drew back his free arm, tightening it into a fist as he took a ready step back. A grin tweaked up at the corner of his lips. He threw his fist forward, straight into the incoming energy, an intense focused hit. The bolt split down the center, thrown into smaller bolts which flew into the new heartless that neared him, exploding violently on impact.

Zax's grin widened, and he closed one eye as his glove smoldered. "...Stings."

The heartless girl was growing impatient. She didn't appreciate the little 'tricks' either man did with her bolts of electricity. She pouted. "If I don't hurry, someone else will catch the little bird before I do." That said she flew down, spinning round, energy conducted down the metal teeth of her zippers, growing with intensity around her; it wasn't Cloud she headed for.

The energy that the heartless girl had started to create around her immediately gained Cloud's attention. There were still plenty of other heartless to deal with, but it was more then obvious what the girl was after and he wasn't about to just stand by and let her have it so easily. Swarms of heartless or not. The heartless that were nearby got taken out in a simple swing of his sword and as soon as they were gone he started to rush towards the girl.

A few stray heartless ran after him and Cloud turned to run backwards, holding his sword up as the heartless jumped at him to try and launch themselves at him. As soon as they were blocked he pulled the sword back and ran it through each of them, twirling it near the end of the swing to hit the remaining few the swing didn't catch.

When his way was clear enough, Cloud turned back around to face the heartless girl. Instead of continuing to run towards her he raised his sword up and brought it back down, bringing it down twice and watching as the energy strikes that it created went towards the heartless, hoping it would stop her before she could get far or any stronger.

The heartless girl had to halt in flight to avoid being smashed into the Buster Sword's blasts. The energy that she gathered prickled and sparked about her, and she waved her arms out sharply causing the electricity to give an aggravated hiss. The debris from the failed hit was zapped to ash before it could hit her skin from the sheer intensity of the energy swarming about her.

Zax set Ikkuris down to shield him from the thrown rubble. The boy barely stood on his own.

Sharply her head turned to glare contempt at Cloud. "Don't think that saving him a second time will bring you repentance for your dark sin." She raised a claw and pointed it in Cloud's direction. "I feel your guilt. It's still there. Don't think that life will erase death. Your heart is still saturated by darkness." She laughed femininely, near casually, but the tone was ice cold. "And you'll continue to chase _Him_ , despite what light is under your very nose." The heartless narrowed her eyes, her amusement spreading on her lips. "Because that's what you do... Cloud Strife."

Those words did nothing but cause more hate to rise within Cloud for the heartless that had spoken. Her laughter easily started to get on his nerves and without even responding to her speech he was soon rushing towards her. When he was only a few feet away he stabbed his sword into the ground, pushing off on the handle to jump up and grabbing onto it to pull it out as he made it into the air. Once high enough above her he came down swinging, trying to get past the electricity that surrounded her so he could hit her from above. Small bits of energy crackled around his sword all the while.

"... That's right." The electricity spat and lashed out as it did its best to barrage against the hard impact of the sword. But even as the blade was growing closer and closer through the heartless girl's barrier, the edge growing nearer to her face, her eyes only widened with interest; reading this man's callous heart was as easy as hearing him speak his damage past himself. "We killed him, didn't we? The heartless. The cold, black swallowed him up, leaving you all alone in an even darker void."

Zax straightened, eyes wide on his friend. He wanted to help, but he couldn't abandon Ikkuris to the swarm that had him cornered.

The dark electricity began to skitter across the Buster Sword, the electricity greedily conducting along its metal.

"You're just alone in a crowd, Cloud Strife." The Heartless girl whispered coyly, and with Cloud's unfaltering strength his blade cut through the barrier and through the female heartless. Her dark body split, but it was as electricity, surging through the conductivity of a metal sword. With the help of metal armor, her energy jolted to form her solidified behind the man.

"CLOUD!" Zax tried to shout warning, but all that would leave was the other's name.

Claws plunged themselves in Cloud's back, though not his flesh, through flesh, to a place where only evil knew. A place where she could wound the worst of him. "You can't fight hate with loathing." The girl's words left in icy delicacy.

The warning hadn't been enough and Cloud faltered as each claw forced its way through. The feeling had him nearly shivering and his grip was almost lost completely on his sword, but he managed to somehow keep it as best he could in a loose hold. His vision blurred around the edges and he had to narrow his eyes to quickly stay focused. "Whatever works best, that's how I'll fight..." Cloud strained to speak up despite the claws.

Those claws pushed in further, further, until hand slipped through, arm following suit. The heartless girl laughed girlishly. "Tsk. Your undoing. Only makes my job that much easier." Almost there, she could feel it, barely warmed by the surroundings of his stigma; his heart. Turning him would be easy; like flipping a coin.

"Cloud!" Zax unconsciously gripped Ikkuris tighter as he watched the horrific scene.

Ikkuris blinked a little at the squeeze, his attention turning to Cloud as well. He raised a hand to rest on his own chest. ".. Mister.. Cloud?"

"Hold on, kid." Zax couldn't stand being an observer; his own heart ached as if it were his own being ripped out. With Ikkuris in arms he sprinted head long.

Dark claws tightened cruelly about Cloud's metaphorical heart. "Good bye." A surge of raw negative energy shot through the heartless girl's arm, gathering with intensity to slam into the heart she held with a sudden clench of her hand. But just as suddenly a violent blow slammed into her at the back forcing her to let go, but the damage was done. Another furious hit sent her flying from Cloud, spinning in the air before she landed into the sea of heartless across the room.

Zax panted as he watched the heartless fly from his hits, desperation still in his dark eyes. He set Ikkuris to stand beside him, setting a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "C-Cloud?"

Cloud had been completely still the entire time as soon as the heartless had been ripped away from him. It was only when he felt the hand on his shoulder and heard his name addressed did his entire body seem to lock up and he tensed. He gave no actual conformation that he was okay, but instead went on the offensive immediately and grabbed the handle of his sword as tight as he could and swung it around.

Zax let out a startled shout as he shoved Ikkuris back, darting back himself as best he could, holding up a hand to save his chest from the slash as best he could. He earned a deep gash from elbow to wrist.

"Cloud!" Zax held his forearm to his chest, back stepping. The heartless around had taken note of this switch in power, and decided it best to move in on the moment. Zax moved his arms out battle ready; he tried to search Cloud's expression. "What's wrong- what's happening?"

Cloud seemed to realize just as quick what he did and instant regret washed over his features. It went away just as quick though, as he felt a blinding pain through his whole being and he turned narrowed eyes towards where the heartless girl had fallen as he tried to ignore it. "She tried to hit me where she knew it would hurt most. That's all..." He spoke as he tried to pass it off as nothing. "We need to hurry up and get rid of her." His eyes scanned over the swarms that decided to move in and his patience started to run thin in that moment.

Ikkuris gave a weary sound from the ground. He rubbed the side of his head with a whimper, he was slowly coming to. He was quite tired of falling over now. He noticed the heartless growing closer and closer and with a worried noise he crawled backwards on the ground, inching closer to Zax.

Some lashed out hands to swipe at Ikkuris, while others leaped up to pounce upon him. With a scream caught in his throat Ikkuris yanked off his chain, shutting his eyes as he blindly summoned his weapon to block the hits. But the heartless didn't relent; they continued to bash the weapon that blocked them, clawing the angelic blade. Ikkuris' eyes grew wider with each hit, he still wasn't strong from his previous resurrection, and his arms shook, caving more and more to the onslaught.

Something yanked Ikkuris up by his collar and he gave a frightened squeak as he was pulled from the heartless. Zax held the boy with his good arm as he slammed his foot through the attacking heartless with a fierce kick.

"... The church is being destroyed." The weapon disappeared from Ikkuris' hands, leaving him with just the charm. "... The flowers have been killed." His words couldn't be sadder for them.

Cloud slammed his blade into the few other heartless which continued to try and go after Ikkuris despite the teen having been picked up. He heard Ikkuris' words and a solemn expression came over his own face as well. It was disappointing what was happening, but so far they had no choice but to fight inside the church. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright soon." They were the only words Cloud could give to the teen to help ease the mood a little and he planned to make sure they were true.

Cloud stopped moving for a brief second and as soon as he did he kept the blade still in his hand. With one swift movement he started to twirl the handle, causing the sword to spin while still near his hand. The movement caused a large gust that went right for the remaining heartless, taking them out easily. Cloud didn't let up until each one was gone and took a tight hold on the sword once more as he turned his eyes back to where the girl had been.

"I think flowers are the least of your worries." The heartless girl's words spoke from above them. "Especially now." She smirked smugly. "The darkness has your friend Cloud's heart now." She clenched her long claws tightly and in Cloud's chest his 'heart' jolted, the negative energy placed inside consuming all around it. She flew back, perching on the toe of one foot on a crumbled pillar. "I'd say this is ironic but, I think everyone was expecting this from him." She waved it off with a long arm.

Cloud struggled for breath the moment the energy shot through his entire being. The focus he had on the heartless fell away as he struggled to stay on two feet while his hands gripped the handle of his sword so tight that knuckles turned white. He suddenly felt as if he couldn't get a hold of himself and the girl's words didn't ease anything within him. All he could do was stare wide eyed at the ground as his entire body shook a little.

Zax let go of Ikkuris so he could grasp Cloud's shoulders. "Cloud. Cloud, c'mon, stay with me." Blood streamed down his arm from the previous wound, plittering on the ground, smearing against either of their clothes but his mind blocked out any thought to pain. "Cloud." He gripped his friend's wrist, trying to steady him, assure him; _anything_.

"I always loved the part in a story where the good guy was forced by some wicked means to hurt his friends." The Heartless girl tightened her fist, the jolt strengthening inside Cloud's chest, consuming it forcefully, incinerating the good nature for her bleak purpose.

The calling of his name was completely lost on Cloud as the next painful jolt took hold of him. He couldn't fight it at all anymore as every bit of the negative feeling took hold of what was left of his conscious being. Friends and allies were forgotten and the only feeling left inside him was a feeling of hatred and not much else. His entire body kept still until he looked over at the hand on his wrist and easily yanked it free with a twist, jumping back a few steps to point the long sword at Zax with narrowed eyes that seemed dull.

Zax stared, disbelieving at the sight before him. It felt as if reality had folded in on itself. And against better judgment Zax took a step towards the offensive stance of his friend. "Cloud?" He was beginning to feel the strain of his wound, but he didn't have the time or the items to mend it. It wasn't important right now.

Cloud's eyes only narrowed further when Zax took a step forward, but it was when the other spoke which had him reacting. The large sword was brought up high in the distance that was between them and right back down immediately afterwards to create the same swipe of energy that had been used on the heartless girl much earlier. Only this time it was being aimed at Zax.

"H-hey!" Zax threw himself into a jump to avoid the energy blast; it tore into floor boards, kicking up rocks and dirt, missing him by inches. He landed on a hand and sprung back onto his feet. "Cloud! What're you doing! Stop this!" He didn't want to have to take down his own friend, but that was the idea behind heartless girl's ploy. Zax frowned and yanked off the bandages from his other arm to wrap something makeshift around his wounded arm. "You aren't going to let some stupid heartless take advantage of you like this- are you?"

"But he has and he is." The heartless girl had sat on the pillar, one leg lazily drawn over the other. "Because it's fun. You left so much bitterness inside him when you died. All this, it's really all your fault."

Zax grit his teeth together, his hands balling into fists. He hadn't meant to leave. It had just been too much. He tried, but it seemed he was about to fail his friend again. "Please Cloud.. we just got reunited again."

"... Mister Cloud." Ikkuris frowned.

Zax's words seemed to be lost on Cloud and were only ignored as he rushed forward towards the other instead with no words spoken. He raised the blade again and let it twirl above his head, causing a small gust around the blade. As soon as he was near Zax he slowed and the blade was brought down to swing at the other man while the bit of wind it had caused moved all around them with the heavy swing.

This time Cloud's attack hit its mark. Zax didn't leap back in time, shock stalling his reaction time, seizing his muscles. Metal cut through cloth and skin with ease, the force of the impact sent him flying backwards before even so much as a noise could leave his throat. He smashed head on into pillar and wall, marble and concrete caving in with the loss of structure.

"Mister Zax!" Ikkuris screamed the words, eyes wide and terrified. His hands shook, and he seemed too stricken down with shock to do much else but stare in utter disbelief. Quickly he turned to Cloud, anger mixing with fear. "You _bastard_! He was your friend! You cared about him!"

Cloud had begun walking towards where Zax had landed when Ikkuris' voice cut through him and caused him to stop. His hand clenched tighter around the handle of his sword as he stayed rooted to the one spot he stood in. "Cared about?" Cloud echoed the words in a hollow voice as he continued to stare at the spot where Zax had landed. "I could care less..." The last few words were spoken quietly.

"Then perhaps you should start learning how to again." Blackness swirled around behind Ikkuris and within it a hand reached out until it was able to grab hold of the boy's shoulder, getting a tight grip. Attached to the hand was the form of Vexen who slowly stepped out of the darkness, allowing the swirling mist to stay behind him while he kept the teenager near him. "Because so far you're losing everything this way." His gaze moved to the heartless that had been lounging so comfortably in the room. "And Larxene, you're slipping. You made this much too easy. I suppose I should be grateful..."

The heartless girl's blank eyes grew wide into perfect circles. "Vexen!" Her antenna slicked back, electricity sparking near the ends, soon hissing all around her with aggravation. "So your other half slips out from under that rock you were hiding under." She floated up from her perch into the air, claws poised at her sides. "And here I thought you'd be dead too, old man."

Ikkuris' breath caught in his throat, his body near trembling at the sight of who had a hold of him. He didn't like the feel of the heartless' touch on his shoulder, like a cold claw, keeping him like a vice. "L-let me go." He tried to pry Vexen's grip from his shoulder.

"I suggest you listen." Larxene raised her clawed hands up; the sharp talons pointed Vexen's way. Electricity shivered down her form, following a growing pulse down the zippers of the clothes she wore. "I found the fail safe first." She gestured to her living puppet to be at arms. ".. And I doubt you want to die a second time."

Ikkuris froze with eyes wide and soon tentatively darting to look at Larxene. "..F-fail safe?" He echoed in a tiny voice.

Vexen watched as Cloud turned toward him with sword at ready. He made no move to let Ikkuris go and didn't seem all that interested in the teen's worries. He kept his tight grip on the boy's shoulder and tighter still as he struggled. "Found him first?" Vexen shrugged a shoulder and waved his free hand. "Dear Larxene, finders keepers doesn't count much in this situation I'm afraid. Its winner take all and while you were busy playing around I decided to be the winner."

Instead of returning banter Larxene bolted forward with a growl, electricity gathering fiercely about her as she rushed Vexen. She wanted to shut that wind bag up for good and final this time.

Vexen only smirked at Larxene's sudden rush towards him. He back stepped one foot at a time towards the black mist behind him, bringing Ikkuris along with him. "Too bad..." Before Larxene could reach them the two of them had entered the darkness, Ikkuris the last one pulled inside before the portal finally closed up immediately afterwards.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 10

Where they were; that didn't matter. When; that didn't matter either. Everything felt endless, timeless, and unimportant. In the stark of nothing, in both the light and dark, everything was endless. Infinity in a blank mind.

But there was something right about this motionless moment. Even in the empty memory, something felt quite right about it. Even that driving hatred, that had once been absolute motivated for the now sitting figure, had subsided. There was nothing but calm. Like bandaging a wound; out of sight things felt better, even with the dull aching throb of pain underneath.

It could have been the prone, unconscious figure laying in his lax hold, on his lap. But Riku wasn't 'looking' at him now, but 'staring', blankly straight ahead through the blind fold. Though the boy in his arms wasn't awake, his light was still near blinding for Riku, yet he felt he shouldn't dare let go of this shining entity.

Night cultivating the day.

It felt right. As 'right' as Riku could still manage to feel. There was nothing more. Whatever purpose that he previously had was now complete, and thus he remained immobile and content in his needlessness.

There was a tiny groan from what used to be the still body as an arm moved up to rub gloved fingers under an eye. As the hand dropped back down, blue eyes fluttered open little by little and started to take in what they could of the surroundings. They gave up halfway through as the dull haze slowly started to clear and memories flooded back.

In one quick movement, Sora was scurrying up to his knees to twist around and face whoever had a hold on him. He had expected to see Axel right there much like he had before in that same room where he had woken up, but what he saw wasn't the heartless. It was someone else entirely different and had him almost speechless. "R-Riku..." The name left him on a breath and he started to crawl back towards the other teen with pure disbelief on his face.

Riku remained unmoved by Sora's sudden uprising, or awe for the situation. He remained still, beyond a healthy calm. He looked down into his now empty arms; there was almost a child like disappointment tingeing his stoic features for it. His fingers curled, proving there was nothing there left to be held anymore.

"... You left me." Riku spoke this observation with a quiet monotone. He didn't mean the previous happening with Axel, his mind refused to think beyond the current moment. He meant the here and now, with no light left resting in his arms; a very slight sadness tinged his voice.

Sora's heart nearly broke at Riku's tone of voice. He wasted no time and crawled the rest of the way over to Riku to make himself comfortable back in his friend's arms, wrapping his own around Riku's neck as tight as he could as he buried his face against the other's neck. "I'm sorry..." He felt he needed to apologize for putting that look on his friend's face. Tears already stinging his eyes over the fact they were finally together again despite all that happened.

Riku's arms slipped back around Sora, not near as tight as the other's around him. Under the blind fold his eyes shut, and that same content feeling filled the empty hollow that was his chest cavity. He paid no mind to Sora's apology; words meant nothing to him anymore. He couldn't recall the name of the light clinging to him, but it wasn't important now that he had it back in his arms once more.

Sora continued to let the tears fall, most of them falling onto Riku since his face was so near the other. It was only after a few moments he pulled back while still clinging to look at the other's face. One hand moved away so he could trace a finger over Riku's features, making sure the older boy really was there in front of him. His finger stopped just below the blindfold and barely touched it, remembering the moment he had to help place it back over the other's eyes and remembering just what Riku had done not too long ago. "Riku..." The name left him again as new tears fell while his hand clenched tightly near the other's cheek.

The touch felt warm, each tracing touch causing that content feeling to grow in Riku. It was a strange feeling that had Riku not daring to move away from the hand at his face.

"I am." Riku quietly agreed with no emotion to Sora's words. He'd nearly forgotten his own name. It constantly slipped away from him, falling to a place where everything else inside him was disappearing to. But he had no need for individuality; or memories. "And you are?"

With that one question, Sora felt everything crashing down all over again. He had found Riku, but Riku still wasn't himself. Nothing was solved and it nearly had Sora letting out the sad noise that wanted to leave him. "I-It's me. It's Sora." He moved closer and leaned down so he could rest his head on Riku's chest. "Please remember, Riku. I care about you. I want you to come back to me..."

Riku's eyes opened underneath the blind fold, but he didn't care to see anything. ".. 'Sora.'" He echoed the name quietly. Should that name be familiar to him? He couldn't remember. There was something he was suppose to, but memory was faded and dull, hard to see, hard to recall. Then perhaps it wasn't important enough to.

Riku tightened his arms around this 'Sora', keeping him close, just incase it decided to dart away from him again. Whatever, or whoever this light was, it was so nice to hold, to touch; and in some strange way, nice to talk to as well. Riku leaned his head down so his cheek could rest on soft hair. "..The light's name is 'Sora'."

Sora cuddled closer at those words, especially when he felt the weight on top of his head. It was as if things were normal, when Riku would hold him on the island and everything had been okay. "That's right, your light. All yours..." The words left him quietly and he couldn't help giving into the moment for at least a little bit, despite the fact Riku didn't remember anything. Sora still wanted to stay as close as he could get if only to feel those arms around him and to cling back just as tightly.

Riku tensed at what Sora said. Startled; he never expected to feel that in the cool numb he was mentally submerged in. " _My_... light?" The words hadn't wanted to leave his mouth as a whole. This wonderful light in his arms, that held him so tightly as if he were something worth importance, this was his? It had Riku's brows subtly furrowing. "No..." That wasn't right. There was nothing inside him, nothing that merited having like this light. ".. I have no light." As stoic as his voice was, there was a hopeless sadness.

Sora frowned at how those words had sounded coming from Riku. He lifted his head once more to stare at the other's face and although there were still a few tears on his own, he managed a small smile as he shook his head. It didn't matter if Riku couldn't see it. He still felt the need to smile for his friend. "That's not true. No matter how deep you end up in the darkness, I'll always be trying to pull you back out. I'll always be your light. I promise, Riku." He moved his hand to brush the other's bangs away like he did so many other times before. "Even if you never remember me again, I won't give up on you..."

Riku kept still, the touch felt new despite how sweetly memorized it was to Sora. He raised a hand to grasp Sora's wrist, halting the action, pulling the other's hand from his hair. "..Why?" He apathetically questioned Sora's motive.

Sora looked to where Riku had his hand suddenly captive and his smile fell away. He couldn't help staring and slowly he moved his fingers so he could reach down and wrap his hand around Riku's own. With that one action he looked back at his friend as the sad expression stayed on his face. "Because..." He hesitated a second, afraid to go on since his words wouldn't really matter to the one in front of him, but in the end they would always matter to Sora. "I love you."

Riku froze; he hadn't expected such romantic words from the other. He expected anything but those three words as reason. Although his reaction was nothing more than the smallest furrow of brow. Those words didn't register right; the light could not love the darkness, there was only contempt for each other on either side. The darkness could only hate, and although the light was filled with love...-it wasn't for the darkness.

"No." Riku pulled his hand free of Sora's. "You don't."

Sora frowned when the touch was gone and his hand dropped back down to rest between them. "Yes I do. I care about you so much, Riku." He tried his hardest to convince his friend, but felt it was a lost cause in the state the other was in. Sora let out a heavy sigh and looked away from Riku to take in where it was he had woken up since his whole attention had been on Riku. His eyes nearly widened when he saw the deserted area and near darkness around them. He could faintly hear the water behind him and for a brief second a smile came back to his face at the nostalgia it brought for so many different reasons.

"We were going to stay in the darkness together." Sora started to speak again as he bowed his head. His words quiet as he remembered that one moment in time. The one moment that seemed to bring them even closer then before. "We were okay with it. It didn't matter because we had each other." Tears started to blur his vision again as he remembered what Riku would not and once again he buried himself against his friend's chest, trying so hard not to cry as the other's name escaped him as a sad whimper.

"... Forever in darkness." Riku very quietly spoke. Something ached, a dull pinning, but he couldn't place why or where. This place was a near nomads land for the dark, yet it remained so peaceful it was tragically serene.

Riku kept his arms about the light as it desperately tried to keep its warm luminous tears in. The light was crying for him, and somewhere inside the numb of his mind, Riku felt a tinge of guilt for it.

Fingers ran through Sora's hair, curiosity mixed with an instinctive action that Riku couldn't explain, nor didn't question. "... Does that mean you'll stay here... with me?" Riku's hand faltered.

The question caused Sora to lift his head once more and stare at the blindfold that hid Riku's eyes in darkness. He thought over what he was asked and chewed at his lip. To stay in this world with Riku meant forgetting about the fight that was going on around them, but wasn't that fight what put Riku in such a position to begin with?

Sora wanted nothing more then to keep Riku away from it all and to just stay where ever his friend was. Selfish or not. He clung tightly to the older boy once more, keeping him as close as he could while he gave a small nod of his head. "Of course, I'll stay here with you for as long as you want me to." He managed a smile after he answered.

".. As long as I want." Riku raised his head, turning it to 'look' to the water that softly lapped at the dull beach. What did he want? Nothing. What did he need? Nothing. But that was only because he had exactly both as he was. How odd it was to feel so complete in a world of hatred.

".. That may be forever." Riku stated quietly. He doubted the light would want to stay now.

Sora leaned forward and raised a hand to turn Riku's head towards him by his chin. He smiled sadly as the memory came flooding back again and his next words came without hesitation at all. "Then I'll stay with you forever." He closed the rest of the distance between them to press his lips to Riku's own, knowing the kiss wouldn't be returned, but still he wanted to show how much the other teen still meant to him no matter what.

As soon as Sora pulled back he wrapped both arms around Riku's neck and let his head rest down, hugging the other tightly. He'd find some way to make things right again, but either way he still had Riku, memories or not, and he was okay with that for the time being.

Riku raised a hand to touch his own lips; why'd Sora do that? It left him with a pain in his chest, growing worse when the other held him so tightly. But what had truly done it was Sora's unfaltering words; so much strength in the honesty. It baffled him, yet at the same time it touched something that darkness had viscously claimed.

Riku's arms returned to tighten around Sora, keeping what was his; the darkness knew greed all to well and greedily kept the light's selflessness. But there was a neediness to it, a childish clinging that Riku would never admit to, hiding under a mask of apathy.

"... I don't want to be alone anymore." Riku whispered beneath the sounds of soft waves at the shore. "Sora." The name left him, feeling foreign yet familiar on his tongue.

The tension Sora felt seemed to fall away when Riku spoke his name. He slowly shook his head against Riku's shoulder and his words were muffled, but still heard. "You never were alone. I've always been here for you. Even if you couldn't see me." One of his hands reached up behind to touch the bit of the blindfold that he had tied up during that clinging moment in the castle. Sora leaned away from Riku and stared at the cloth that started to loosen up as it was tugged free of its bind. "I'll never let you be alone, Riku."

Riku stiffened as he felt the blind fold loosen, slipping from his eyes, against his face. He felt intimately exposed as it came undone. He heard a very quiet choking whimper, and soon he realized it was himself, the sound stuck in his throat.

Quickly Riku shut his eyes as the silky black cloth trickled down, brushing along his nose and cheeks before it fell away. Nothing was left to protect him from the intensity of the light, and his brows twitched with tension as they furrowed, he could still make out the bright through his eyelids. He flinched from Sora; shying away he covered his closed eyes with a hand.

"...N-no." Riku's voice quivered.

Sora grabbed onto Riku's wrist, frowning at his friend's reaction. "Riku, please don't." He moved his hand up so he could clasp their fingers together, but never really made an attempt to pull the other's hand away. That was up to Riku. "Please open your eyes. Let me see them." His voice fell quieter as he continued to watch the older teen. "Don't hide them away anymore..."

Riku's hand shook, but he lowered it on request, though he kept his eyes closed. He began to shake as he turned towards Sora, the light. Shame washed over him, guilt, feelings he'd dammed away came flooding down on him causing him to tremble worse.

Riku let go of Sora's hand so that he could place either on the other's shoulders, gripping tight; torn between yanking the boy close again and keeping him far at arms length. He chose the latter, keeping distance from Sora.

"N-no Sora... I've done horrible things." Riku's once stoic voice choked, cracking from monotony to shame. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, but it only forced the tears he was trying to keep out. The clear tears fell down his cheeks as he clenched his jaw, dropping his head to hide his face from sight, under draping silver hair.

Sora reached a hand out to brush back the hair that hung down, still unable to see even after the action. For the moment he didn't mind and was more then willing to just give whatever comfort was needed to the person in front of him. "I'll always forgive you Riku, because I know there are things that you have to do and things you can't help." His hand fell to touch what he could of Riku's cheek, wiping away the trails from tears. "Please, Riku."

An angry sob left Riku, and he tightened his hold on Sora's shoulders, his arms shaking. "I didn't _have to_ kill K-Kairi did I!?" He viciously spat the words at Sora, venomous to his own idiocies. But now that his conscious mind was reminded of what he'd truly done, his strength was depleting, his entire form wilting heavily.

"What makes me so great that I deserve something like _your_ forgiveness, Sora?" Riku whispered his words with self loathing. "What have I done to deserve your light? Your..." Riku choked on the word that he wanted to say.

Sora had flinched at Riku's sudden outburst, but he didn't pull away. "Riku..." The last few words had him frowning and looking away from the other teen. "The darkness does horrible things to people. You weren't yourself when you hurt Kairi." Sora could feel his own fists clenching at his sides. "I can't sit here and blame you for something that you couldn't control. I can be sad and upset all I want, but I can't hold a grudge. I refuse to when it's not your fault. There's always a reason for things. I know you better then that, or at least I like to think I do..."

Sora turned his eyes back on Riku and smiled sadly. "We shared something special with each other, remember? So, from now we'll share our destinies together no matter what. Our happiness. Our sorrow. Our pain. Everything in between." He leaned forward to kiss the top of Riku's head. "And even if you can't, I'll continue to share my love with you, Riku."

Ever so slowly Riku raised his head, tears messily streaking down his cheeks. Finally his eye lids parted, opening his eyes to the light, for Sora, the bright intensity hurting his once hidden eyes. All he saw was white at first, blinding him until he blinked his eyes a few times, and forced away tears. The light faded away, blending into blurred colour. Riku narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on the features of a face he was sure he'd known since the beginning of his existence.

Riku blinked his oceanic eyes, glossy from the tears, from being hidden so long. He searched Sora's face. He lifted his hands from Sora's shoulders to rest either on the other's soft cheeks; cheeks he could see, the soft blushing colour, and teary blue eyes so full of love that was more expansive than the sky he was named after. So much worry in there as well, so much pain he'd placed in those eyes, and yet they only reflected that much more forgiveness. Riku's chest swelled at the face he swore he'd never be able to see again; his first sight was Sora. There was something so perfect about that.

Riku grabbed Sora's cheeks as he hooked his thumbs at the corner of his lips, pulling cheeks into a warped funny face, just to make sure what he saw again wasn't some sadistic toying illusion. A shaky noise between a laugh and a sob left Riku, hitching his breath. "You're so cute."

Sora had stared with a wide gaze as soon as he saw Riku's own eyes staring back at him. Those eyes that he thought he would never have a chance to see again because of so much going on around them. He was ready to launch himself at Riku and never let go, but the fingers tugging at his lips stopped him and caused him to blink when Riku tugged. He nearly stuttered a protest to the treatment, but the small bit of mixed laughter stopped Sora as well as the words and caused him to smile under Riku's hands.

Sora raised his own hands to pull Riku's away, keeping them held tightly between them. As soon as his mouth was free he moved forward to press it against the other teen's lips. Not able to keep the small giggle in despite the kiss he was trying to give. Since Riku had been ripped away from him it had been so hard for him to be happy, but now he was finally happy to have the one that mattered most to him back and to hear Riku laugh again.

Sora's happiness was always infections, and despite the hurt that still had a hold of his heart, and the dark that still owned him, Riku managed a weak smile against Sora's lips; just for Sora, he could smile.

Riku pressed back against Sora's lips, kissing them as if he'd never have the chance to again. He raised his hands, inadvertently bringing Sora's with as well, and cupped either of Sora's cheeks, brushing fingers over skin. Riku broke from the kiss so he could run his thumb across Sora's bottom lip, he'd missed the sight of the other's soft pink lips; almost nearly as much as he missed Sora's eyes.

".. I missed looking at you." Riku sniffed wetly and he tried to smirk as was his usual, but all he could muster was a quivering smile. "You big eye sore." He ran a hand through Sora's plush hair, waiting no time to nuzzle against it to make up for his teasing words.

Sora easily cuddled as close as he could to Riku, laughing a little at the other's words. The tears were coming back again, but he made no effort to really stop them this time. He let each of them fall while he clenched his hands tightly under Riku's own. "I missed you, Riku. I missed you so much." He sniffed wetly as he shut his eyes and let the entire weight of the situation finally settle down on him. He had been on such an emotional roller coaster lately and he had the one person back that made it all better. "I was so afraid I had lost you again. So terrified..."

Guilt prickled along Riku's skin, seeping from the worst in him; he couldn't tell Sora this solace wasn't 'forever'. But he couldn't find it in him to say it, he couldn't cut anymore hurt into Sora, though he knew it would only hurt worse later.

Instead Riku went to hugging Sora as close and tight as he could, knowing that was exactly what the other wanted. "You were right... though we're far apart, I'm always with you. Even in the darkest of places." He brushed away the tears from Sora's cheek as best he could. ".. You can never lose me, Sora." He exhaled in a shivering breath. "We're a part of each others destinies. Remember?"

Sora leaned into the small touches and gave a quick nod to Riku's words. Something still bothered him, though. One simple thing he had heard that had hurt the most out of anything else. It caused him to frown even more and he held tighter to Riku's hands, keeping them as close as he could. "You said goodbye." He looked away, averting his eyes for a second. "I could hear you and it hurt so bad. I thought we told each other that we would never say that word..."

Riku's eyes widened and he frowned, burying his face back in Sora's plush hair. He squeezed his eyes shut again, the dark behind his lids was terrible and frightening so he opened them again; he saw and heard the water. Oh god how he missed home so badly.

".. I know." Riku whispered. He didn't know how to explain it, to tell Sora. "I'm sorry... Sora... I had to I- it was either you or her-" He held Sora just that much more in his arms; his light. He didn't want to let it slip away, not again. "... I'm still in darkness." He very quietly confessed.

The confession had Sora tensing up and he felt as if his earlier happiness had been stolen away again. If Riku was still in darkness then that meant this moment wouldn't be forever. He suddenly felt the need to cling tightly to the other teen and did so, allowing his hands to finally fall away and grip tightly around Riku's middle. A sudden wave of guilt came over Sora and he nearly choked on his next words. "I'm sorry. I'm the reason it took you away. It's my entire fault." He shook his head from side to side. "I'm so sorry, Riku. I never wanted this to happen again." He clung even tighter.

Riku firmly yanked Sora up so that they were face to face. He held Sora's face with either hand and looked at him with fierce determination in his eyes, his brows lowered. "This is _not_ your fault, Sora. I made this choice, no one else. You didn't make me choose this path. I took this dark road; I went back on all my promises." Riku's expression hardened. "So don't you dare take my blame, Sora." His hands fell away, and he found he didn't have the courage to look at Sora's face anymore.

The strict words had surprised Sora and once there was silence, Sora found he didn't have anything to argue with even though deep down he still wanted to protest. "Riku..." He spoke the other's name softly as he lifted a hand to brush aside his friend's hair from his eyes. The strands fell right back in place despite his efforts, but Sora didn't care. He still got just a glance at Riku's eyes, and that was enough for him.

With one quick movement Sora leaned forward to bury himself against Riku, clinging tightly to the one he cared more for then anything else in all the worlds. A small whimper left him and his next words came out more desperate then he meant. "I miss home. I miss our island." He nearly choked on his voice. "I miss the way everything was perfect for us."

Riku felt his eyes grow hot, daring for more tears at Sora's pathetic words and yearning. He returned his arms back around Sora, keeping the other just as gathered against him. He'd forget this soon and it had Riku holding tighter.

Riku indulged in Sora's pinning, wanting to remember as much as he could before it was gone again. ".. I miss you, me, and the paopu tree. The sun. Our very own star. I miss... things being simple there. When we finally realized it wasn't a cage keeping us, but our own little paradise." A small sound caught in his throat. "I miss crawling into your room through the window at the dead of night, and slipping into your bed to sleep. You always asked why, and I'd always say 'because it's your own stupid fault you left the window open, so it's your stupid fault you have unwanted guests'." Riku snorted softly his amusement. "You were always too sleepy to care; you'd accept any lame answer." He cuddled Sora tighter, remembering those warm simple moments; the air felt suddenly cold. ".. Your bed was always so much more comfortable than mine. Maybe it was because you were there. ... I never had any nightmares when I slept next to you."

Sora smiled slightly at each of Riku's words. The nostalgia was so nice and everything that Riku spoke of he could remember as if it had just happened yesterday. He could picture it all so clearly in his mind. "I always liked waking up and seeing you there. Especially when you would end up wrapping your arms around me during the night and I'd wake up just like that." He shut his eyes, snuggling deeper in Riku's hold as if that image had come to life right at that moment. "I miss the days we'd sneak off to the bathroom at school just so we could see each other and share a kiss or two since we never got to be together during classes." A quiet laugh left Sora that he tried to hide. "I always found it fun when we would nearly get caught and you'd scold me for laughing about it."

Riku huffed in his usual way, causing the hair his head was nuzzled in to dance. "You always took things so lightly. Even when they were serious." His fingers toyed with Sora's scarf. ".. Like now." The idle words left him. He paid it no mind and settled on thinking of happier things like Sora was; it was like being back at home, the sound of the water helped with that. It was soothing almost, putting a little nervousness at ease.

"Hmm. Your mom didn't like seeing me first thing in the morning." The start of a grin could be heard in Riku's voice; just barely, perking amusement. "It meant she had to cook breakfast for one more." He tugged the scarf so it wrapped better about Sora's shoulders, he made sure the tails of the scarf covered as much of Sora as it could, and he kept the other cuddled tightly soon after. "I think I liked it best when I crawled into your room on weekends. It meant we could lie around longer. Heh.. Until Kairi came over to drag our lazy butts out of bed." His grin faltered, falling and he buried his face against Sora's hair. Kairi. It seemed going back to what they had, their simple life, was near impossible now.

The mention of their other friend had Sora's amusement leaving as well. His thoughts went back to those last few moments with Kairi and how hurt she had looked at each word he had to say to her. "Kairi." The girl's name left him in a sad voice and he buried himself further against Riku, wishing the other could protect him against his own memories. "She knew everything and I hurt her because of it. I shouldn't have lied to her just to protect her." It was so routine for Sora to take all the blame for everything and such a bad habit at the same time, but this time around he really did feel as if it were his entire fault. Kairi's jealousy and need for him was what led to her horrible end in the first place.

Riku brushed Sora's bangs away, just needing an excuse to touch him, run his fingers through his hair. "But you said so yourself, Sora: you're very bad at lying." His attempt at lightening the mood was a poor one, and his chuckle ended in a sad note. Sora acted as if he plunged the blade through the girl. It only twisted the knife of guilt that felt as if it were plunged deep inside his heart. "You never make eye contact, and you fidget. You look like you're six again, every time you do it." He couldn't smile, he tried. ".. And you tend to laugh a lot. You giggle like a moron." He added as playfully as his heavy heart could.

"Do not..." Sora tried to defend himself weakly, but he only ended up sounding childish. He lifted a hand to rub under his eyes where tears had tried to fall from his sudden worries and thoughts. When he was sure his vision was clear enough he sat up as best he could, but still stayed close to Riku, and looked at his friend's face. Sora closed the small space between them to rest his forehead against Riku's own and gave a small sniff before he spoke up again. "I want to stay here with you, just like we planned before. Just us with nothing to worry about."

Riku's choked sob was silent, his shoulders shaking, how could Sora say such passionate words to him at such a dire moment. Sora was willing to give up his entire life, his responsibilities as the keyblade master, the hero of each world, to fail King Mickey, all for him. The gravity of meaning such easily spoken words from Sora crushed down on Riku. He'd never known anyone to sacrifice as much, and mean it so deeply, as Sora. Every friend he'd met, his closest traveling companions, the safety of every heart; all to stay with Riku, just to stay in his company, as simple as that.

Hot tears spilled down Riku's cheek and he softly laughed, so sad and choked; Sora was so simple sometimes, he didn't know what things he was truly saying. "... It's too late for that." The words left Riku so easily as broken down as it was, he hated himself so much for being able to.

Sora quickly shook his head, refusing to believe such a thing. "It's not too late." He lifted a hand to wipe the tears away from Riku's face, brushing them aside to lean forward and kiss the wet streaks left behind afterwards. "We're here. What's stopping us from just staying?" Sora knew the obvious answer to that, but he didn't want to think about it. It was all what got them into this mess in the first place. "I don't want to lose you anymore, Riku." The desperate words left him as he moved forward and pressed his lips gently and just barely against Riku's own, speaking against the kiss. "I want to keep you near me."

Riku's eyes closed, and behind his eyelids he could feel the darkness shifting, moving around inside, behind skin, flesh, and bone, waiting. He swallowed thickly. "... Sora." But the boy's name wouldn't be enough to convince him; or himself.

Riku raised his hands to touch Sora's cheeks. But that wasn't enough. He frantically yanked off the gloves so he could feel the soft skin properly, his hair. He pulled Sora's scarf away so his hands could run down to brush along his neck and back up. "Damnit Sora." He uttered impatiently, his voice cracking. "Why do you have to say such childish things...?" But he knew he was just reaching now by insulting his dear friend. So instead he kissed him, wishing he didn't feel so damn much for Sora that he was near agreeing to such a catastrophic request.

Sora eagerly returned the kiss, letting out a small little noise against Riku's lips. His hands clasped around the other teen's and closed tightly around them to keep them where they were on his cheeks. It had been so long since he felt Riku's hands without the barrier of those dark gloves, and he never wanted to let them go.

With another small noise, Sora pulled back from the kiss and gave Riku a tiny, shy smile. "I say those things because they're true. Childish or not." After he spoke Sora let his lips touch Riku's once more, allowing his tongue to slip out and lick playfully at the other's lips while he continued the kiss.

Riku stroked Sora's cheeks with his thumbs, the faintest hint of a smile ghosting his lips at the lick. He kissed Sora that much softly, lowering his head just a little to place a kiss on his chin. "..Sora?" Riku curled his hands around Sora's, leaning his forehead against his, leaning close enough so their noses brushed against one another's. ".. How will we be able to dance together in a slow song," His throat danced with a swallow, though his voice remained softly hoarse, "...if we're staying here?"

Sora opened his mouth, but he had no words to answer with. The one thought which had brought him excitement back on the island wouldn't be accomplished if they stayed in this world, but he was so afraid of ever leaving. He slowly shook his head and looked away from Riku, frowning as he realized his hope to stay in such a quiet place with just his friend nearby would be only a memory once again. It hurt so much to think about and he continued to keep silent while refusing to look at Riku.

Riku only took the deterrence as encouragement, keeping near. ".. I'll request the longest, slowest, song I know. Just for you." He gave a little sigh; he didn't know any real slow songs, but he was sure Sora did, at least one. "And we'll dance to it... start to finish." He ran his fingers through Sora's hair, leaning closer so their brows rested against each other. "I.. um.. I really don't know how to dance. So you'll have to show me." He quietly spoke up, trying to get that part of Sora that would always jump up at a chance to impress him, and show him just how to do something right. "Otherwise I'll probably step on your feet. Or worse; trip over my own and fall over. I'll look really stupid if you don't help me." He tried to smile, just a little, weakly, for Sora.

The words did their job and Sora looked back at Riku with a tiny smile as well. "Could there actually be something the mighty Riku has no clue how to do?" Sora tried to act as innocent and shocked as possible with his words, his humor coming back to him. "I'm shocked, really." His smile grew a little and he wrapped both his arms around Riku's neck to cling to the other teen. "Don't worry, I'll teach you. It's easy. That way we'll both have fun when we're finally able to dance together. You'll want to do it more then once." Just the thought of the entire situation caused Sora's earlier somber mood to vanish and the smile stayed in place.

".. You're so much better at making yourself look less like an idiot on the dance floor." Riku weakly nuzzled his head against Sora's. "Maybe if I just stand there while you dance around me... maybe that will suffice." His arms loosely kept around Sora's waist, rubbing hands up and down the other's sides in comfort for either of them. "Maybe... you could show me now. A little dance lesson?" Riku doubted he'd be very good on his feet right now, but if it up lifted Sora's spirits, and got his mind off things, then he'd risk life and limb to attempt dancing at The End of the Worlds.

"Right now?" Sora blinked wide eyes at Riku with the question before he turned his attention away to look around. It wasn't their island, that was obvious, but it was still a place that they had planned to keep as their own. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to just let loose for the time being. Sora felt like he needed a break. To forget everything.

His smile returning, Sora looked back at Riku and gave a quick nod. "Sure, I'll show you." He let his hands fall away so he could finally untangle himself from his tight hold around the other teen. He tightened his scarf back up around his neck before he made a move to stand up away from the other. As soon as he was steady, having been unconscious for awhile keeping him off balance, he stuck out both his hands to help Riku up. "Come on."

Riku took Sora's hand and with a slight grunt he stood up, nearly falling onto Sora with how unsteady his legs decided they'd be. He held onto Sora's shoulders a moment before he decided he could stand on his own power. He stared rather blankly at Sora, feeling out of place; the place not actually having anything to do with it.

Riku hung his head, having second thoughts, since he now had to actually try to 'dance'. "M. Maybe this isn't such a good idea." He had no idea how he was suppose to go about this, or where his hands should go. So he settled on keeping them as tight fists at his sides. "... I feel kind of... silly." He cleared his throat and glanced to the water.

Sora only let out a small laugh at Riku's sudden awkwardness. "Don't worry. It's just the two of us here." He reached down to grab both of Riku's hands. "You have no reason to feel silly. I'm the only one that will laugh at you." He smiled a little more at those teasing words while he settled one of Riku's hands on his hip. "You'll do fine." He placed his empty hand on the taller boy's shoulder, leaning up on tip toes to give him a quick kiss while he kept their clasped hands out to the side. "Just follow me, alright?"

Riku didn't think he had the ability anymore, nor the capacity to after all they'd been through, but his cheeks began to burn very hotly. "... You laugh and I'll kick your butt." He quietly muttered. "..And what are we doing? Ballroom dancing? Ugh. Where the heck did you learn to dance anyway?" He knew he was procrastinating.

It was Sora's turn to blush after such a question. He quickly looked away to avert his eyes, not wanting to look at Riku's face as he answered. "Ya know, here and there. That's all." He quickly looked back at the older teen and bounced a little on his feet. "Come on. I promise I won't laugh at you. Besides, it's so simple. All you have to do is move your feet." Sora took a step backwards one foot at a time and slowly pulled Riku along with him. "See? Like this."

Riku tried to follow Sora best he could, but he wasn't as practiced at the step as his friend. He had to smirk, just a little. ".. Your mom taught you, didn't she?"

Sora's blush darkened and he shot Riku a look. "I never said that. You said that." The way Sora spoke only meant the words were true, but it was obvious he wasn't going to admit to them and tried his best to change the subject instead. "You need to pay attention." He took a few steps to the side, pulling Riku along with him.

"Sorry- sorry." Riku tried to follow as best he could, but he missed a beat and staggered on the sand. His cheeks grew hotter, so he tried to be his nonchalant self about it. "... Do we have to dance like this at school? People will laugh. It's too formal. Can't we just, hm, stand in a dark corner and sway?" His brows furrowed in his usual way when something met his disapproval or took him out of his comfort zone.

"Rikuuuu..." Sora spoke the other teen's name with a pathetic whine. "You promised you'd dance with me. No staying in a dark corner. If we did that then we might as well not dance at all." He gave a small pout, knowing that doing such a thing usually always got him his way with Riku. "It's not so bad. Besides, just swaying is so boring. This is so much more fun." His pout turned into a grin. "Watch this." He pulled back, but kept hold of their clasped hands, putting them above his head just so he could use them both to twirl himself around in a small circle. When the circle was complete he stopped and placed his free hand back on Riku's shoulder and grinned up at the other. "See? You can't do that just swaying."

Riku blinked, he hadn't expected such an overly grand display such as that. It only had him shying from the idea of dancing in public all the more. "... I'm going to die of embarrassment when the dance comes." He sighed a little dramatically, tilting his head to one side. "What have I talked myself into?" He hung his head with a soft groan. "Twirling that's what."

Riku raised his head again, determined to keep some dignity while keeping Sora happy. "C'mon Sora, swaying isn't so bad. Here." He took their clasped hands like Sora did and twirled Sora by their hands so he'd face the other way, wrapping his arms around the boy from behind with the motion. Riku cuddled Sora from behind, keeping their one hand clasped as he swayed them to a slow unheard rhythm. "See. You can do this while swaying. You can't do that while you're doing that other thing you were doing." He tugged Sora's scarf back with his teeth so he could nuzzle the boy's neck. "Or this." He placed a soft kiss there. "Or that." He kissed Sora's cheek before he rested his cheek there. "Swaying isn't so bad."

Sora had given a tiny protest to the sudden switch in positions, but being in Riku's arms as he was had the protest dying away as quick as it began. He easily swayed along with Riku as the other teen spoke and let out a small noise with each kiss given to him. The older teen knew his weakness all too well and Sora was too happy to give into the position, leaning back against the taller one. "I guess so." He spoke the words quietly, but it was obvious he agreed much more then that as he rested his head against Riku's own. "It's not so bad like this."

Riku grinned some since he'd won Sora over. He gave a soft playful kiss to the corner of Sora's lips. "Best of all, no twirling. No embarrassment." He cuddled Sora just that much more against his chest, softly nosing the other's cheek. "Unless I do something stupid like this." He moved his head to place a few playful little kisses against Sora's ear, nipping the lobe with a grin.

Sora let out a giggle at the attention which turned into a quiet little sound near the end because of the small bite, and he nearly melted against Riku. He shook his head to clear it and smiled, still swaying slightly with the other teen as he spoke up. "I think I would like it even better if you decided to do that." Sora turned his head so he could catch a quick glance at Riku. "It would make the entire dance even more enjoyable. You need to stop worrying about how embarrassed you'll end up."

Riku chuckled softly. Sora's ability to lift above a terrible situation, to smile and giggle as if nothing was wrong, had Riku soaring above as well. No one else could have him so happy although his heart still remained in the darkness; he didn't need to be free, Sora would be free enough for the both of them. His light.

Riku rested his head back against Sora's. "Although would you really like to know how I could really ruin it for you?" He continued to tease, not sparing Sora's cheek from an affectionate kiss or two.

Sora squinted an eye during the kisses. He was suddenly a bit skeptical because of Riku's words, but still a hint of a smile stayed on his face. He was just too happy to be upset at all. "That depends on how you plan to ruin it for me." He tilted his head in a curious manner. "How could you?"

Riku lifted his hand that didn't clasp Sora's and ran it along the other's jaw before he toyed with the lock of hair. He grinned very softly, nuzzling Sora's cheek. "By doing this." He drew his lips to Sora's ear where he placed a playful little kiss. "And then saying in your ear..." He spoke very softly, warming skin with a ghosted breath. "I love you Sora." His voice cracked a little, petering even softer as he felt so light headed. "I love you so much... that it's so hard to say it."

Sora's eyes widened as he finally heard the confession spoken back to him. Something he never thought he would ever be able to hear from Riku. After all the hurt he had been through. The last few things he remembered hearing from Axel. Even the clinging moments when he woke up where they currently were. He doubted he would ever hear Riku say those words and was fine with such a thing. To finally hear them caused a few tears to try and blur Sora's vision which he tried his best not to show.

"Riku..." The name slipped past Sora's lips quietly. He was quick to turn in the taller boy's hold to face him and smiled a little. "I love you too and hearing you say that could never ruin anything for me. Not at all." He leaned up and pulled Riku's head down with his hands so he could press their lips together, burying his hands in the other's hair.

Riku laughed light heartedly against Sora's lips before he leaned down to kiss Sora with great affection back. After, he was full out grinning, leaning his head against Sora's. "I don't know, it may. You never know. I might end up doing something crazy." He grabbed Sora around the waist and spun him around with a laugh, nearly falling over. "Like twirling!"

The noise Sora gave as he was twirled around was close to a squeal, but he wasn't one to really care about how he sounded while he was having fun, especially when he was so happy. He grabbed onto Riku's shoulders to keep himself steady and let out a loud laugh that he just couldn't keep in. "Then I think I'm going to like whenever you decide to do something crazy."

Riku drew Sora close again by his middle, leaning down to rest his forehead against his friend's. "Course, if things get too hot..." His grin went sly and suddenly he scooped Sora up, nearly losing balance and falling over with the weight. "-I can just dump you in the water to cool you down!" He started to stagger towards the beach, and the water.

Sora blinked his eyes as if Riku's words didn't really click right away. When they did his eyes snapped open and he squeaked. "Riku!" He struggled in the other's hold and shook his head from side to side. "No way! I don't want to get wet. Put me down, Riku." Even though he was fighting against it, Sora was still laughing as he wiggled around.

Riku laughed, and although he stumbled a few times and nearly fell over, he still made his way (although zig zag) towards the water. "You always say that! But I know better!" He did his best to hold onto the wiggly body, Sora's squirming had him laughing more. He reached the water's edge, the lapping water splashing over his dark boots. "H-hey- don't fight it!" But Sora's kicking and moving threw him off balanced, and he ended up teetering on one foot with no hands free to save him. With a surprised cry Riku fell over and they both ended up splashing into the water.

Sora coughed up the water which had made its way into his mouth while he sat up at the same time. Instinctively he shook his head to try and get his hair dry, but still water clung to it despite the action. He lifted a hand to rub at his eyes, still laughing even though he was wet, and used his other hand to splash some of the water Riku's way to get back at the older teen. "Serves you right." He laughed a little more at his own words.

"No way!" Riku laughed, coughing a little since he'd swallowed some water. His silver hair was plastered to his head and he could barely see through his sopping bangs. "Serves _you_ right!" He splashed water back at Sora.

Sora grinned as the water barely hit him since Riku couldn't even see. He laughed at the other's misfortune and had his fun continuing to splash water at Riku until he got bored of it and pounced at the teen. His hands fell on top of Riku's head so he could push his friend under for a quick second, letting go immediately after and laughing.

Riku surfaced again to spit out water and grinned wide. He tossed his head so he could see better from under his hair. "Alright- that's it!" He launched himself at Sora, tackling the other around the waist to dive him down back into the water with him.

Sora gave a startled noise since he wasn't expecting the sudden tackle. The water splashed around them and Sora had to cling tightly to Riku to keep his head from going completely under. "No fair!" He shouted the words behind his laughter while he kicked at the water and tried to roll them over to put Riku under him. Since the other teen was taller and the water weighed him down, it made it a little more difficult for Sora. So, he settled for squirming around under Riku instead as he tried to get free.

Riku wrapped his bare arms around Sora, dragging the other wiggling boy deeper into the water with him, not about to let him go free that easy. "Very fair!" Although it wasn't easy to swim with his pale coat tangling about his legs and weighing him down. But that didn't stop him from dunking either of them under the water.

Under the water Sora shook his head and gave a small grin as he leaned forward and gave Riku a kiss despite the wetness around them, savoring it as much as his air deprived lungs would allow. The dunk hadn't really detoured his mood and as soon as he pulled back he wiggled away from Riku's hold to move back to the surface to get some air and shake his hair free of water a second time.

Riku burst up to the surface, throwing his head back to get his long hair from his eyes. He ran a hand through the soaking silver locks, brushing it back to see more clearly as he smirked. "Now _that_ wasn't fair. That was totally cheating to get free."

Sora's grin widened and he shook his head. "Not at all. It was completely innocent. I swear." He couldn't help it and started to laugh again, but slowly it died down little by little. His eyes narrowed as they kept on Riku and he swam closer to the other teen, stopping only inches away from him. "Riku..." His narrowed eyes widened when he finally seemed to realize what he had been looking at. "Riku, look!" He pointed at the water frantically, hoping the other teen would get the hint he was trying to throw and look at his reflection.

"What? What?" Riku looked down at his mirrored image on the water, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He patted his own cheeks and held his hair back, turning his head this way and that; but nothing looked out of place. "There's nothing wrong." He sighed and splashed his reflection at Sora. "Don't scare me like that."

Sora spit the water out that had been splashed at him and shook his head once more. When his mouth was dry again he shook his head and swam closer to Riku. "Exactly. There's nothing wrong." He reached a hand out to grab Riku's arm. The one the teen had used to push his hair back. He held it out for the other to see, showing it to the other as if Riku were seeing his own body for the first time. "See! You're yourself again. You're not covered in darkness..." He spoke the last words softly.

Riku stared at his bare arm as if the limb were something new and foreign to him. He raised his other to stare at it as well. He jerked back to look down at his light coloured jacket; the same jacket he wore on the island before all this. He patted the soaking fabric and then his face, as if that would have changed. He grabbed Sora's shoulders as he gaped at his friend. "W-why?" Riku searched Sora's face as if the answer were there.

Sora could only shake his head. He was just as shocked about the sudden change as Riku was, but he wasn't at all disappointed. A small smile tugged at his lips even though Riku seemed on the verge of some kind of nervous break down at the moment because of the change. "I don't know, but isn't it great?" He would have bounced happily on his feet had he not been treading water at that moment.

Riku swam through the water until his feet hit sand and he crawled up the beach to sit down. He felt down his front; it was his old clothes! He couldn't believe it. He gave a loud laugh. "You must have done something right, Sora! The darkness is gone!" He didn't know how, why, or how long- but he didn't care. His mind and heart were racing and he couldn't stop grinning.

Sora followed after, nearly tripping and falling flat on his face since he was trying to run while still in water. He caught his balance and stopped walking once he was sitting beside Riku, catching his breath and smiling even wider up at the other teen. "Who's to say I did it? Maybe you were able to get rid of it all on your own." His smile turned to a grin. "I can't take all the credit, Riku."

Riku lifted his hands to stare at them, turning them over and back. "... No. I'm not out of the woods yet." He just knew, despite how normal things looked. He could just feel it, the darkness, it was there; all around in this place. ".. It's just dormant right now. Here." His head lowered a little.

The grin fell away from Sora's face at such words and disappointment settled in. He looked over at Riku's hands and kept silent as he stared, trying to think of something to say to make it better, but that seemed impossible. "You can fight it." Sora moved over to kneel in front of Riku as he finally spoke. "You've done it so far. Look at yourself." He took the other's hands in his own and held them tightly. "Besides..." Sora narrowed his eyes. "I won't let it take you again."

Riku looked at their hands, so different yet so much the same. He gave a small exhale through his nose and weakly squeezed Sora's hands back. "... Sora, I need to tell you something." He shut his eyes, his head lowering just a bit, not proud of the words he was going to confess next. "Back when your memories were being restored... I... I compulsively sought out R-.. your Nobody. Nothing mattered to me more than bringing you back, to who you were. He was nothing more to me than a mission. An objection." The energy in his arms went slack. "The first time me and _him_ met, we fought and I lost. He was so nearly like you- but he wasn't you. Just a shell, just an object to be retrieved and taken back." Riku opened his eyes, but he kept them on the sand. "A _thing_." He swallowed. "... I had to give into the darkness to beat him. It was so easy. He was taken down so easily." Riku raised his head a little before it dropped again. "... Sora, I'm just as much apart of the darkness as you are the light." His hold then tightened on the other's hands. "It can only be dusk so long... before the night comes."

Sora frowned more at the confession. He had always known that Riku had something to do with helping him to wake up from his long slumber. To hear everything in such detail made it all more cemented in stone, though. The last few words caused him to drop his head, small drips of water falling from his hair that still refused to dry. "What about while we were at home? While we were on the island? Everything was okay while we had nothing to worry about. The darkness stayed away and you were okay. Why does everything have to be like this now? Why does it always have to try and take you away from me?" The words sounded selfish, but Sora didn't really care.

"... Light and dark... Dark and light." Riku let out a frustrated noise; he was just as tired of the battling sides, thrown back and forth, eternally. He sighed. ".. And nothingness." He reached out and rested a hand atop Sora's head, a small bit of condolence. "... Weren't you always the one to spout romantic ideas about hearts never being apart even though you're far away? About how we're all connected, all we have to do is think about each other. That... even though our bodies change, or are destroyed the heart never dies." He sniffed wetly, but he just passed the blame on the water probably leaving him with a cold. "... They can put my heart into darkness. They can change what I look like, or act like... I can be manipulated, detoured, twisted and warped but my heart belongs to my light." Riku scooted forward, wrapping his arms loosely about Sora's small shoulders. And he finished so very quietly. "... Just like your heart belongs to your darkness."

Sora blinked away tears and was quick to wrap his own arms around Riku's middle. Everything Riku said was true. No matter what he'd still care for Riku and the other teen would always mean more to him then anything else, and Sora knew that the same went without saying for Riku about him. It was what brought them back together to this moment in time to share a little bit of peace.

Giving in, Sora leaned in to rest his head down on Riku's shoulder and shut his eyes. He didn't care that the both of them were still damp from playing in the water. It only gave him all the more reason to cuddle closer to Riku. "No matter what we'll always find our way back to each other. It doesn't matter what happens." He shook his head against Riku's shoulder. "We'll always save each other from everything that tries to keep us apart."

Riku weakly nodded, hugging the other tighter. He noticed Sora's scarf that had fallen off before they'd both fallen into the water. He let go of Sora so he could stretch his body best he could without moving to reach out straining to grab it. With a small grunt he sat back up with it in hand.

".. Don't worry Sora." Riku went about wrapping the scarf around both of them, then pulled Sora close into his arms again when they were as snug as they could be with the warm, dry scarf. ".. We always pull through in the end."

Sora let out a small content noise at such a warm feeling. He felt like all his worries were slowly being pushed away as he sat cuddled in Riku's arms, wrapped up in his own scarf. Riku's words added onto his own try at encouragement helped him relax again and enjoy the moment he had been trying to enjoy the entire time. "I won't worry anymore." He spoke up softly while he kept his eyes closed. He felt like if he spoke any louder the moment would be shattered. "I know that everything will be okay. We just have to be patient. That's all."

The world wasn't so cold, or so dark, with Sora there; everything was just that much more bearable. ".. Ten more Organization Heartless to get rid of." Riku rested his cheek against Sora's damp shoulder, nuzzling near his neck. "Then we can go back home again. Three down, so many to go." He didn't think about the complications of a certain one, just the tedious task of finding the rest and beating them. "... At least you beat Xemnas' heartless that first time. Xenohart... whoever." He snorted.

Sora's chest tightened at Riku's words. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked away his blurred vision that his relaxation had caused. He nodded his head at what Riku said last, but gave no other response other then to pull back so he could look the other teen in the face. "Riku..." He started out quietly, hesitant to go on. "Axel took me, right? I remember that..." It was one of the few things he could remember. Screaming for Riku as he tried to grab his hand. "I remember waking up and Axel was there." He looked away. For some reason he couldn't look at Riku while he spoke about the heartless. "He said he fixed me up and then we started talking. He kept talking to me like I was Roxas again." Sora shut his eyes tightly. "Everything is such a blank..."

Riku felt as if his flesh had turned to stone, his face was expressionless; nothing on the outside could mirror what he felt within. He touched Sora's face, but it wasn't to turn his gaze back, it was a concern, but it was done so coldly. It matched his next words. ".. Did he hurt you?" That word, 'hurt', it had so many disturbing meanings that it made Riku ill to even fathom it.

Sora lifted a hand to place it on one of Riku's own as he tried to remember that far back. He could only bring forth those few moments in that small room Axel had him in and it wasn't really enough to give a straight answer. "N-No. I don't think so. Not of what I can remember." He shook his head back and forth and finally lifted his eyes to look at Riku. "I'm sorry, Riku. I didn't mean to upset you." He curled his hand around the other's to try and give some comfort.

Riku didn't answer. His hand tightened into a fist underneath Sora's. Instead he took his hand back. He grabbed Sora's jacket and pulled it off his shoulders, his shirt following suit. He didn't listen to any protest, determined to seek proof himself. Riku took hold of the zipper of Sora's jump suit and pulled it down.

Sora's eyes widened at Riku's sudden interest in stripping him of his clothing. "R-Riku?! What are you doing?!" He tried to push Riku's hand away, but found it was no use and instead yanked his fallen jacket back up to cling to as if the piece of clothing would protect him. The blush on his face was never redder then it was at that very moment. "It's usually polite to ask first." The words were mumbled.

Riku's mind was else where and he ignored Sora's protest as he pushed away clothing to reveal bare skin and bandages. His expression fell; Kairi. He smoothed his hands over bare skin of shoulders, running them up Sora's neck. There was nothing he could see wrong save for the wounds that weren't inflicted by the heartless. Though the idea of Axel touching Sora, like he had in the throne room, had malicious thoughts towards the heartless.

Riku removed his hands from Sora's neck to rest them on the other's hands that clung to his jacket. He frowned, disapproving, disappointed, and dejected. He didn't feel so much like himself anymore. "... I can't stand to think what he's possibly done to you."

Sora frowned when he realized what Riku meant. His hands that clung to his jacket turned to cling to Riku's hands instead. "I wish I could remember. It's like there's this huge gap in my memory and everything is blank, just like I told you." He shook his head and looked away. "If I ended up here and I woke up okay then I guess he didn't do anything to hurt me." Sora didn't know why he was defending Axel, but it was all he could do. "I don't know..." The last words came out in a hopeless tone.

Riku seemed to realize what exactly he had impulsively done; forward and brashly he'd kind of partly undressed Sora. A slight embarrassed colour heated his cheeks. He quietly murmured an apology as he pulled the jumper back up on Sora's shoulders, pulling up the zipper only caused his cheeks to heat up more. "I shouldn't have done that." Even though some where inside he felt it was his right to look anyway. Had he been more clouded by the dark anger, he knew he would have checked far more thoroughly than he would have comfortably admitted to.

Riku kept his eyes down, keeping his hands on Sora's upper arms weakly. "... He's kissed you." The words tumbled from his mouth before he could think better of it.

Sora had started to pull the rest of his clothing back on as if the entire ordeal hadn't been a problem at all. He was about to tell Riku not to worry so much over it when the other teen's last few words stopped him cold. As he put his arm through the final sleeve of his jacket he narrowed his eyes on the other and gave a shaky laugh. "What are you talking about, Riku? No one has ever kissed me except for you."

Riku continued to stare down, at the sand. When he spoke up again, his voice was somber. ".. Roxas. You were Roxas at the time." His brow furrowed subtly but his anger was far worse inside. "... Roxas was _using_ your body." The memory of the heartless touching Sora's skin and doing far more than just 'kissing'. Riku's jaw tightened.

Sora felt as if all the air had been sucked out of him and he couldn't breathe. His eyes had widened at the information he had just been told and he didn't want to believe it. "N-No. That's not true." He shook his head from side to side as he denied it, but inside he knew it made everything else so much more clear. The pain he would feel and the blackouts he would get. It made sense, but he refused to voice that. "That's not right. I'm supposed to be me. You said I would still be myself!" He shouted the words as he looked back at Riku's face with tears blurring his vision. "That's not fair, Riku!"

Riku flinched and he shut his eyes, lowering his head. He reached out a hand to bury it in the back of Sora's hair, pulling the other's head near to lean against his, even if he didn't want to. "I know, Sora. I know. I've said a lot of things." His voice went hushed as if he were in physical pain. "And I'm sorry I keep breaking my word." His other hand came to join his other in Sora's hair, softly gripping the back of the other's neck. "Please don't cry. I'm sorry." His voice quietly choked. "I tried..-I'm trying so hard for you."

Sora shut his eyes tightly. He hadn't meant to snap at Riku like he had and he felt so horrible for it when he heard the other's voice afterwards. He just felt so scared suddenly. He couldn't help it. "What if it happens again and I never get to come back? What if Roxas keeps my body and I never get to be myself again?" The thought alone scared him more then anything else he had ever faced. His voice choked as he started to sob. "I never asked for this. I never wanted another half."

Riku rubbed the back of Sora's neck in a sad bit of comfort. He nodded against the other's head. "I won't let him take you Sora. I won't let him hurt you, and change you." His heart hurt so much for Sora, so stilted; more promises to be broken. There was no keeping them. He'd done so poorly at it these last few times.

Would it really be so selfish to stay here, and keep at least one promise from breaking?

King Mickey; his heart went to his dear friend, though all he could be was one disappointment after the next now.

Riku leaned back and clumsily wiped away Sora's tears; he could recall all the times Sora skinned his knees or hurt himself when they were very, very young. Sora would always cry as if it were the worst wound in the entire world. He'd always tell Sora to stop being a baby, but it never worked. The other would just cling to his shirt and he'd give in, wipe away those large tears and kiss him better. Riku could remember Sora doing it more times than he, though Riku always tried to refuse the tears. It'd never meant anything at the time. Their mothers had done it several times.  
But Riku doubted any amount of kisses would make this any better. But still he kissed Sora's cheek where the tears had streaked; much like the other teen had done for him. "... If you want to stay. Really want to stay here. I'll stay here with you, Sora." God how his heart ached. "We'll stay here... in the realm of dark."

Sora blinked his eyes, letting stray tears fall down his cheeks despite Riku's efforts at wiping them away. It was so tempting the thought. They would be safe for as long as they were allowed. Sora couldn't help letting his thoughts move to his friends at least once, though. Donald and Goofy. He still didn't know where they were. He had lost them during his descent in the strange water and hadn't seen them since. It worried Sora, but at the same time he was just sick of fighting. It didn't get them anything but pain.

Feeling as selfish as he did on the island what felt like so long ago, Sora fell forward to rest his head on Riku's chest and gave a tiny whimper. "I do. I want to stay here with you, Riku." He clung tightly to the other's coat with a shaking hand. "I don't want to lose you again and I don't want to lose myself." His last few words came out broken and nearly hard to make out as he shut his eyes against more tears. "I'm just so scared..."

Riku's hands slipped down, his arms wrapping around Sora, tight for his words, possessively. He gave in, and indulged them both, long torn between self hatred, hatred of others, caring for others, and love for Sora. But that was all over now; there would be nothing more but the eternal stretch of forever, here.

"... We'll stay here." Riku swallowed thickly, trying to be the steady, unfeeling pillar that he'd always been between them both. "And you won't have to be afraid anymore. You won't have to be sad, or cry." He brushed a few soft locks of Sora's hair behind his ear. "... It'll be like our very own island. Just you and me. And nothing else will matter." Because nothing else did now.


	11. Chapter 11

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 11

Strong hands moved about as they carefully removed old bandages to tie up new ones over serious wounds. The movements were nearly nervous and shaky as bit by bit they wrapped the cloth around the more problematic area. It was a wound that the careful hands had actually caused. It had been Cloud's fault Zax was in such a position and internally he continued to curse himself for putting his friend in jeopardy after just getting him back.

Cloud didn't remember much after Larxene had pulled her little stunt. All he knew was hatred and he knew he had fed that hatred without a second thought. Zax had been a victim of it, but was able to snap him out of it before the worse damage could be done; literally slapping some sense into him, screaming and nearly clinging to him. Cloud had felt so much guilt for what he did, but like always Zax shrugged it off then proceeded to pass out. He had wasted no time getting him back to a safe place, refusing to take him to one of the more crowded houses where everyone was. He didn't want to be bothered with questions at the moment.

As the last of the bandages were secure Cloud set the rest aside and went back to watching over his friend. There was one person missing and it was obvious who. The teen they had been trying to protect, Ikkuris, was gone. There was no telling where to and it caused Cloud to give a defeated noise as more guilt piled on and he slumped back in the chair he sat in.

Zax began to stir, flinching in his exhausted unconsciousness at the pain from his chest when he moved. His joints were sore and his muscles stiff, and on instinct his body decided to move to a new position to rectify this. Rolling to his side was a bad idea with the deep gash across his chest, leaning weight on his cut arm as well. Zax awoke with a sharp choked startled noise, flinching as he thudded onto his back again, clutching his injured chest. Disorientation flooded him and his good sense had him looking around to where he was.

"W-wow. What a wake up c-call." Zax in his good nature gave a half hazard grin, trying not to flinch from the pain. "G-guess I'm not used to feeling all this mortal s-stuff again." He panted, trying to regain himself. "Nice bandage job, by the way." He gave a breathless laugh.

Cloud had been leaning back on only two of the four legs connected to his chair, so when he heard the shifting around on the bed and Zax's voice it nearly caused him to fall back. He gained his balance in time and let the chair fall on all fours so he could stare with worried eyes at his friend, amazed at how optimistic the other could still be after everything that had happened. "Don't move around so much. You'll only aggravate your wounds." The words were automatic and the guilt was obvious in his voice as his eyes narrowed.

"Y-yeah... I've come to terms with that." Zax exhaled and tried to lay as still and comfortable as he could. He then blinked up at the other when he managed to get himself under control better. "So, how are you doing?" He gave Cloud a weak smile.

Cloud's eyes narrowed more at the question and that smile that Zax gave him. He shook his head at both. He turned his attention away not able to look at Zax anymore at the moment and shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not hurt if that's what you're asking. I'm fine. You have no reason to worry about me." His voice lowered and he felt the need to sigh, but he didn't. "You shouldn't even worry about me at all."

Zax brows raised and his smile turned into a thin even line. Cloud's words weren't surprising, they were just- sad. Zax shrugged it off without the actual action; it was in the tone of his voice. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't worry about you? Not a very good one." He sighed, but it was light hearted of all things. "I told you not to worry. You came to your senses and that's what matters." Although he knew his friend better than to shrug off something like that so easy. Cloud had a way of letting things 'stew' inside him.

Zax grunted as he went about the idiotic idea of trying to push himself up to sit. "Hey, where'd that kid run off to anyway? I didn't see him before I passed out." He nearly fell back upon the bed. "Ow.. stings." He flinched.

Cloud was quick to get up and move to Zax's side. "Idiot. I told you not to move." The words weren't harsh at all, but said in concern instead. Cloud sat down on the bed next to Zax and used his own body to prop the other up so he would be able to sit, resting an arm lightly on his shoulder for the time being. Although, he had seemed a little hesitant at first.

As soon as Cloud was settled again he thought over the question asked and the frown returned to his face. "I don't know where he is." It was the truth, but Cloud knew he would have to explain better. "When I came to he was missing, more then likely taken."

Zax's eyes grew wide before he groaned and thudded his head against Cloud's shoulder. "Damnit. Heartless bastards. They just don't know when to quit." He raised his uninjured arm to rub his face tiredly. "Messed up good. Can't believe she got through the both of us. Mph. Wonder what the hell they'd want with a good kid like him."

"That kid has a strong power." Cloud stared at the floor as he thought over his own words carefully, trying to understand things better as much as Zax was. "He can resurrect the dead and that alone puts a huge target sign on him. There's no other reason the heartless would want him. Or at most go after him." Cloud turned his eyes back on Zax, the one person that was proof of Ikkuris' power. "I just don't understand the how as much as the why."

Zax let his hand fall down on his lap. Cloud was right. A power like that had limitless abilities and terrible possibilities if in the right hands. It had him furrowing his brows in thought; funny how he hadn't heard of the kid before. Something like that would be rather noticeable.

Zax sighed heavily, his own high spirited mood faltering to something more solemn. "I didn't even know the kid's name. Or tell him thanks." His brows rose up and he glanced at Cloud since he could feel the other's eyes watching him. "M-more than thanks."

"Ikkuris." Cloud said the name while he turned his gaze away from Zax's own. "That's what he said his name was. When he woke up he couldn't remember anything else except for that and I guess how to use that power of his." He shook his head as he remembered the conversation he had with Ikkuris about falling from the sky. "He was such a strange kid." He began to feel guilty again and turned his eyes back on Zax. "If I hadn't of given into what that heartless did..."

Zax jabbed the bruise he'd left on Cloud's face in retort; he'd had enough of Cloud's wallowing. "You've paid your dues so stop beating yourself up." He poked it a few more times with a sigh just to prove his point. "Let's focus on the next objective at hand: saving this 'Ikkuris' kid. Hm?" He grinned and poked Cloud's bruise once more.

Cloud reached up and grabbed Zax's wrist to pull his hand away before he could poke the sensitive part of his face anymore. "That hurts I hope you know." He narrowed his eyes and let go of the other's hand, looking away afterwards. "Fine, I'll beat myself up on my own time. There's a problem, though. Neither one of us have any idea where Ikkuris is. You were down at the time and I wasn't exactly myself. How are we going to find someone that just sort of vanished? Especially when we hardly know anything about him to begin with, other then the fact the heartless seem to be pretty taken with him."

Zax dead panned, rubbing the bandages on his forearm. He gave it some thought, looking down at his arm. "The most we can do is go back to where he disappeared. The church... Hm. Or what's left of it." He grinned just a little as he looked at Cloud. " _Investigate_."

Cloud raised a brow. "You can hardly even sit up on your own. I doubt you would be able to walk all the way back to the church just to investigate, as you put it." He shook his head, but despite such worry he managed a small smirk of his own. "I'm the only thing keeping you from falling over at the moment if you haven't noticed." Just to prove his point Cloud let his arm fall away that was around Zax's shoulders and leaned away from the other only a little bit.

Zax blinked as he slid, falling sideways as Cloud removed his pillar to stay upright. "Hmm, point taken. But I'm not about to let some silly thing like 'sitting' keep me from finding this kid who I owe my life to." He closed one eye when he tried to right himself, grunting at the pain. "All I need is a potion or five." He placed a hand on Cloud's shoulder to push himself up to sit on his own accord. He stared straight ahead before he ended up flopping back against Cloud with a painful grunt. "... I think I have a concussion." He smiled up at his friend.

"It's very possible." Cloud frowned as he looked over Zax a little. After a few seconds he started to move away, pushing Zax gently so he could rest against the head board on the bed for the time being. "Don't move. I'm serious this time." He gave the other a stern look before he got up off the bed.

Cloud made his way over to the far side of the room where his sword rested against the wall. Around the handle hung a belt with a couple of pouches attached to the sides. It was that which he grabbed and brought with him back over to the bed. He didn't sit back down and instead rummaged through one of the bags, pulling out two potions which he tossed to Zax, letting them land near his friend. "These should help." He let a small smile tug at his lips.

"Thanks." Zax returned the smile before he grabbed up the potions with his good hand. He popped one open with his thumb but stared at it instead of drinking it. "Cloud, I don't blame you." He looked from the bottle to his friend. "And I don't mean what happened today." He looked down at the bottle again. ".. You always had such a bad habit of taking the worlds' worries on your shoulders. Not everything is your fault, y'know. Sometimes things just happen. And not because you couldn't stop them." He downed the potion and smacked his lips after, muttering; yep, still just as minty as I remember it.

Cloud threw the belt aside on the bed after Zax's words and sat himself down on the edge. "There are some things I could have avoided, though." He refused to look at Zax as he spoke. He suddenly felt just as low as he did earlier while Zax had been unconscious. "I could have been there to help you the very first time around. If you had some help..." He trailed off and shook his head, feeling angry with himself. "Not to mention what happened now. You got a second chance and because I couldn't control myself it was almost taken away from you." He finally turned to look Zax in the eye. "How do things like that just happen?"

"Cloud, you're not incompetent." Zax shook his head. "You're strong, intelligent, one of the best fighters I knew- er- know." He gave a nervous laugh. "And a good friend. I know you wouldn't mess up on purpose." He thumbed open the other potion, feeling much better from the first. The life began to come back to his face, the glaze leaving his eyes. "You had your own mission, and I had mine. We knew the risks when we joined." He smiled just a little. "And if what I did helped the battle against the heartless just that much more, then I don't regret dieing. I did what I could. And so did you." Zax lifted the potion with a grin. "Cheers, old friend." He downed the potion.

Cloud watched Zax drink up the last potion while he thought over the words spoken to him. He still felt some little nagging guilt, but for the most part it slowly faded away only because he knew Zax was right. They had agreed to take risks to help out in a dangerous fight. It was what they always did. Still, he couldn't help being blown away by how easily Zax always shrugged some situations off as if they were nothing and forgave so easily at the same time. "You're unbelievable." It was the only thing he could say to his friend in response to his own thoughts while a small smirk came to his face.

Zax licked his lips, grinning after. "Well, I did come back from the dead after all." He set the empty bottles aside. "I think that goes without saying." He felt so much better now, the throbbing pain, ache and stiffness all gone. This then gave him the bright idea he'd push from the head board to try and sit up on his own power. "You want to know what's unbelievable: what that kid did. So let's find him as soon as we can, we owe him that much. Who knows what terrible things they could be doing to him." Zax lowered his head some, in dizziness and worry. "... If he's been turned into one of them."

Cloud narrowed his eyes at such a thought. It was one of the worst case scenarios and he hoped it didn't come down to that. Without anymore words he stood up from the bed, retrieving his belt to put back on. "Fine, we might as well go with your plan and check out the church first. It's the only lead we'll have right now as far as anything goes. Besides, it makes the most sense anyway." He walked to where his sword rested and settled his palm on the handle for the time being as he turned his attention back on Zax. "Feeling well enough now to go?"

But Zax's attention was on the sword. "I'm still amazed you kept it. I never... expected that." It must have been the double dose of potions, for he just stopped talking and stared. Then finally he shut his eyes and shook his head, blinking to look at Cloud.

Cloud stared at Zax for a few seconds before his attention turned on the sword as well. He smiled a little and gripped the handle, yanking it up to place it back behind him where it had settled before the battle had started long ago. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" He looked back at Zax and raised a brow. "It's only one of the few things I had to remember you by. I wasn't about to let it go. Especially not when it came in handy." He teased a little.

Zax looked down at the floor and gave an embarrassed laugh. He rubbed the back of his neck, still sore, but smashing into a stone pillar will do that. "Guess so." He licked his lips a moment before he looked back up at Cloud. "So, why the bandages? Heh, I didn't think swords could get injured."

Cloud tensed up at the question and the tiny smile that had been on his face fell away. He thought about shrugging the question off, but he figured that he owed Zax more then that. Especially after so much that had happened. "We tried to help you before we wanted to actually believe you were dead. I didn't want anyone to give up, but Leon said it was a lost cause if only to push some sense into me." He looked away as he let himself lean against the wall with his shoulder pressed against it. "The bandages are from that day. From when we hoped to actually bring you back to us somehow. I took them and kept them with the sword..."

Zax's eyes widened and then he lowered his head grievingly. He'd been so caught up with life again that he hadn't considered how inconceivably hard his death had been on everyone. They all had to learn to let him go. Move on. But Cloud, he never let anything go. He was a collection of inner demons.

Zax swung his feet to the side of the bed and stood using the wall as a crutch. He followed it, walking to Cloud. When he stood nearest to Cloud, he leaned his head heavily against the wall, keeping it down. "... I'm sorry." Zax quietly spoke up. "I'm the one that failed. Not you, Cloud."

Cloud quickly turned his head in Zax's direction and narrowed his eyes. "You failed?" He shook his head. "Zax, you haven't failed at all. I don't see how you could even think such a thing." He turned a little so his back was leaning against the wall instead, but his sword got in the way and he ended up resting against that in the end. "You fought alongside us all and things happened. That doesn't count as you failing. There's no reason for you to apologize."

".. I hurt everyone in a way I never wanted to." Zax lowered his head, slumping lower down on the wall. "Maybe I did help in the greater scheme. But what kind of victory is death? ... No one wins. No matter what is done. It's still a loss."

Cloud frowned a little. He wasn't used to seeing Zax so down. It was so unlike his friend to act in such a way and he wanted to do something to bring the other out of such a state. "Zax, don't be so hard on yourself." He reached a hand out to ruffle his friend's hair before he let his arm slip down around the other's shoulders to pull him close. "You're alive, aren't you? There's no reason for anyone to feel sad or hurt any longer, especially when they see you alive and well again." He smiled a little. "I'm glad to have you back."

Zax leaned his head against Cloud's shoulder, his exhale heavy and shaky. "...Maybe." He gave a very sad chuckle. "Though I'm afraid I think you missed me the most." He rested his hand on Cloud's other shoulder. "I don't see Aeris carting around my sword wrapped in bandages." The mental image did cause some of the somber mood to leave as he couldn't keep the laugh in.

Cloud only smiled a little at such a thing. He was glad that Zax's mood seemed to have lifted, but the other's words had reminded him that he hadn't been the only one that missed Zax so much. "Yeah, Aeris." He looked away and back towards the bed Zax had been occupying earlier. "I'm sure she'll be just as happy to see you. I guess I just tend to cling too tightly to my memories, that's all."

Zax nodded against Cloud's shoulder. "Might break her... well... maybe not. She's always had a sixth sense. Maybe it's a woman's intuition thing. But she's always been the more spiritually inclined." He patted Cloud's shoulder while he raised his head to look at the other. "Although you my friend, you're the one who tends to collect ghosts." He smirked weakly.

"Bad habit I suppose." Although they both knew better then that. It was the weakest excuse Cloud could really give. He thought over how the reunion would go. How everyone would jump at the chance to see Zax and wonder how in the world such a thing had happened when only a day before was just another day Zax had been dead and lost to them. It would be such a strange thing to explain when the cause of the miracle was nowhere in sight at that moment.

Zax expression fell a little. "... Is it wrong -I mean." He looked away. "Should I go back? Losing me once was devastating enough but...-now it could be twice. ..I don't know if I could." He gave a brief smirk. "They probably wouldn't even let me leave the house." His expression went sad. "... I couldn't break her heart a second time, Cloud." He raised a hand to poke Cloud's head. "I've already got you beating yourself up over what happened."

Cloud leaned his head away from the slight poke and shook it afterwards. "You can't exactly hide away from everyone. Besides, I'll have to talk to them sooner or later. I can't exactly keep you a secret." He finally turned his attention back on Zax and frowned. "They really missed you. I think it would be good to let everyone see you again, despite the strange circumstances. We all know there are consequences. It's just always hard to deal with. That's all. Harder for some more then others."

Zax blinked and then peered close into Cloud's face, analytically narrowing his eyes as he searched his friend's face. "..My god." His brows furrowed. "I think I broke you." He leaned back and grinned teasingly. "Cloud Strife being optimistic and helpful." He chuckled. "I've even caught you smiling here and there. Don't deny it. I've seen it first hand."

Cloud rolled his eyes at his friend's words and pushed at his shoulder. "You haven't broken anything. I can be helpful whenever I feel like it." He glanced back at Zax and the corner of his lips pulled up into a small smile, proving the other right once again. "Although, I guess having you back took some of the burden away. I feel better now that I get to see you again." He shook his head. "So, I'm not broken. I guess I'm more or less fixed instead."

Zax returned the smile widely. "Fixed is good." He pushed from the wall and tested his legs with a few steps. They were unsteady at first but with a few more he managed. He turned to face Cloud. "Speaking of fixed it seems I can walk well enough." He rubbed a hand over the bandages on his chest. "You did well."

Cloud had been ready to go to Zax's side if the other still wasn't well enough to stand on his own. When he was sure Zax had his balance he looked back up at his friend's face and shrugged a shoulder at his words. "I did what I had to and anyway, you saved me from myself. Why wouldn't I help you? Other then the fact you're my friend." He pushed away from the wall to walk over to the door, opening it up. "Let's get to looking, hmm? It's been a while since what happened and we need to get some kind of lead on the kid."

"Heh. I think you've gotten yourself a soft spot." Zax patted Cloud's chest with a grin as he walked out the door.

-

The church was far worse in shambles than either could remember. The roof was nearly gone, as was the far wall. The pews were thrown aside, broken apart in messy piles, a pillar or two still standing.

Zax looked at the sight with a sad expression. "...Aeris loved it here. Or- _loves_ it here, rather." He sighed and kicked some of the smaller bits of ruble in front of him. ".. I liked it here." He stepped further inside and looked up at the sky. "... Looks like it might rain, too."

Cloud took a few steps into the church, looking over the damage that had been done as well. It upset him a great deal to see what had happened, but he knew that none of it could have really been helped. They hadn't been at all able to move the battle outside. Not with how many heartless had surrounded them and how quick that girl was to go after them. "It would fit the mood, that's for sure." He spoke the words softly while he stopped in the middle of the broken down area. His eyes scanned around but he could see no real sign of Ikkuris which meant that what he had told Zax about the teen had been truth. He really was gone.

Cloud made his way over to the flowers which had seen better days and stopped. He stared at the broken petals with narrowed eyes and couldn't help the quiet words that left him. "This is where I found him just lying here." They wouldn't be helpful in trying to find Ikkuris, but he couldn't help the nostalgia that caused him to blink and quickly turn his attention back to Zax. "Let's start looking. There's got to be something around here that will tell us where the kid is."

"I know you act like you don't like kids. But I know you have a soft spot for this one." Zax chuckled a little as he searched amidst some shattered pews. "Not just because of what he did for us." He flashed his friend a grin before he went back to searching. "So really, why haven't you made a whole truck load of kids with Tifa yet?" With a grunt he kicked away some slanted wood leaning on the remains of the wall; there was nothing to find there of course. "You can't be waiting for the 'right time' still, hm?"

Cloud had walked over to some of the rubble that had fallen during the fight and had started sifting through it as Zax spoke. "I can't believe you insist on bringing this up." He shook his head while he pushed one of the larger pieces of stone away. "I just don't see Tifa in such a way." His voice lowered while he tried to sound as casual as he could about the subject, but it just made him uncomfortable. "She's a friend. That's all there is to it, Zax." He stood up straight and dusted off his hands, frowning when he came up just as empty as his friend. "Besides, could you really see her as the type to settle down?"

"Trick question!" Zax rubbed his bandaged arm, the muscles tender still. "Yes. I do." He looked back at Cloud in all seriousness. "If you asked her. Hell, she'd do it in a heart beat." He shrugged. "That girl always follows you around with a dust pan and broom to pick up the pieces when you fall apart." He smirked lightly, looking down. ".. Just so you'd give her the time of day."

"Well, it's not like I asked her to." Cloud frowned when he realized how harsh the words sounded and straightened up immediately afterwards as he tried to find the words to correct himself. "She should know that I care about her, but I can't constantly be there when I have my own problems to deal with. I can handle myself. I don't need Tifa looking out for me." His voice became quiet again as he walked further in the church to continue looking around. "Besides, like I said, I'm not interested."

"So," Zax leaned against what was left of a pillar, his chest hurt from the strain so he decided a small break was needed. He very loosely crossed his arms, the corner of his lips quirked in a cocky sort of smile. "Who, or what, are you interested in then?"

Cloud stopped where he was at the question. He stared ahead at the furthest wall in the church and kept silent, trying to figure out how to answer Zax's persistent questions. In one swift movement he turned on his heel to look back at his friend and raised a brow. "We're supposed to be looking for clues to find Ikkuris. Not talking about my love life or lack there of." Cloud rolled his eyes after those words and turned back around, walking over to a corner of the room to continue his search.

"Testy." Zax chuckled and eventually pushed off the pillar. "My girl and I never really had a chance to talk about getting that serious. But she seemed to me to be the type who would want a little quaint house in the country, some kids, and a flower garden to tend to." He paused as he looked over the place he'd smashed into by Cloud's attack. He was hesitant to speak, but the question finally left him. "... Think we'll be able to pick up where we left off?" He paused and looked at Cloud. "Her and I, I mean."

Cloud narrowed his eyes, but it went unseen since his back was turned to Zax. "I don't see why not." He leaned against the wall he had made his way near. His own search efforts were put on hold as he kept thinking over Zax's words and the images they put in his mind. "Who knows. We all missed you, Aeris included. If you really want another chance then I'm sure you'll get it with her." He shrugged a shoulder at his own words.

Zax's smile softened and for a brief moment was sad. "Yeah, guess so." He ran a hand through his hair, turning from the mess he was going through to make his way down the isle towards the alter. "... She often hinted about wanting to get married here." He stopped when his way was barraged by the shambles of a fallen column. He kicked the rock with a scoff before he placed his hands on it to swiftly hop over it.

Cloud finally turned his attention back on Zax. He watched the other man for a few seconds before he also made his way over to the alter. He was much more hesitant to be near it and after much debating he hopped over the fallen column as well. Instead of landing on his feet he stayed on top of it to sit down, keeping his eyes on Zax. "You sound like you might just have your whole life planned out despite just getting it back." He tried to smile, but it was forced.

"Yeah, well, figured out or not, I just wouldn't feel right leaving you high and dry. I said I'd look out for you, and I meant it. Even more now, now that I'm alive again." Zax turned and crossed his arms loosely with a smart grin. "No running off and getting married for me, until I know you're taken care of."

Cloud's smile faded at such a thing and he looked away from Zax to stare at the floor beneath them. "So, you would give up any kind of happiness for yourself just to look out for me?" He shook his head and frowned. Although he was touched at the thought, Cloud couldn't imagine letting Zax do such a thing. "You shouldn't. This is your second chance. Why would you waste it babysitting me?"

Zax tilted his head to the side, most of his dark hair falling with it. He smirked smugly. "Well, what have you been doing this past while since I've been gone? If I made a guess: you've been wandering aimlessly on your own, ignoring the group, and seeking your own form of retribution." He grinned his teeth. "If my guess is wrong, then you don't need the babysitting."

Cloud's head snapped back up so he could stare at his friend. He opened his mouth to say something, anything in response to defend himself, but it was no use. Zax's first guess was right and it only had Cloud looking away with narrowed eyes instead of actually responding. He had nothing he really could say this time around, so he only sighed and hit the heel of his boot against the column he sat on.

"Yep, that's what I thought." Zax spun on the ball of his heel, pleased with himself and continued to make his way to the alter. "You haven't changed a bit, old friend."

Cloud mumbled incoherent curses under his breath which he kept to himself. He jumped down from the column to follow along behind Zax, keeping in step behind to other. "So, is babysitting the only reason you want to stick around me from now on?" Cloud raised a brow while he tried to hide the small smirk that threatened to come to his face. "As you can tell from Tifa's example I tend to hide away from the people that want to baby-sit me."

"You haven't left my side since I've come back. So I'm not worried." Zax glanced back at Cloud in good humour. "Unless now you're planning to run away now that I've said all this."

"I haven't run away yet." Cloud shook his head. "I doubt anything, not even a little forced babysitting, could make me run away at all. I'll just learn to tolerate it for the sake of having you back." The small smirk finally showed on his face. He didn't exactly try to hide it anymore. "It's the least I could do." He stopped following once they were close to the alter and crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, can you blame me for not leaving your side? Between what just happened and getting you back I don't think I want to _ever_ leave your side."

"Heh, who's babysitting who now?" Zax reached out with his wounded arm to place his hand on Cloud's shoulder to give it a squeeze. Then something caught his eye, distracting him from the sentimental moment. He let go of Cloud's shoulder to point. "Do you remember those flower buds being up there on the wall?" He blinked, looking at either one which mirrored each other growing on the wall behind the alter. "Or seeing flower buds bigger than the size of a beach ball."

Cloud looked to where Zax had pointed out. The strange sight caused him to narrow his eyes in suspicion. "I can't say that I have." He took a careful step to where the strange looking flowers rested on the wall, but stopped immediately afterwards. After everything they had been through Cloud was more then a little cautious and gripped the handle of his sword just in case something decided to leap out at any moment.

The pod shifted a little, then just as suddenly a muffled 'Ayuck!' came from inside.

Zax stared, head tilting somewhat confused. "...Did," he pointed, speaking slowly, "... that flower just go _'Ayuck'_?"

Cloud didn't answer Zax. Instead he stared at the pods with an unreadable expression on his face before he let out a sigh. He walked forward toward them both, stepping past the alter and pulled his sword free from his back. "I can't believe my luck." With those mumbled words spoken he sliced the pods open with a quick swing while being careful of what was inside, and placing his sword back once finished.

Zax watched as from inside either pod animals tumbled out ungracefully, thudding with loud surprised shouts onto the floor. He blinked, taken aback considerably. "Okaay. Flowers birth ducks and dogs now." He scratched the back of his head. "... I think maybe Ikkuris forgot to resurrect part of my brain."

Cloud held up his hand to stop Zax from speaking on further. "Ikkuris didn't forget anything. Your brain is perfectly fine. I know these two." Cloud let his hand fall back down with another aggravated sigh as he looked down at the two animals that had fallen. "Something must have happened." He noticed one person missing and his eyes narrowed. He moved a boot out to poke the duck in the side. "Donald, where's Sora?"

The one named Donald gave a groan at the nudge to his side and sat up. He rubbed at the side of his head while he squinted and nearly glared up at Cloud. He didn't appreciate being nearly kicked when he had just tumbled to the floor and was about to give the other a piece of his mind, but the question stopped him. "Sora?" He frowned and looked down. He honestly didn't know and kept silent making such a thing obvious.

"Hmmm." The dog looked quite deep in thought over what Cloud asked, even if it wasn't directed at him. "Well, last thing I remember is Sora trying to grab that fruit, and us try'n to stop him. And then we all fell into this glow'n pool."

Zax's expression went even blanker. "Right, happens all the time with fruit."

"It does?" The dog blinked up rather perplexed at that. He sat up and dusted himself off. "Ah! Hiya Cloud! How's it goin?"

"I've been better, Goofy." Cloud rubbed his temples. He was sure he would get a headache sooner or later talking to these two. It was always so much easier when Sora was around. "So, Sora fell into some kind of glowing pool? Where was this glowing pool at? Why were you three near it anyway?" He felt it easier to ask as many questions as he could to find out his answers as quick as possible.

Donald stood up and brushed himself off, looking rather annoyed over the entire situation. "I told him it was dangerous, but he just insisted. It was at a place called Northern Crater. We went down below and that's where the pool was. Sora saw the fruit and when he grabbed it we all fell in." Donald shook his head sadly. "That's when we all got separated from each other. We haven't seen Sora since."

Cloud immediately tensed up. His hand fell back down to his side while his eyes snapped back to the two in front of him. "Northern Crater?"

"Wait- wait- waaait." Zax gestured for everyone to halt. "I'm lost. You're Donald?" He pointed to the duck. "And you're?"

"I'm Goofy. Pleased to meetchya." The dog smiled in greets.

"Right and you know them?" Zax looked to Cloud as he gestured to the animals. He looked back to Donald and Goofy. "And who's Sora? Is he, like, a talking giraffe or cow?" He scratched a hand through his hair. "And what the hell were you guys doing in Northern Crater!?"

Cloud opened his mouth before Donald could even speak a word. He had hung around Sora and his friends long enough to know the duck would yell at anyone that annoyed him enough, and calling Sora a talking cow would seriously get on the other's nerves. "Sora is the boy that's been fighting against the heartless for so long. The Keyblade Master. He was the one chosen to help end all of _this_." He gestured an arm around the church at what was left of it from the battle not long ago. "These two..." He pointed back at Donald and Goofy. "Are Sora's traveling companions and fight alongside of him." With those last few words he looked back at the two, wanting to get the same final answer Zax did. "So? What about the Northern Crater?"

Donald frowned, not at all liking the fact Cloud had stopped him from correcting Zax, but he took the opportunity to speak he finally had. "Sora was determined to find Riku. He's been lost to the darkness again and a heartless named Vexen gave Sora a card that led to the Crater. Even if it was a trap Sora wanted to find out if he could get Riku back and get some kind of revenge on Axel."

Zax blinked more names he didn't know. He sighed, it seemed a lost cause. "Same keyblade master Leon wouldn't shut up about?" He scoffed and crossed his arms "Sounds like this supposed 'chosen one' has done a bang up job getting rid of all the heartless." He shook his head disapprovingly. "A heartless attacked us here and stole our boy."

Goofy blinked dumbly. "You two have a son together?"

Zax nearly fell over where he stood, his eyes going wide. "W-what? Wait! No! That's- not- physically possible. I-" He huffed loudly, running a hand through his hair trying to settle himself. He tried not to scowl and keep a cool head. "We have a young friend who was captured by this obnoxious heartless; flying, lightening bug, girl." He raised a hand. "He's about this tall and goes by the name 'Ikkuris'. Know him? Seen him?"

Donald had seemed just as embarrassed by his partner's simple mind as Zax was, shaking his head from side to side before they were addressed again with the question. "Ikkuris?" He said the name over and over again under his breath while he looked at the example of height Zax had given. In the end he shook his head, giving up. "No, never heard of anyone named Ikkuris. We left the castle after a rather large battle and that's when we started searching for more of the Organization members that turned into heartless. Sora wanted to search for Riku at the same time and we got side tracked." He shrugged both shoulders. "So, here we are."

"Organization members?" Cloud's eyes widened a bit. "They've turned into heartless?" His shocked expression fell away as he looked around the church once again. "So that's why there are so many heartless roaming around again. The Organization found their way back." He let out a frustrated sigh as his eyes closed. "Just perfect."

Zax looked from Donald to Goofy to Cloud. He sighed but shook his head with a grin. "Even Cloud knows what the talking animals are going on about." He shrugged out his hands. "I really am out of the loop."

"Whuts an Ikkuris look like?" Goofy scratched his head under his tall hat as he gave it some serious thought.

"Well, um... He's this tall." Zax raised his hand again. "Um. He has kind of spiky hair." He reached over and ran his fingers through Cloud's spiky blonde hair in gesture. "Kinda like this at the sides. Really pale, kinda wispy hair. Wears some crazy bondage like suspenders. Can't remember much else since we were kind of _fighting for our lives_." Zax crossed his arms. "Now... what's an 'Organization'?"

Goofy glanced at Donald and either shook their heads and wilted with a sigh. It was obviously a long story.

Cloud had remained frozen where he stood as soon as Zax started to use his hair as an example. It took him a while to pull himself together again when he realized that Zax still had no clue what was going on and was looking for answers just as much as Donald and Goofy were. He turned to his friend while he reached up to run a hand through his own hair to straighten it back up even though it was just fine. "There are a lot of things you missed out on, Zax. Organization XIII was one of those things. They came to be a while after you died." He dropped his hand back down to his side. "They were Nobodies that kept collecting hearts for their own reasons. We all thought that Sora had gotten rid of every last one of them. What happened?" The question was spoken more to himself.

"They were able to live on through their heartless forms." Donald spoke up again to put Cloud's confusion to rest. "They didn't fade away and cease to exist like we all originally thought they did." A troubled look came to his own face as he remembered earlier events. "King Mickey sent for Sora and Riku's aid, but it took a while for them to come. A year to be exact. When they finally came to the castle Axel was the one attacking, trying to take control of it and that's when things took a bad turn."

"Wait-a-tick." Goofy raised a hand to his mouth, he looked anxious. "Did you say d-d-died?"

Zax waved the question off, more interested in what Cloud and Donald was saying. "They were nobodies?"

"Not that kind of nobodies. The kind that used to be somebodies but without their hearts they become Nobodies." Goofy explained quite simply.

Zax stared; he was being schooled by the naive dog. He almost got it. But he shook his head and moved on. "So these guys who are Nobodies but were somebodies are gone, but their heartless are still around." He groaned and buried his face in a hand. "And this whole heartless thing is starting all over again."

"Third time, actually." Goofy corrected with a smile.

Zax groaned more into his hand; his head was starting to hurt, his over exertion with his wounds weren't helping. "And... there's a King now?"

"King Mickey." Donald and Goofy piped up.

Zax started to say something and then stopped. He paused and turned to Cloud. "Hey, what ever happened to our Ansem the Wise?"

Cloud looked away from the two animals and back to Zax. The question had him narrowing his eyes as he tried to think of a way to explain things to his friend even further, but the best way was to just be blunt. There was no sense in beating around the bush with Zax. "He's dead. He tried to help Sora and the others when it came to retrieving the hearts from the Nobodies and things just got out of hand." He lowered his head to stare at the floor. "There's not much else to it then that."

Zax kept his eyes pinned on Cloud as if the other hadn't told him about something so dire. He slowly began to shake his head, but he knew it would do no good to deny or question Cloud's words. The world felt as if it had shifted and he put a hand to his head, the other resting on Cloud's shoulder so his face wouldn't suddenly meet the floor.

"... I really have been gone a long time." Zax spoke the words to himself so very quietly; the crushing reality didn't hit him till now.

Cloud was quick to wrap an arm around Zax's shoulders to keep him steady. His friend had been through a lot and piled on with the sudden information of what had gone on in his absence, Cloud was sure it as a bit much to handle. He turned his eyes back on the other two as another question begged to be answered. "Well, did you guys ever find Riku? Did Sora get separated with him?"

Donald quickly shook his head. "No, not once during our entire time in that place did we ever see him." He narrowed his eyes. Once again annoyed at how easily they had been sucked into that entire trap. "That heartless was just tricking us. Sora should have seen it. He shouldn't have walked so easily into it, or at least been a little more careful."

"Think the heartless got em?" Goofy looked to Donald. "We don't know how long we've be'n out fer. Or where Sora coulda ended up now." He tilted his head. "That Vexen feller might be a heartless, but Riku's in the darkness too. I doubt he'd let anything happen to Sora. Darkness in his heart or not, he's still one'a Sora's best friends." He smiled optimistically. "Have a little faith thar, Donald."

"I'm sure Sora is fine." Cloud tried to reassure the two as well as himself at the same time. "He'll be able to handle his own. We just have to hope both him and Riku will turn up at some point. Darkness or not." It added onto their list of friends to search for with no real leads at all other then simple disappearances, but Cloud refused to believe any of their friends were gone for good. "Now that we know who is really behind all of this it gives us some clue as to who to look out for." He thought back to the girl that came after Ikkuris. "Maybe the heartless we saw was an Organization member."

"Name." Zax raised his head and pointed as it donned on him. "When I was smashed into a wall I wasn't completely unconscious. Someone else came. I'm sure of it. I heard them- him. I didn't see who it was. But, he said her name." He snapped his fingers as he tried to recall it. "Ella. Elsa. Lisa. Lissa. Um- no. Laura. Larine. Lareen. Damnit." He pressed his fingers into his temple. "I can't quite remember."

"Larxene!" Donald nearly shouted the name to help Zax out. "That's it!" A worried expression came over his face when he realized what that meant and his eyes fell back down to the floor. "The King briefed us on each of the Organization members before we went into the fight since we had no real recollection of who some of them were. Larxene is one of the more dangerous ones we were told, but I don't understand." He looked back at Cloud. "Why did she come here and take the boy you're looking for?"

Cloud seemed just as clueless as Donald and could only shrug a shoulder in response. "That's what we were trying to figure out. All we know is that he's a powerful kid. The Organization probably wants him for that reason alone. It would make a lot of sense considering..." He trailed off on his own words.

Zax glanced at Cloud; he wasn't sure if they should tell these random talking animals they just met exactly what kind of power Ikkuris had. He really wasn't sure what to think about anything that was going on. His head was in a spin. He shut his eyes, raising a hand to brush his bangs from his eyes and keep his palm rested on his forehead.

"Like, uhhhh, what kinda power, Cloud?" Goofy looked at the man with concern and curiosity. "Maybe if we know what he can do, we'll know what they want'em to do." He tapped his lips. "Is it anyth'n like Sora or Riku's power?" He looked worried and whispered as if the shadows there really did have ears (or antenna in this case). "It's not something related to the darkness is it?"

Before Cloud opened his mouth to answer he noticed Zax's sudden discomfort. He couldn't really blame Zax. It was a lot to take in at once, added onto so much that happened earlier on. It caused Cloud to stop the conversation for the time being so he could grab his friend's arm and pull him over towards the fallen column that they had to jump over much earlier, gesturing for Donald and Goofy to follow behind.

When Cloud reached the column he let go of Zax's arm and gestured down to the floor. "You sit and rest for a bit. You're still not healed completely and you've been walking around a lot." He turned back to Donald and Goofy to grab their attention up again. "The kid wasn't associated with darkness at all. If he was then he had us fooled." He waved a hand at Zax, hoping his friend was proof enough other then just his words. "Ikkuris was able to resurrect Zax. I suppose that's his power. After he did it that's when Larxene came."

Donald listened intently, but what he heard wasn't at all what he expected. "R-Resurrected?" He stuttered the words more so then he usually would have and looked from Cloud to Zax and back again multiple times.

Zax waved from the floor with a weak smirk. "Hey. Yeah, I was dead."

"So this Ikkuris feller can bring people back from the dead? Y'ye'mean like _zombies_?" Goofy suddenly moved to stand behind Donald, cowering behind him as if the short duck were enough to go up against a whole army of these supposed zombies.

Donald gave a loud protest at suddenly being used as a shield. "Hey, wait a minute! Why do I have to be the one protecting you?!" He quickly moved around and got behind Goofy, pushing his partner forward so he would be the shield instead.

Cloud watched the two bicker back and forth, narrowing his eyes on the scene. This was the part where he really wished Sora was around to shut them up. Of course the teenager would probably just join in somehow and Cloud would have a worse headache then he did at that very moment. "Both of you be quiet!" He shouted loudly causing Goofy and Donald to hush up immediately.

As soon as there was silence Cloud raised a hand to rub at his temples while he tried to explain things better. "There are no zombies. Ikkuris just has a certain power that allows him to bring people back from the dead. To make them alive again as if their death never happened. It's really not all that complicated to understand."

"Like making something broken, whole again." Zax pointed out.

Goofy paused and ran that through his mind. He nodded, that made sense to him; and sounded far better than the zombie idea. "Sooo- this Ikkuris' power is kinda like glue."

Zax blinked and managed a slight laugh at the obscurity. "Sure."

Goofy scratched his head and looked back at the duck behind him. "So, if this kid can make things come back to life, whole again, he could bring back anyone. Like, uhhh, their leader feller." He pulled his ears up in gesture. "That guy with the pointy hair, like this. Kinda reminds me of an airplane. The wings."

"Xemnas." Donald spoke the name for his partner and instantly afterwards his eyes widened. "Oh no..."

Cloud's mind seemed to be running the same track as Donald's was. His whole body tensed up as he voiced his next words as carefully as possible. "That's why they took him. Ikkuris has a power they want. They can use him to bring back Xemnas or anyone else they choose. To be whole again..." Those last words ran over and over in his mind as he tried to think them over. He shook his head, letting it go for the moment as he tried to understand something. "Still, it doesn't explain where Ikkuris came from. A kid like that with such a power doesn't just...fall from the sky." He gave the same example Ikkuris had tried to play off on him.

Goofy shook his head, worry straining his face. "We've been to all sorts of worlds, and we've never heard of this Ikkuris guy. Don't think Sora has either. Other wise he woulda said something. He's always talk'n about his friends."

Zax leaned back against the pillar with a slow sigh; so much to digest. "So this Xemnas guy is the head of this Organization XIII. The thirteen being the number of members of this organization, I assume." Military was more his forte. But branching from the whole heartless ordeal, things sounded only more and more complicated. He tried to think of something, anything, even if he knew very little about the situation. "Maybe he's involved with them? Number fourteen? Or, maybe, the son of one of them? A nephew? I really don't know how personally you know this Organization. From the sounds of it we have next to nothing. But what we do know is that these people knew exactly where he was, who he was, what he could do, and according to Cloud, far more than this Ikkuris kid knew about himself."

Donald turned his attention back on Zax and at that moment he felt the need to at least help the other understand better. Since Cloud seemed to know the man so well. "Organization XIII is made up of thirteen members and thirteen members only." He brought up his hands and started to tick off each name on each of his feathered fingers, having to use some over. "Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Saix, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene and Roxas." He stopped on the last name and lowered his hands. "Those names are how they are in rank and Roxas was the last. He was Sora's Nobody and the only one never completely defeated. Instead he's now a part of Sora, so he's the only one we have nothing to worry about for the time being. He's the only one we would have such personal ties with also. The others, well, they were just our enemies from the start."

Cloud was a bit surprised. Even he was shocked as to that last bit of info that was told about Sora. He had only been in battle with these people. He had never been given real deep detail about certain members and hadn't followed up on what happened. He decided to skip the questions about it for the time being, thinking over what Zax had questioned instead. "Well, we know Ikkuris wouldn't be part of the Organization anyway. The kid seemed terrified of Larxene to begin with. Maybe they were just following him. Once he used his power they were able to find him." His eyes narrowed. "Larxene did mention it being like a neon sign."

Zax began grinning. "I've heard Leon droning on and on enough about the heartless and the keyblade to take a shot at that." He cleared his throat and tried to do his best Leon impersonation; so it sounded monotonous and grumpy. "To the heartless the world is black and white, no shades of grey. A heart is white, because hearts are by nature of light and pure intentions, but it's these black patches, the weakness, that the heartless use to manipulate people. The keyblade is of the purest light. It stands out the brightest of all. So to a heartless, it's like a giant beacon that naturally draws them." Zax laughed. "Pretty good huh?" He grinned wider. "So, it only makes sense this kid is pretty light orientated, right? If this Larr-Laura girl says he stands out like a 'neon sign', we can only assume so. It must have been when he resurrected me. Must have lit the darkness up for the heartless like a nuclear explosion." He shrugged his good arm. "Might work vice versa?"

Cloud raised a brow at how well Zax's impersonation had been. Of course even before Zax died they had all spent enough time around Leon, so it wasn't like it would have been hard to do it. It still didn't make it any less eerie. "Don't do that again." He shook his head, thinking over the other's word and realizing how much sense they actually did make. "I suppose its better then nothing. It sure gives us way more to go on then we had before."

Donald looked back and forth between Cloud and the man he had come to know as Zax. A worried expression came to his face once again while he decided to get their attention and speak up. "So, does this mean we need to find this Ikkuris kid first considering what they plan to do with him, or what we believe is going on?" He looked at Goofy for a second before he glanced at the two men once again. "What about Sora? We're worried about him too."

"I think we need to pri... -pri-organize." Goofy nodded.

"You mean 'prioritize'. I agree." Zax gave a more serious nod before he looked up at Cloud. "It's your call, Cloud. You know these people, and what's going on far better than I do." He grinned some. "I trust your judgment."

Cloud looked from the two animals to Zax. His friend's last few words caused his stomach to drop a little since his own judgment hadn't been all that great lately. Still, Zax looked as if he were ready to follow right along with whatever Cloud said despite previous injuries and such. It had him shaking his head and giving into what he knew they had to do.

"We'll search for Ikkuris. If what we know is true and they're all trying to bring about Xemnas' return then we can't allow them to keep the kid." Cloud folded his arms across his chest while he spoke casually to everyone. "It's best if we take him back and protect him the best we can from the Organization. As for Sora, he can handle himself." He held up a hand to stop any protest that both Goofy and Donald were about to give. "That kid has saved the worlds multiple times. He doesn't need us to save him every minute he's in trouble." Cloud folded his arm again. "Goofy was right. If things get too bad Riku will be the one to bail him out. Darkness or not."

"Sounds good to me." Zax stretched up his good arm casually and used it to pillow his head as he reclined back on the pillar's side.

"If you think that's what's best, Cloud." Goofy couldn't top his logic. "Sora's strong, I'm sure he'll be alright where ever he is. He's faced worse, and always came out on top." His usual cheerful nature came to shine through. "And I'm sure we'll meet up with him further down the road."

Donald still seemed a little apprehensive to the entire idea. He wanted to find Sora more then anything, but they did have a job to do and that was to get rid of the heartless no matter what. So, all he could really do was agree. "Yeah, yeah. Sure."

Cloud was pleased with how easy everything had turned out. There was still one problem left and he turned to Zax, watching his friend for a few seconds before he decided to bring the situation up. "One more thing. We need to decide if we should just go and try to find Ikkuris, or, involve everyone else and get them to help." He tilted his head to the side as he remembered they would not only have to explain what was happening, but Zax would have to explain himself as well. It would be a long conversation.

"You mean like Leon, Yuffie and Cid?" Goofy spoke up.

"Hmmm." Zax's expression fell and he looked more serious, far more somber. He lowered his arm. "I don't know if that's a smart idea." Though he knew his reasoning for it was probably more selfish than tactful. "This'll be dangerous. We need to be precise. We don't have much time we can afford to waste." Zax stared up at Cloud. He knew those words sounded familiar; they had been near echoes of the words he'd said to Cloud before he- "They'll force Ikkuris to resurrect whoever they want as soon as they can. You saw how weak he was when he brought me back. They'll only abuse him."

Cloud narrowed his eyes on his friend at the words spoken to him. They almost left him short of breath and he felt he had to look away before he actually remembered that day again. "Then we'll start searching right away. We can't wait any longer." He still refused to look at Zax, even as he continued to speak to his friend. "You sure you'll be okay to go? You're still having trouble keeping yourself up. Maybe it would be best if you stay here with the others."

"Like hell," Zax shoved himself up to stand, "I'm letting you go off on your own!" He looked at Cloud in determination even if the other man wouldn't look at him. "Hurt or not, I'm going to watch your back. I'll be fine in a few. Just a few more potions, and a cure, and I'll be fine." He placed a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "I'm not about to go back on what I said earlier." He grinned just a little.

Goofy looked from one to the other. He leaned over and nudged Donald with his elbow; the duck was a mage after all.

Donald had still been in brooding mode so when Goofy nudged him it startled the duck for a second. "Huh?" He looked away from his partner and towards the two men, getting the hint quite quickly since he had tuned into at least part of the conversation. He brought forth his wand and aimed it at Zax. A small green light traveled through and enveloped the man. Donald only shrugged it off as if it were nothing. "You were looking for a cure, right?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes on Donald. "Gee, thanks Donald." He tried his best to make his words sound less sarcastic then they had been. Now that the treatment had been given there was no other excuse for him to give out to try and make Zax stay behind.

Zax blinked. "The duck is a mage." He patted his chest and then his arm and grinned wide. "Wow. That's much better. Thanks, Donald." He gave Cloud a hard playful shove next. "Don't look so disappointed. I just might think you don't want me to help."

Cloud rubbed his arm. "No, I don't want you getting hurt. There's a difference between the two." He left it at that, dropping the subject and turned his eyes back on Donald and Goofy. "We might as well get going. I'm just glad you two can fight and you're not totally useless." He earned a glare from the duck for such words, but it went ignored by Cloud much like always.

Zax took a much more enthusiastic edge. "Time to go fight some guys I don't know with some animals I just met and rescue a kid I know nothing about!" He grinned at Cloud. "One of the more unique missions I've done. But hey, it's a new life. What a way to start it."


	12. Chapter 12

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 12

The gentle waves were as constant and as perfect as breath itself; inhaling and sighing on the dark beach.  
Here betwixt the dark, in the gentle lull of nothingness, they had found and made their peace. Fading away was near paradise; the idea near the idealistic fantasy of living their days on that beautiful sunny island, letting the memory of the fight fade away into their own minds. Instead they would be the ones fading from mind.

If it meant keeping each other, Riku and Sora were glad to side step everything to live out in the purgatory of nothingness. Losing to win; it was far from the righteousness they'd been taught, and used to gain victory over all obstacles.

But in the end they were still just brash teenagers after all.

They lay, stayed in a well needed sleep, on the beach still near the water, and snuggled together, holding each other in a way that proved something deeper than friendship. Riku, though he was the taller and older of the two, was cuddled closely with his head against Sora's chest. His arms were tight around the other as was Sora's, who held his dear friend with a protective embrace, his face buried against the silver hair that stirred it with his slow gentle breath.

It was in that state they were found by the one that had pushed them into such harsh realities to begin with. Two rounded ears drooped to see the teenagers in such a sad way as the door which was summoned to bring Mickey into the area vanished for the time being. With the news of Riku's misfortune he had separated himself away from Sora and the others to help look for his friend, knowing he had been taken in by the darkness from what Sora had told them. The realm he stood in now was the last place he wanted to even step into, but once he did he certainly didn't expect to find both Riku and Sora the way they were.

With careful steps in the sand, Mickey walked closer to the two teens. When he was near enough he reached out a hand to place it on Riku's shoulder while trying not to disturb Sora. He wanted answers and opted to get them out of Riku first and foremost.

Sleeping so lightly Riku felt the touch, and the deeper part of him knew it wasn't Sora's. He flinched, because it meant an end, depending on whose touch it was that he felt so lightly on his shoulder. But the grey in his heart probably already knew exactly who it was even before he finally gave himself to consciousness once more; the ties of their friendship were strong.

Riku's eyes parted, blinking slowly. He didn't pull away from Sora, but at the same time he didn't snuggle closer; he remained still, like a stubborn child who'd been found guilty. It took him longer to turn his sight onto the mouse. And it was the sight of King Mickey that brought back all those horrid feelings of guilt and shame washing over him again; his mouth went dry.

Mickey pulled his hand away when Riku finally turned his attention towards him. Even the look on the teenager's face caused Mickey to feel bad for the boy, but he couldn't easily give in. He needed to understand what happened. One minute he was fighting along side Sora as well as Riku and the next they were both in The End of the Worlds. "Sora told us what happened in the castle. How did you two end up here?" He took a look at Sora who was still fast asleep despite the small movements Riku had made. "Sora was supposed to be with Donald and Goofy to search for more of the heartless." He turned his eyes back on Riku.

Riku stared at Mickey, and for a long moment it seemed as if the teen wouldn't speak. But he eventually looked away, far away, through the dark sky at the nothingness there that stretched on forever. "... It's..." He started very, very quietly, his voice hoarse from sleep and previous tears, "...complicated."

Mickey shook his head. "Then you need to explain as best you can, Riku. I went searching for you after Sora told us what happened. It's the reason I separated from the group. I didn't think Sora would find you before I did. I need to know what happened so that I can understand things better." He let out a sigh that he didn't even bother to keep in. "Please tell me how the two of you got here or how Sora even found you."

"... I found him here." Riku quietly answered. "..Sleeping."

The answer startled Mickey. It was something he hadn't expected. "Sleeping?" His eyes narrowed in concern mostly and he looked back at Sora for a few seconds. "How could that have been?" He shook his head, but continued to keep a watch on Sora. "Has he been like this the entire time you found him? Asleep? What about you? Where have you been?"

Everything about Riku turned black, skin, hair, clothing, in all but a blink of an eye. Then just as quickly his image faded, blipping away and he was suddenly in Mickey's face, sitting up, his colour returning to him. His expression was still stoic, but there was something a little smug in his eyes about being in Mickey's personal space so quickly. "... The darkness." He answered simply.

Mickey had nearly jumped back at Riku's sudden invasion to his space. The change and way Riku acted in such a quick second caused him to worry for his friend and he took a few steps back to keep distance between them. "Riku..." He spoke the other's name sadly. He didn't know what else to say. It seemed Riku had been tortured with having to hold onto the darkness once more and there had been nothing any of them could do to help him.

Sora gave a small noise under his breath at no longer feeling another body close to him. His eyes started to open and he sat up at the same time, shaking his head which caused his hair to move about. He knew where he was, but it was just getting his mind to focus that was the problem. Riku's name fell from his lips quietly when he realized the other wasn't nearby and he looked around only to notice they weren't exactly alone anymore. "King Mickey?!" He stood up quickly, nearly tumbling and falling on his face in such a rush.

Mickey looked past Riku with careful eyes to the Keyblade Master who was suddenly awake. He gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "Sora..." His attention turned right back on Riku afterwards.

Riku stood up much the same way, out stretching an arm to bar Sora from moving closer, and falling over on himself. ".. So you found us." His voice was even towards Mickey; a 'so what of it' tone to his words.

Sora blinked his eyes at the fact Riku had stopped him from moving any closer. He looked down at his friend's arm then back to Mickey and a small frown came to his face. Riku's tone of voice only startled him the tiniest bit. They had planned to stay here no matter what and with those thoughts; Sora took a small step back.

Mickey's eyes widened at how both Riku and Sora were acting. He understood the darkness would make Riku act more selfish then usual, but Sora usually never followed such an example. It caused him to turn narrowed eyes on the both of them. "So, you need to come back. You both know how much your help is needed to stop the Organization. To stop all of them from ruining the worlds as they are now. Staying here is accomplishing nothing."

Riku narrowed his eyes coldly on the small mouse. He tilted his head as he kept Mickey pinned in his gaze. "There's a saying that a very self consumed man once said." He lowered his head, nothing but contempt for the other in his voice. " _'Those who know nothing can understand nothing'._ "

Riku took a greater step back, his hand resting on Sora's chest causing the other to step back with him. "It's so easy for you to judge isn't it? Sitting comfortable on a throne while you order others to get their hands bloody." He truly glared at Mickey. "... But the world isn't as black and white as you think. And the fighting will never stop. But you kind of failed to mention that." He shrugged sarcastically. "Didn't you?"

Mickey narrowed his eyes further on Riku. "I fight just as hard for peace just as much as Sora and you, yourself, do Riku. I don't like having to send any of you into such dangerous positions, but without your help then where would we be?" He shook his head. "There's no other choice. It's Sora's destiny and your own as well it seems, to fight such battles and help the worlds be at peace." He put his attention back on Riku and frowned. "You're in darkness right now, Riku. You have no idea what you're saying. You're thinking only for yourself and not of anyone else's safety."

Mickey looked away from Riku and turned all of his attention on Sora. If he couldn't get through to his friend then surely he could get through to the one person that had never let them all down in the past. "Sora, please, you need to come back and help us. Talk some sense into Riku and come back."

Sora looked away from Riku and towards Mickey at the sound of his name. He was being asked by Mickey to once again leave what peace he had and help in the fight, but he was still scared. Mickey had no idea what he had gone through or what he had been told. Sora kept silent, refusing to answer and looked away, staying right where he was.

"Don't you get it?" Riku glared hard after those words. "He doesn't want to go!" He sneered at what he had once considered a dear friend. "And neither do I!" He stepped in front of Sora, keeping between Mickey and his old friend. "You think it's easy, because you were born to walk in the light. But it's not like that for me. I have to walk a fine line, carefully tread across a razor's edge between light and dark. One slip- and I hurt those I care about without thinking!"

Riku took an ominous step towards Mickey, using his far greater height to his advantage for intimidation. "... I've hurt people. People I shouldn't have, to protect Sora." His brows spiked up under his bangs, but his eyes remained cold. ".. And maybe I'd do it again. But here, I can't hurt anyone, and Sora will be happy." Riku's blink was slow and cat like, watching the little mouse at his feet. ".. You think yourself so sanctified, and pure of heart, an icon." Riku's eyes narrowed as he tilted his head with a certain grace, the curve of grin slipping on his lips nothing less than sadistic. "Why don't you make an example of yourself and send Queen Minnie to fight."

In an instant Mickey's own keyblade was in his hand because of the anger he felt at such harsh words from his supposed friend. Just as quick he seemed to realize what he was doing and took a step back, but didn't will the blade away. His grip only became tighter as he glared up at what had become of Riku. "Riku..."

Sora's head had snapped up when he heard the summoning of a keyblade. Things were getting ugly. Riku was speaking harsh words and Mickey was losing his temper. He felt like it was his entire fault again. "Riku!" He reached out and grabbed his friend's shoulder, hoping at least some contact between them would help him calm down. It had helped so much earlier. He didn't understand what went wrong. "Please, don't say such things." He walked forward a little and rested his other hand on the taller boy's back. "Try to calm down..." He wanted to be the voice of reason and to try and bring Riku back out of the darkness once again.

"I'm calm." Riku replied simply, and gestured to Mickey with a hand. "It's the mouse who's on edge." He went on, chastising with quiet sarcasm. "... It seems we have a lot more in common than we thought, Mickey." His lips tweaked crookedly as he continued more quietly. "We both pulled a weapon out on people we thought were our dearest of friends."

Mickey's ears drooped low and just as quickly as he brought out the blade it vanished. "You only do such things when you allow yourself to give into the darkness, Riku. What do you think you're doing right now? You need to stop and think. You need to get rid of all your selfish thoughts and all of your anger and let go of the darkness. It only hurts you. It never makes anything better."

Sora frowned at Mickey's words. He wanted to save Riku from the darkness just as badly, but Mickey wanted to help Riku for a totally different reason. Just so they could continue fighting. Sora wanted him back so they could stay in this realm together. All he could do was to cling tighter to Riku's shoulder while he slowly leaned forward to rest his forehead against the taller boy's back.

"Then I guess you just let darkness into your heart, 'friend'." Riku nearly laughed his words. "Welcome to the darkness. It may not be as warm or fuzzy as the light, but its home." He spread out his arms to gesture to the area. "Spacious. And we can always use one more." Riku snorted. "I have enough light in my life... And I'd like to keep it safe. To keep it out of your hands so you'll stop abusing its light to save what you are too weak to save." He sneered. "You're a chosen keyblade master too- why the hell do you need Sora too!?" His hands tightened into angry fists at his sides.

Mickey flinched because of Riku's harsh choice of words. He looked back up and noticed how Sora had taken to clinging tightly to Riku and kept his eyes on him and him only as he answered. "Sora is the true chosen one. He's saved us countless of times and brought us peace that wasn't easily obtained without him. He's what connects us all. Somehow. Someway." Mickey turned his gaze back to Riku and narrowed his eyes once more. "You may see him as _your_ light, Riku, but he's everyone's savior. It's the way things are."

Sora closed his free hand tightly into a fist. The way Mickey spoke made it seem like things were already planned out for him. Like he had no say in his life anymore and he had no choice but to fight. Without thinking words came from his mouth that only Riku would be able to hear since they were spoken so quietly against the other teen's back. "But what about what I want?"

Way to Dusk was immediately summoned in Riku's hand after those words, a burst of darkness and blue misting from the weapon once it was firmly gripped in his hand. "Too many keyblades..." He raised it to point at Mickey, no remorse in his eyes for the action. "Just too many useless masters."

Riku gave a short laugh as he twirled the blade in his hand, enjoying the original horror in Mickey's face. "Want to know where I got mine? You never thought to ask. Ansem. Well, not the real one. Xemnas' heartless. But then it was called 'Soul Eater'. It was his weapon bequeathed onto me." He firmly caught his weapon and pointed it back at the mouse. "And Kairi got hers from me. Even Roxas had two. Now, Mickey. Where'd you get your supposed legendary blade that is worthless to your cause?"

Mickey took another step back, but he didn't summon his blade again. He only let Riku do as he pleased while at the same time, trying not to show as much fear as he felt because of his friend. "It was given to me. I was told to fight with it and I trained to do so. It was long before I became king." He stared down at the blade, looking away from Riku's eyes. He couldn't stand the other's cold gaze any longer. "Sora and you, even Roxas considering the circumstances, the keyblades chose you in much different ways. It wasn't just handed to you. Such a thing made it obvious that you were destined to fight."

During Mickey's words, Sora had started to reach out for Riku's hand which gripped the blade to try and get the other teen to lower it at least. It was when Roxas was mentioned again that his hand faltered and he had to take in a steady breath before his hand finally made contact with Riku's own. "Roxas doesn't matter. He could only wield them because of who he was. He was no Keyblade Master." There was bitterness behind his words, but it couldn't be helped after everything that had happened.

Mickey looked back at Sora and frowned. He was a little grateful for how the teen was trying to calm Riku, but troubled by his words and the tone they were spoken in. "It does matter, Sora. The two of you were and still are one in the same."

Riku shut his eyes a moment, Sora's touch bringing down his aggression. It all didn't matter to him anymore. "Every person in all the worlds, in all the universes, could have keyblades, and it wouldn't matter to you... because you'd still pull Sora from his happy, normal life, just to fight for you." He spat, actually spat, near Mickey's feet. "You're worthless." Riku pierced Mickey with a cold hostile glare. "... _Leave_."

Mickey stared down near his feet and suddenly felt the same anger he felt from before. This wasn't the same Riku he had traveled with for so long. He was so different and it broke Mickey's heart. "I won't leave, Riku." His words were evenly spoken. "Not until I bring you back to your senses and I'm sorry if I have to do it the hard way." He brought his keyblade forth once more and lifted it up. He moved forward and raised the blade, intending to fight Riku anyway he could to bring the other back down from the darkness.

"Stop it!" The shout came from behind Riku and before Mickey's blade had a chance to strike Riku; Sora had pulled the teen back and summoned Oblivion to block it. He knew Riku could have easily defended himself, but he didn't want to watch such a useless fight between the two who were supposed to be friends. "Just stop..." He shut his eyes tight, pushing against Mickey's blade even though the mouse had stopped in shock long ago and wasn't even trying. "It's my fault." He gripped the handle of Oblivion tightly. "I was scared and being selfish again. I just wanted us to be safe. Away from everything that could hurt us." His voice cracked.

"... Funny, how a friend thinks that by kicking the crap out of someone they care about it will help them." Riku remarked from behind Sora. "Maybe you and I aren't so different now. Would you have killed me? Because I wouldn't have stopped no matter how many times you hit me. Is Sora worth that much to you? Is your _worlds_ worth his happiness? His _heart_?" Riku stepped forward to slip an arm across Sora's chest in a gentle yet possessive hug. "... I hurt someone I always swore I'd protect, even if she didn't want me." Riku looked away, the frozen loathing on his face melting away to painful guilt. "... Light can't exist without darkness. But why does darkness always have to be 'bad'. Why can't the darkness feel just as much as the light? Why can't the darkness love, and need? And why can't the light feel selfishness and fear?"

Riku let go of Sora and stepped away from him, walking from either of the two towards the water's edge, stepping into it.

Mickey's blade vanished as he watched Riku walk away. What the teen said had caused him to stop and think, but still he couldn't help worrying over what was going on; over the entire situation in general. It was what he was used to doing, especially considering his position regarding everything. His eyes snapped back to Sora, who's blade was still out. He looked up in the boy's eyes, trying to plead with him in any way possible. It was obvious he and Riku had grown much closer. He needed Sora's help to try and talk to Riku. "Sora..."

Sora lifted his head at the sound of his name to stare at the mouse in front of him. He continued to cling to Oblivion just to have something to hold onto after Riku had left his side, but slowly the keyblade vanished. As Sora's hands fell limp at his sides he shook his head from side to side. "You don't understand..." With those words he turned around to quickly follow after his friend.

Sora nearly ran into the back of Riku, but was quick to catch himself in time before he made them both fall, and clung tightly to Riku's waist, burying his face in the other's back. They were both being incredibly stubborn, Sora knew this, but he also found truth in Riku's words which made him want to stay as close to his friend as he possibly could get at that moment. Afraid that Mickey would try anything he could to take them back.

Riku grasped a hand around Sora's, his chest felt so heavy as he stared across the dark water that stretched onto forever. With his other arm he laid it across Sora's, slipping his fingers between the other teen's where Mickey couldn't see. "There are not many causes I find worth fighting for. I was never as noble as Sora. I always fought for myself and my own reasons." He let out a soft sigh and continued quietly. "...or because Sora asked me to." He gave Sora's hand a squeeze. "If Sora doesn't want to go back, I'll fight with every last breath of me to keep him here. If Sora wants to go, I'll fight along side him without hesitation."

Riku's head lowered, so tired, tired of fighting, tired of being torn, of living under Sora's shadow but his own always casting the darkest. But you could only fight destiny so hard before you grew too exhausted to fight anymore, and you followed along willingly just to have it end.

"... Or maybe you should be finding your dearest, most loyal friends who have sworn an oath to protect you above their own lives... instead of wasting time here, arguing with us." Riku added with obvious sarcasm. "... Or does your heart prioritize friendships."

"Of course not, Riku." Mickey once again tried to stay calm compared to earlier when he had lost his temper. "Donald and Goofy. I'm just as worried for their safety as much as I was for your own, but at the time I thought they were safe with Sora. I never had any idea what was going on." He took a step towards the two and when he spoke again it was to the shorter of the two boys. "Sora, we need to find them. You're just as worried about them, aren't you?"

Under Riku's hand Sora's own clenched tightly. He would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about his two companions. He hadn't seen them since he fell in the water, but there were other things on his mind at the moment. He was torn and didn't know how to respond to Mickey. "If I leave, if I go back, then I might never be myself again." It was the only explanation he could give finally.

Mickey blinked wide eyes at such a response. "Never be you?" He took another step towards the two. "Sora?"

"... One more step and you'll lose that foot, my friend." Riku quietly spoke.

Mickey quickly back stepped at the threat. The darkness was such a harsh thing when it had a tight grip on Riku and those words spoken to him made it all the more clear. He didn't address it though, and kept up with the questioning. "Sora, what do you mean never be yourself?"

Sora clung tighter to Riku when asked such a thing. He didn't speak up on the threat that had been said towards Mickey. He knew that if Riku were in his right mind he would have never spoken such words, but at the moment there was nothing Sora could have done to stop it. "Just what I said. I won't be myself anymore." He lifted his head a little to stare out at the water in front of them. "Back at the castle I told you what Axel said. That he kept calling me Roxas and that I could barely remember anything." He shut his eyes tightly and rested his head back down, feeling that same fear with the next words he spoke. "It was because of Roxas that I couldn't figure out what happened. He's trying to take over me. What if it happens again? I never wanted this..."

Mickey was speechless after such information told to him. He knew it would more then likely be difficult for Sora to face Axel, but he never thought that such a thing as what the teen just told him would ever happen. Roxas was supposed to be completely dormant and just another half of Sora as if he were another part of the teen's personality. Mickey couldn't understand how the Nobody could have fought so hard to take control.

"Everything will be okay, Sora." Mickey spoke up quietly to try and reassure the teen. "You'll always be yourself and Roxas will continue to stay just a completely different part. You have nothing to worry about. Least of all scared of." He looked out at the water that had taken up both teen's attention so suddenly. "After all of this is over and the Organization is taken care of you can go home again and have the peace you want."

That small piece inside Riku, that small thread which kept him calmly held down, was snipped at such remarkably ignorant words of optimism.

Riku was out of Sora's clinging grasp before either of them realized.

"Liar." Riku's hand snapped out and Way to Dusk violently appeared in his hand with a rush of sharp black and piercing blue. He approached Mickey with no thought to pause, no hesitation. "You didn't see the light fade from Sora's eyes as that cold emotionless bastard took him over from the inside. You didn't see Axel hold him so intimately in his arms. You didn't hear what he said."

Black began to seep into Riku's clothing, the cloth drinking in the darkness as it bled into the fabric. Anger called it to coil around and change to what it had been before, sleeves and gloves created from dark mist. All that lacked was the dark blind fold to hide that piercing, accusing stare that Riku pinned on Mickey.

"You didn't see him use Sora to kiss him. And you _dare_ tell him that he'll continue to be himself and continue to be okay'." Riku stopped dead in front of the mouse. "HE'S NOT OKAY!" He painfully screamed the rage down at Mickey. Riku stood there with panted breath. "And until you realize that, and come back to your senses," Just the corner of his lips perked in such malicious humour as he twisted Mickey's previous words, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to do it the hard way." He raised a hand to give an effortless flick of hand; an explosion of fierce dark energy flew at Mickey.

Mickey jumped back just in time before the energy could hit him. The explosion still caused him to stumble and he lost his footing as he tumbled and had to quickly jump back up to his feet, summoning his own keyblade to his side. He didn't want to fight Riku, but the teen didn't seem to want to listen any longer. Mickey was about to sprint towards the other to attack, but something caught his eye and forced him to stop right where he was.

As soon as Riku had thrown such powerful energy at Mickey, Sora had been quick to rush towards his friend to try and stop him from doing anymore damage. As much as he wanted to stay he didn't want to have to watch Riku hurt anyone else close to them anymore. "Riku!" He shouted the other's name as soon as he could touch his friend's shoulder and clung tightly. Sora moved so he was in front of Riku, but never let go of him, using his other hand to cling to the dark coat that had become a part of Riku.

"Please stop." Sora choked on his own voice. His eyes stung at having to see Riku in such a way. He wanted to keep the other away from the darkness, yet even staying in their own special place couldn't save them it seemed. "Don't do this. Remember how you felt about hurting Kairi. Remember how guilty it made you feel?" He shook his head back at forth. "Please, Riku. It's not worth it. We shouldn't fight each other."

"A friend is just an enemy without motive." Riku placed a hand on Sora's shoulder and shoved him away. "And if he won't leave." He looked back down at Mickey. "I'll make him leave." He held Way to Dusk up as he proceeded to walk towards the mouse. "So simple even a _King_ could wrap his mind around it."

"Don't do this, Riku." Mickey held his own keyblade up at ready. "Listen to Sora. He's always been your voice of reason." Mickey took a couple of steps back. "He's the light that you always seek and hold onto so tightly."

Sora looked back and forth between the two, having stayed where he was after Riku shoved him aside. Mickey's words caused him to feel even more responsible at that moment. He wanted to help Riku, but he wasn't accomplishing anything by just standing there while he watched his friend lose himself. With careful steps he walked after Riku and once again grabbed his shoulder, turning the taller boy around to face him. This time it wasn't only Sora he had to face, but Oblivion as well. The blade was shaking in Sora's hand. He never enjoyed pulling the keyblade out on Riku, but he just wanted all of this to end. "If that's what friends are Riku, then what are you? What am I?" His voice shook. "Is that how you see me?"

Riku spared no time lashing a hand out to grab the staff of the keyblade, not needing to pull it hard since Sora's hold on it was so shaken, to point the end of the blade so it pointed and rested directly at his chest. He kept a tight hold, keeping Sora's aim there.

"... We've battled against each other more times than I can count. Even when you weren't you, we still fought." Riku kept his eyes on Sora's, never letting his gaze falter or stray from anything else but those royal coloured eyes. "We've always fought against each other...You've always been my motive; hate, and love." His voice fell to a softer note. "...But it was when we fought together, I loved you the most."

Sora's eyes widened at each word said, but it was the way Oblivion was handled and where it was placed which had him shaken up most. He wanted to let go of the blade immediately. To make it vanish and act as if the entire situation never happened, but Riku had such a tight hold on the blade. He feared what his friend would do at any second. "Then we should continue to fight together." Sora tried to speak over the fear he felt. "We shouldn't fight against each other. We shouldn't be acting like _this_."

Sora lowered his eyes to look at the keyblade the both of them still held. "I've been selfish. I've been thinking only of myself because I fear just that. Myself." He shut his eyes tightly. "I don't want you to feel like you have to protect me, Riku. I want to help you just as badly as you want to help me and seeing you like this hurts so much because I'm the reason you keep falling back into the darkness. And you can't tell me I'm not to blame, because I am!" He tried to shout the last few words, but they came out as more of a sob then anything else. "I just want us to be happy again. Not tortured."

Way to Dusk was then pointed directly at Sora's chest, the same way Oblivion was to Riku's. "... It's too late for that." Riku's words couldn't have been quieter.

Sora's eyes snapped open to look at the blade so close to his chest. In that moment he felt beyond hurt. He felt betrayed. Riku didn't even seem to regret pulling out his weapon. That's what hurt the worst. "Riku..." The name fell quietly from Sora's lips and Oblivion lowered. He couldn't stand it. To act in such a way when the both of them had been laughing and fooling around much earlier.

"It's never too late." Sora raised his eyes. Even though the blade was so close there was only sadness in his expression. "Remember what I told you? No matter what happens I'll continue to share my love with you even if you can't and don't want to." Sora stared into Riku's eyes, but even without the blindfold they were still cold and seemed to hold nothing in them. Still he continued. "Even if you were to stand here and strike me right now, I would continue to care about you because you'll always mean the most to me, Riku. I know that the person you are right now isn't you but I still refuse to hurt you. I never wanted to at all." He dropped his eyes again to Way to Dusk while Oblivion finally vanished completely.

Riku's eyes widened at that but narrowed again. His head lowered a little and he shut his eyes from the scarring sight of Sora's pleading yet hopeful expression. "... Sora." He started quietly. "... You love too much." He lowered his weapon, and it disappeared before his hand rested back at his side. "Mickey's right. It would be a waste to let such passion go to waste on one long, lost, individual. You belong to everyone. Not just me... Not mine. You're everyone's light. And hope." Riku took a step back, the guilt from all that he'd said and done finally crashing down on him.

Riku turned away. "... All I want is selfishness. An unconscious destruction of us all." He pulled up his hood, hiding his face. "... But that's what darkness does. And now I know, more than ever." He was silent for a moment. "... The darkness wasn't meant to be within the light."

Riku raised his hand and called up a black portal behind himself, though he knew well enough to raise a transparent dark shield in front of himself to keep Sora from trying to run up and stop him.

Riku let his hands drop back to his sides. He smiled something small and sincere towards Sora. "... I'll protect you from within the shadows."

"Riku, wait!" Sora moved to go after his friend despite the shield that had been put in place. He was halted by a tug on his scarf and it had him turning wide eyes to the source. "Mickey, let go! We have to stop him! We have to do something! He's leaving..." The last words were spoken quietly as tears dripped down his face.

Mickey only shook his head in response to Sora, keeping a tight hold on the teenager for fear of him running towards Riku if he were let go. "If Riku feels this is what must be done then let him do it, Sora. There are things the both of you need to work out on your own, but that doesn't mean you'll be apart forever." He tugged a little more to pull the teen back some more.

Sora blinked away even more tears at those final words and tried to fight against being pulled back, but he felt so weak. He turned his head back around to look at Riku, pleading with his eyes for the other to come back, but he knew it would never happen, so with a weak voice he spoke only a few words. "I still won't say goodbye..."

Riku smiled a little more and laughed very quietly as he looked to the ground a moment before he looked back up at Sora. "Then I guess I'll say: See you later. Sora." He back stepped into the dark portal, his gaze never leaving Sora as he was swallowed up by the churning black. Once he was gone it soon collapsed in on itself, dissipating into nothingness.


	13. Chapter 13

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 13

The room was dark, nearly empty in the vast amount of space it held. Dim lights flickered like candles in the center, acting as the only source of any life in the darkness that surrounded the area. They weren't normal bits of light. They came from twisted machines that let out noisy little beeps. Multiple wires and various tubes that connected to each machine trailed around and up until they were found pricked or placed into pale skin in various places. The subject of such attention was in the center of it all and strapped down to cold steel. There was to be no freedom.

There was a distinctive glow in the darkness of the room that kept watch on the scene. The glow became dimmer as it moved closer to the light that radiated from the center of the room and soon became eyes which narrowed. The scientist in Vexen had never died. His hobby only became more vicious when he became a Heartless and it showed with his newest project that he slowly walked circles around at that very moment only to stop and peer down at to get a closer look while at the same time he spoke to the pinned down teenager. "And so everything slowly begins to fall into place."

Ikkuris remained slumped in the metal chair, the tight straps around him the only thing keeping him from crumpling over in a weak heap. Dark circles surrounded his eyes which were red rimmed, but he hadn't cried a single tear; as much as he wanted to let the water fall from his eyes, they never seemed to come. He expected his heart to be a hammer against his ribs, the fear to cause him to grow cold or sweat to fall in fearful trickles, but there was nothing. But Vexen was very quickly filling that void with vindictive tests; despite what couldn't be felt on the inside, it seemed his body decided it still could feel plenty on the outside.

Slowly Ikkuris raised his head, more of a tilt, just enough to open his heavy eyes to look at the Heartless with glazed eyes. The wires monitored, sampled, draining a little piece of him with each beep and flitter of data it recorded.

"... This place," Ikkuris started very quietly, his voice near like a hurt child, "... makes me feel sick." His mouth felt so dry. He never knew a place could be so dark.

"Ah, you don't enjoy the darkness." Vexen straightened up again and started to walk back to the machines that collected each bit of data from the pale boy. The Heartless didn't seem bothered by the words that had been spoken, nor by his appearance. Only interested in what was being collected from his subject. "Such a shame, but it's to be expected." He let the words hang in the air, vague and unanswered, as he pulled more wires along towards the teenager's form.

Ikkuris' eyes widened at the sight of more wires; it only meant more needle points to inject into his already painfully numbing skin. He began to shake, struggling against bonds, which only caused sharp piercings of pain to jolt through each wire like a catalyst across his skin, discolouring patches with bruises.

"N-no." Ikkuris' voice cracked. "No more. Please stop. W-who are you? What are you trying to find?" His breath became shallow and his shaking only got worse. "I don't know anything. Nothing. There's nothing you could want. N-nothing." His voice cracked. Cloud's image crossed through his mind, his words, and quickly Ikkuris spoke up. "I- I have amnesia- or, something. Do you know me?"

"Amnesia?" Vexen stopped behind Ikkuris and raised a brow. The thought seemed to amuse him for a moment before he shook his head and let out a sigh as if the entire ordeal was only a bother to him. "I know very much about you. More then you yourself know." Ignoring Ikkuris' earlier pleas, Vexen moved one of the wires close to the skin near the back of the teen's neck and pricked the needle into the skin. "But, I plan to find out even more if at all possible."

Ikkuris' breath caught in his throat, a loud choke and he slumped forward. Bile gathered in his throat. Muscles twitched, but most of the fight had been drained out of him long ago. He squeezed his eyes shut, his eyes burning but still no hot tears graced him.

A strange bit of hope mixed in Ikkuris' stomach, churning with the sickness like oil and water. "You know w-who am I?" His eyes flickered open and a new shiver followed through his skin, shaking the wires they were attached to.

"So disappointing." Vexen walked around to the side of Ikkuris since the one needle was in place. "You have others fight hard for your freedom and use your power so willingly, yet you have no idea as to why you have it or who you are." The Heartless shook his head while he leaned over and placed a chilling hand on top of Ikkuris' own. "If that's the case how do you know what you did was the right thing?" Without waiting for a response from the teenager he plunged another needle into skin that was just below the wrist.

A whimper escaped Ikkuris. He tried to jerk his arm away but the bonds held strong. His hands balled into fists, the tightening of muscles only caused the needles buried deep in them to hurt far worse. His voice came out bitten with pain and anger. "I know it was right!" He lashed back verbally where he couldn't do anything physically. "I helped someone you creepy sadistic bastard!" A noise left him, panicked and shuddering; that new wire made his insides feel like liquid, his bones like jello. "... He was a good man. He was lost. Alone. He was chasing his shadows, lost without his light. I gave it back. He's happy now."

Ikkuris used what energy he had to glare something fierce up at Vexen. ".. That's how I know it's right. Unlike you. You're just _sick_." His cheeks began to burn from the new pain. "If I knew you- I don't want to remember." He glowered.

Vexen didn't seem at all bothered by Ikkuris' sudden anger. "I suppose you're in luck then." He shrugged a shoulder. "Well, in a way." He stood up once more after he was through and walked a few steps away from the teenager only to turn and face him. "You never knew me at all I'm afraid. Although if you ever did, it would have made everything so much easier." He shook his head from side to side. "No, I'm afraid you and I have never actually crossed paths."

"Guess I am lucky." Ikkuris did his best to catch his breath since Vexen seemed done pushing things into his skin. His mind was swimming now, dizzying with whatever one of the wires was doing to him. He tried his best to keep his head up and watching the dark figure with those horrible glowing eyes. "S-so how do you know me then?"

Instead of answering the question given, Vexen asked one of his own. The teenager was his subject. Not the other way around. "What is it you feel right now? Anger and fear, maybe even a small bit of worry, over those few that tried to save you." Vexen walked forward once more so he was only a few feet from Ikkuris. "Yet every time you try to react your body won't allow it. Am I right? There are no tears." He waved a hand to the teen's eyes. "And there is no real feeling inside." He leaned forward to look the teen in the eyes. "Well?"

Ikkuris jerked back to get away from Vexen so suddenly his head thudded hard against the metal back of the chair. He felt the impact, the vibration that jolted down his spine, the signal nerves sent to his brain to tell him it should hurt. But it didn't. Now that Vexen had pointed out such observations, Ikkuris could only realize the disturbing reality of such truths. Yet still he found himself flinching, hissing as if there truly was some horrible pain.

Slowly Ikkuris opened his eyes, looking up at the dark figure, the illuminated eyes. He should have been scared, he should have been deathly afraid of everything said and done. Furious. Upset. But there was nothing. A hollow. His body was only acting out memories of what should have been there.

Devastation crossed Ikkuris' dazed eyes before everything blanked out, and his head lolled forward, along with the rest of him. Much like before when he'd tried to pull away the pews to save Zax, all the energy drained from him. "... W-what's wrong with me?" His voice was a whimpered whisper. "You did s-something to me."

Vexen straightened once more, leaving Ikkuris' personal space for the time being. "No. So far I've only been an observer for now, just taking notes. Doing some tests hardly counts as doing any real harm to you." He shook his head once before he looked away towards the machines in the room. "What you've found out about yourself has nothing to do with me or anyone else. Only yourself and what you are."

"W-what I am?" Ikkuris dully echoed. His eyes rolled around, but they found no proper focus, there was no energy to do so. Everything was a dark blur, a smudge across his vision.

A cruel smirk came to Vexen's face as he watched Ikkuris once the words were echoed. He didn't answer right away. He walked away and towards the machines he had been keeping a close watch on. "A person without feeling. A person with no soul or emotions of their own." As soon as he got close to one machine in particular he leaned forward and blew cool air on the glass, causing a chilled mist to run across it. One thin finger moved up to touch the glass and started to run letters among it.

I-K-U-R-X

"No heart of your own." Vexen dropped his hand and stepped to the side to allow the teen to look at the drawn out name. "You are what it all implies." He turned his eyes to the boy. "A Nobody."

"I. K. U. R. X." Ikkuris spoke each letter aloud, his voice shaking as his eyes grew wider. "Ikkuris." He read the name spelt out with almost no breath. His eyes snapped wide, his hands clutching the arms of the chair unfathomably tight. "Th-that's my name! I'm Ikurx?"

It all made sense. It clicked as perfect and painfully, like a dislocated joint back into its socket. That was his name; but not his name. A small fragment returned to something so wonderfully incomplete.

"... I'm Ikurx. A-a no one." A dry sob shook Ikurx's chest, his eyes burned but no tears came. It was such a mockery to something that was supposed to be real. Ikurx's head slumped forward, shaking with dry sobs. It was only his body on instinct reenacting the distraught sorrow. "P-please stop." He had to have a heart, a soul; it would just be too cruel a joke to exist as nothing but numb flesh and bone.

Vexen moved his hand out once more to wipe the name away that had cemented the truth. "Stop?" He walked away from the machine to stand beside the metal chair and the broken teenager that occupied it. "What is there to stop? Stop from telling you the truth? You wanted me to tell you what I knew. You wanted answers and I've given them to you. There's no turning back now." He reached a hand out and pulled on Ikurx's hair, pulling the teen's head back to look into his eyes. "You know this to be the truth."

Ikurx squeezed his eyes shut as he shook harder with broken sounds. He felt so cold, his skin pricking and numbing even the feel of the needle tip endings of each wire. He slowly opened his eyes to look up with dry, red eyes at Vexen. Seeing those soulless glowing eyes, Ikurx knew every word the sadistic man spoke was ironically the utter truth.

"How- how do you know me?" Ikurx swallowed thickly. "W-who-what I am?" He shut his eyes tight a moment trying to keep the broken noise in. "Who are you?"

Vexen let go of Ikurx's hair and decided to indulge the teen for at least a little bit. "I was once part of a powerful group of people." His feet led him back to the dark corner of the room and it was there that he stayed with his back to the boy. "Tragically power always has its downsides, but as a whole we had a trump card. A _fail safe_." It was the same exact word Larxene had used before he had taken Ikurx through the portal.

"Sadly, there was a horrible flaw in the plan. The fail safe was buried too deeply to gain control of. It was never allowed freedom and never allowed that extra push." Vexen turned around, eyes glowing dimly in the darkness that surrounded him. "That changed. Our group never faded. We were given another chance and with this chance we are finally able to use the one thing that has been buried for so long. The final push was given and here you are." He took only one step forward. "You are the one Nobody that holds power over the light. You are what can bring back the dead and make our bodies whole." His eyes narrowed coldly. "And now you belong to me."

Ikurx stared at the floor unseeing. His gift, that's what they wanted. The one thing that he felt made for, this cruel man wanted to use for his own. Who knew what horrible things this man wanted to do or bring back; what lives he would destroy instead of heal.

Ikurx jerked his head up and glared at Vexen, pressing his back against the chair. "I won't do it!"

Vexen was in Ikurx's face in an instant and out of the darkness. "Do you really have much of a choice in the matter?" He gestured to the metal seat and multiple wires that were stuck into the teen's skin. "Besides, such a strong power can't be held in for so long. You need to use it. Even if it is for people you despise. You _need_ to help people." He pulled back to stand and cross his arms. "It's why you were born."

Ikurx grit his teeth and he shook his head best he could. He tried to move his legs, to push himself further from Vexen, but the restraints wouldn't give him back his personal space or dignity. "Why would I want to help people if I can't care?" The words were shakily hissed through teeth.

"Because it's pure instinct." Vexen spoke the words as if it were completely obvious. "You don't need to care to be able to use such a power. It was a gift given to you and something that you must use." He tilted his head to the side, looking over his subject before he spoke up again. "You could remember nothing but your power and your name. Yet even your name you knew nothing about. If that's all you could remember then it only means that you shouldn't be so picky as to who you use it on." He dropped his hands and narrowed his eyes. "You're only a tool. Forget about being able to care."

Ikurx blinked and looked away, shifting as far from Vexen as he could with the restraints. Such words were eating what little he thought he had inside. He leaned his head heavily on the cold metal. "... I want to care." He sniffed though he had no tears or reason to. "... I want to feel."

The charm that hung down from Ikurx's shirt was grasped tightly between fingers while Vexen seemed unmoved by the teen's wants and needs. "Impossible. You're merely another half. A Nobody. If you were listening then you would understand. Only the one you were born from can truly be the one that feels everything that you can not and has the heart you lack." A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "But, I do believe that even he has no need for such things any longer." Vexen let go of the charm, but kept close. He enjoyed making Ikurx uncomfortable and cause the Nobody to feel whatever fear he _tried_ to feel. "You'll never be allowed what you desire."

Ikurx narrowed his eyes, turned by how close Vexen was. He couldn't find it in himself to believe that, to drop all hope for something that pitiful. Despite the hollow that ached inside his chest, Ikurx refused to believe he had nothing, and existed only to serve and feel nothing.

"... And you'll never get what you want from me." Ikurx whispered back with stubborn determination.

"Oh, but I will." Vexen walked away, following the wires that were connected to Ikurx until he stopped at a much larger machine compared to the smaller ones that were giving data. "You see I'm not the only one that wants you, but I'm not at all willing to share you with the entire group I was part of. That doesn't mean there aren't some members I'm not willing to bring back to me." His finger ghosted over a red switch that was on the machine. "Starting with the one that helped you come to be. You'll be using your power to bring him back much as you did that _friend_ of yours."

Vexen narrowed his eyes further. "If you want to refuse then other methods can be arranged to change your mind." His finger pressed down and slowly a purple liquid shot through the thin wires, making their way to the needles that were pricked in Ikurx's skin and taking place of what had once been flowing into the teen's skin. "Watching such power or keeping tabs on pain. Either way I get to collect such excellent data from such a wonderful puppet."

Ikurx's eyes darted to watch the purple liquid inject into his flesh from the wires, cold fear instinctively washing over him before fierce pain seized the entirety of him. He choked on air as he tried to struggle against what was burning through his veins. His blood felt like it was on fire, coursing through, eating away at his flesh from the inside out. Ikurx's jaw locked and his eyes watered with the pain as he thrashed against it. He clawed at the metal arm rests, splitting fingernails, but the torture wouldn't stop. The purple kept flowing in, saturating his entire being with fierce unbearable pain.

Just as easily as the switch had been flicked on it was flicked off and Vexen kept a careful watch on Ikurx the entire time. "Do you wish to sit through such pain and torture every waking moment and every second as you sit here?" He kept a finger trained on the button. "Because I can assure you that your time here will not be short. Your time in this realm will not be short either by any means. If you do not choose to do as I say then I'll gladly keep you for tests. Would you like that or would you like to make things simple for yourself?"

Ikurx slumped forward, his flesh still hot, just a little more bearable since the feed was cut. Small tremors went through him, twitching fingers and muscles unconsciously. He would have emptied the contents of his stomach had he eaten anything, and instead a few hard coughs came, and he wheezed to get enough air.

Ikurx tried to speak through the pain. "They must mean... something i-if you'd fight this hard to get them back."

Vexen tapped his finger gently on the button, but not to press it. He watched Ikurx after the words the Nobody spoke and finally gave a simple response. "Possibly." An amused look came over his face and he turned his eyes to the wires that still had traces of the purple fluid inside of them. "But, what is that saying that goes around? Partners in crime. That's it..." He looked back to the teen. "Besides, one of them played the part they were supposed to. Now it's time for him to return as soon as possible."

Ikurx swallowed, it was hard to keep focus when it felt like battery acid had been inserted into his veins. He tried to steady his breath; he needed it to speak again. "W-what did they... d-die for?"

"Such a sad tale." Vexen allowed his finger to slip off the button and rest on top of the machine for the time being. Since Ikurx seemed so interested he would stop the threats for the moment. "One of them died with no real cause, wiped out by someone that used to be a member of our group, but has his own selfish reasons for being as he is now." Vexen shrugged a shoulder. "As for the other, well, he died helping you. Without his help to give that push I told you about then you would have never existed." His grin was cruel. "You are indebted to him."

"In-.. indebted?" Ikurx quiet echoed under his breath. "... He helped make me." He narrowed his eyes, his breath quietly going shallow. His head lowered, falling limp. "He's the one that helped me... exist." His hands tightened into shaking fists at such horrible things this supposed acquaintance could have done to create something as pitiful as a person who could only pretend emotions.

"You-you're not whole either." Ikurx spoke up again. "There's a piece of you missing too. Not like me- you can feel. You're..." He faltered. He really didn't know what this sick shadow was missing. "... Something vital." All Ikurx saw was just a twisted soul, cold and vindictive.

"Very good." Vexen spoke the words as if he were praising a pet rather then talking to a human being. "It's true. I'm not entirely whole either. Just like you I was once a Nobody. I was defeated, but never truly died. I wanted revenge and I've been given that chance." His eyes glowed bright for a split second despite being in the brightened area. "I'm now a Heartless. Not completely whole, but better then what I used to be. Better then a Nobody." Those last words were obviously meant to mock the teenager.  
'Heartless'; Ikurx couldn't think of a more suiting name than that. Ikurx raised his head again, looking to Vexen. Who was to say if this twisted thing was lying, but some part of Ikurx told him that the dark things that left his mouth wasn't a lie; though he wished it was.

".. Do I- have a Heartless?" Ikurx could only try to put two and two together.

Vexen stared at the teenager with narrowed eyes after the question was asked. Finally he couldn't help the cruel laughter that left him and he looked away to the darker side of the room. "I suppose in a sense you could call him such." He left his answer at that.

Ikurx went lax against the cold chair; Vexen's laughter sent cold chills down his spine. Shutting his eyes he was able to think a little more clearly through the haze of fire that still consumed the entirety of his being.

".. In some strange way you care about them." Ikurx spoke up, speaking without thought. "Not in the way my friend did for his but there's an unquestionable loyalty."

"We have the same goals. The same hatred." Vexen continued to stare into the darkness, his humor gone with Ikurx's words. "There's no reason that there shouldn't be any loyalty among the three of us. Whether we care or not, well, that's a whole different situation entirely and of no real concern." He finally turned his eyes back on the teen.

Ikurx went silent, nor did he move. His breath had steadied some and he seemed to calm somewhat since the horrible chemical treatment.

"... What's your name?" Ikurx quietly asked.

Vexen kept dimly lit eyes narrowed on the teen after the question, keeping silent. It was after a few seconds that a slow smirk came to his lips and he seemed to loosen up, giving Ikurx a straight answer for once instead of pulling him in a circle. "Vexen."

Ikurx raised his head to finally look up at Vexen, and nodded. "Vexen..." He took in a shaky breath. "..Why don't you go by your real name?" His pale brows furrowed a little.

"Because..." Vexen met Ikurx's eyes, refusing to look away. "My real name is a memory. This is the name I was given and this is the name I know myself as now. It's the name that fuels the hatred I have. There's no reason I should discard it and I'm sure the same goes for most of us, aside from the few that feel no need to hold any form of grudge." He scoffed at such a thing. "Weaklings they are." He took a few steps towards the teen, but continued to allow him some form of personal space. "But why should any of this really matter? Hmm?"

Ikurx would have shrugged had he the feeling in his shoulders to. Instead he shook his head, minding the wires in his neck. ".. It matters to you." He glanced down just a little, where shame should have come there was no feeling at all, only logic and fact. ".. Like you said, Vexen, I was made to help." The words left him quietly.

"In order to help me you know what you need to do." Vexen continued to stare at the huddled form which was Ikurx. "It's just up to you whether you want to choose to do such a thing. It would be so much easier for you if you did." His eyes narrowed further and he walked the last few steps to Ikurx's side, placing a hand on the back of the steel chair. "Help the one that helped you exist."

Ikurx stared in front of himself for a long moment, seeing but not seeing. The pain was leaving since now he was beginning to feel nothing at all; numb, mentally and physically. "... I need to get out of this chair."

Vexen said nothing. Instead his fingers fell away from the chair to move across Ikurx to start pulling at wires. Each one was slowly pulled out of skin and dropped to the wooden floor beneath their feet, causing a few of the machines to give erratic beeps and noises until they fell silent. Vexen only ignored them until each wire was gone, moving onto the straps afterwards. He undid the ones around the teen's arms first then moved to his legs, stepping back once there was nothing else holding the teen down.

One last shaky exhale left Ikurx, his shoulders going lax and the tremors subsided. Slowly he raised his head; gaze straight ahead though his eyes were glazed over. His skin was pock marked with little pin pricks, but he didn't seem to give much notice to anything else.

Ikurx pushed himself to stand, it was shaky to start but stood and with each step grew stronger. Without a word he moved to stand in front of Vexen and placed a weak hand on his chest. Such marvelous things these red threads that tie our hearts together; it helped him see and understand so much more. Even if it wasn't about himself.

"Zexion..." Ikurx's eyes flicked up to Vexen's face. ".. It was him."

Vexen didn't seem the least bit concerned by the sudden touch. He stayed completely still and only kept his eyes on Ikurx, watching the teen and raising a brow as the name of his partner was spoken. "Yes, that's right." He continued to stay where he was after he spoke. He doubted Ikurx would try anything to get away or was even in the position to, so he wasn't worried. "He knew the consequences, but did so anyway. It was well worth it, but I do believe he deserves to be brought back. Don't you?"

"Even if it was for your own selfishness..." Ikurx gaze fell down to his hand on Vexen's chest. He stepped away with a heavy exhale. ".. I do." His shaking hands went up to the hanging charm from his collar. For the brief moment he had his mind went to Cloud and Zax. He wanted to remember Cloud's slight subtle smile and Zax's laugh, how happy he made them. Even if he never saw them, the small time they had together was something that would keep him going. Even if he wasn't made to feel the small joy.

Vexen immediately took steps back. He knew what was about to happen and he refused to be anywhere near the Nobody when he used such a strong power that came from the light. Vexen continued to make his way back until he was covered in the darkness that the other side of the room provided and kept a watchful eye on Ikurx as the teen clasped the charm that was attached to his shirt. "Do it." He pressed on, continuing to urge the teen with glowing eyes. "Do what you know needs to be done."

Ikurx yanked the charm off, swinging his arm out in the same motion the angelic weapon was called into his hand while the light from the summons illuminated nearly the entire room. He raised the blade and spun it one handedly, white streaking after each movement.

Ikurx plunged the blade into the ground and the area was blinded with light. The world bathed in the pure colour.

 _'We'll never say goodbye.'_

Ikurx felt himself fall, gently fall into darkness. But it wasn't the cold unkind darkness he'd been in. This darkness was neither good nor evil, but the kind of gentle darkness you'd see when you close your eyes.

It felt like forever as he fell, but here Ikurx could feel the bitterness and numb from the pain Vexen had inflicted on him fade away, shedding away until he felt nothing but calm peace.

Finally his feet softly touched ground and Ikurx opened his eyes to where he'd ended up. A vast circular stained glass mural lay at his feet. It was sorrowfully dulled and uncoloured, yet in its pathetic state it was still awe inspiring to Ikurx. It was a mural of a scientific young man, with hair that hung over one eye, a book poised between his fingers. There were pages surrounding him with symbols that weren't familiar to Ikurx, nor the faces in portraits bordering him, save for Vexen.  
This place of solace wasn't unfamiliar to Ikurx; he'd been here before and treaded along Zax's own mural. Here there was no good, no evil, no light or dark. It didn't matter if he had a heart, a soul. Not here. Only one thing mattered.

".. Ienzo." Ikurx walked up to stand in the center of the vast stained glass. "But I guess you're Zexion now." He held his angelic blade up and swung it gracefully around, the light fell softly bringing the colours to the glass back. Warmth was brought back to the desolate place; life. Light began to shine from above in gentle rays, and from the glass picture of Zexion came the sparkling crystalline heart.

Ikurx turned to stretch out a hand, letting the heart have a place to rest on his palm. He marveled what he didn't have, and at the same time it was this that helped his creation; his birth. "... Thank you and yet... no thank you."

And light took them again.

The light subsided from Vexen's self proclaimed lab and just as quickly as it died, the darkness swallowed up and took its place once again. There Ikurx stood, dazedly staring ahead of himself again, but he wasn't alone.

The figure that stood beside Ikurx looked around the room with only one eye as he reached a hand up to push hair aside that obscured his other. A lost cause as it fell right back into place, but it was merely habit. "So, everything worked out just the way you said it would." Zexion finally turned his gaze towards the darkness and the glowing eyes that stood out most. "His control really did slip away." There was no real surprise in his tone. Only an observation of what just transpired.

Vexen finally found it safe to walk out of the darkness and allowed a slow grin to spread across his face at seeing his partner again. "Now, Zexion, I told you such a suicidal mission would be well worth it in the end. You must learn to trust my judgment. You did your part and now we have what we need." With those final words he allowed a hand to rest on top of Ikurx's head. The worn out teen was their prize for as long as they could keep him in their grasp.


	14. Chapter 14

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 14

There were consequences to be had after such a dangerous light show that had just happened in the darkened room belonging to Vexen. The Nobody he was trying to keep for himself would be in danger as his power wouldn't only be seen by himself and Zexion. He knew that it would be sensed by many others. It was the exact reason why he had been able to find the Nobody in the first place and all because of the power that had been displayed in the church once before.

Vexen could already feel them, getting closer as they craved what he now held tightly in his grasp. His hand had fallen to hold tightly onto Ikurx's shoulder since the teen seemed to be having sudden trouble standing on his own. His attention wasn't on Ikurx, though. Instead his glowing eyes were on Zexion who was casually leaning against the wall in the dark. "They're coming for him." The words slipped past his lips as he continued to watch his partner. He could see Zexion's acknowledgment from just the nod of his head, but his partner made no move otherwise to show he was bothered by such a thing.

No sooner said fierce dark fire threw itself from the shadows themselves between Vexen and Zexion, a raging inferno wall to barrage between the two. Another wall of wild flame crossed the other, caging up their space and smashing through technical equipment. The intensity of flame caused the air to waver, heating to an unbearable degree causing beakers and fragile equipment to shatter and violently explode; seems their old comrade wasn't playing nice to start.

Vexen pulled Ikurx even closer by his shoulder while he stepped away from the violent flames and debris that threatened him physical harm. He gave a rather loud 'tsk' to the culprit of such actions and turned his eyes on the entire scene, watching the flames flicker. Otherwise he didn't seem too bothered by any of it. "Temper, temper. Try to remember that what you want is in my hands. It will do you no good to burn it away." Vexen tightened his hold on Ikurx.

Zexion stood up straight, making sure to keep close enough to the wall that he didn't get burned. "Obsession is such a horrible weakness. It seems to impair a person's judgment more then even anger does." He reached up to push his hair aside, keeping his hand right where it was so it couldn't fall back down for the moment. "It's one of the reasons our dear friend is acting so rash." His hand finally fell to his side after the mocking words. "Isn't that right, Axel?"

Pale tattooed arms lashed out from behind Vexen, latching one around the man's neck while the other pulled it tight in a choke hold. "Dangerous hypocrisy." Axel hissed in Vexen's ear, his lips curling viciously. He slammed his knee in the base of Vexen's spine without mercy, yanking Vexen's head back at the same time.

Not a sound came from Vexen's lips at the treatment he was given. He never let go of his hold on Ikurx and only shut his eyes tightly. Instead of a grimace or any other sign of pain, a slow smirk made its way across his face as his entire form flickered out and shifted. No longer was the body of a Heartless held so tightly in Axel's tight grasp, but instead that of a thin teenager with short blonde hair in that same black coat from so long ago. Eyes finally snapped open to reveal a blue colored gaze and that's when the painful expression was shown.

"Dangerous?" Zexion echoed the word from the spot he was still trapped in. His voice calm as if nothing out of the ordinary were going on at all. "Dangerous for whom, Axel?"

Axel's grin didn't falter at the sight of Roxas now in his grasp, but his gaze flicked to the other in the room. "Zexion, always a pleasure. That's a new look for you." He scoffed his amusement; seems Zexion was the victim to the fail safe's little miracle. It only gave him proof that the Nobody's power was real, and worked.

Axel leaped back from the Roxas illusion, freeing his hands. He splayed his dark fingers to grasp his upper arms. Fingers grasped round tattoo chakram that burst into black flame, peeling away to grow significantly to their original size, solidify one after the other in the similar chain link they were upon his skin. "Human only means I get the pleasure of making you bleed!" He threw out his hands to send the chakram chain out, lashing either towards Vexen and Zexion.

A thin book found its way into Zexion's hand and before the chakram could complete their destination papers flew around himself and Vexen, creating a circle around them and trapping each of the chakram inside until the danger from the weapons were gone and each bit was trapped on paper. The papers stopped abruptly and lined up in a row facing Axel. "Not until I have the pleasure of watching your mind fall apart first."

From the papers Axel's very own chakram flew back at him on the same chains. Before they could reach the Heartless they were stopped as their path was blocked and the same body that had been Roxas was impaled by a heavy metal spike from the first chakram. It tried to continue, moving through the blonde's body which only caused black liquid to spill forth from the wound and his mouth. The weapon continuing through to try and reach Axel as it impaled the Nobody one at a time.

Axel snapped his fingers and each of the chakram burst into hot flame, Roxas' image incinerating with a murderous scream into ash and then nothingness. Still Axel's amused grin didn't leave his face. "Heh. Still just as much a bastard human as you were a Nobody, Zexy." The flame returned to him, swirling round back to the chakram they were which he grasped, toying with them in his lanky stance.

Zexion allowed each page to move back to him only for them to twist and turn around his body. He didn't seem at all taken aback that the illusion he had created had been destroyed so easily. "You haven't changed much either, Axel." He kept careful eyes on the Heartless, yet his own expression remained nearly emotionless. "This time around I won't be taken down as easily as you can clearly see. An advantage of finally being whole." His one eye narrowed on the Heartless. "Something that will never be within your grasp."

Axel shrugged in his battle stance. "Sticks and stones." He thrust out his hands, the chakram turning to flame so they could unlink themselves, churning in the air freely. "But paper BURNS!" The fire wall fell together like a fierce tidal wave, crashing down upon the illusionist it had caged.

As the fire fell the paper around Zexion flew around uncontrollably, making it hard to see the figure that had once been behind the thin pieces. Ashes flew every which way as the paper burned under the heavy heat. It was under the smaller flames that there was no real body to be seen, only the strips of paper that had somehow survived the horrible burning.

From behind Axel warm breath could be felt on the back of the Heartless' neck while words were spoken. "Will Roxas cry if you were to die?" A strip of paper was placed on Axel's skin near his back, made to suck out whatever energy it could as soon as it made contact. "Or will the Key of Destiny simply continue to never care for lonely number eight."

Axel's eyes widened a little; the little illusionist was a crafty one. Of course stepping into the ground zero of several flaming chakram wasn't exactly 'clever'. He grunted; damn paper. "... At least eight is a bigger number than six!" He grasped onto the floating chakram at his sides, throwing his arms forward; the other hovering chakram dove towards Zexion.

Axel raced forward, going after Vexen next. He held the chakram tight, spinning on the ball of foot as he swung at the other Heartless.

Zexion was forced to side step the chakram that had been aimed for him, but still received a deep gash in his shoulder despite his try at dodging. He ignored the wound and called forth more paper, using it to stop the chakram in their path. The weapons were sucked up onto the sheets with a loud sizzle. The edges of the paper burning until the weapons were completely caught. Zexion ignored it all and turned a hard glare on Axel's retreating form. "Amateur." The word was spat out under his breath.

Vexen had taken a few steps back as he watched Axel hurry towards him. He still held Ikurx tightly against him and had been watching the entire fight between his partner and the Heartless play out. A cruel grin came to his lips and as soon as Axel seemed ready to strike Vexen pulled Ikurx in front of him, using the Nobody as his own shield. "Careful, Axel. How will you help one Nobody if you kill the other?"

Axel skidded hard on his feet, the fiery point stopping dead just a few inches from Ikurx's face. The Nobody's breath caused the fire to flicker, his glazed eyes still dead to the world flickered to life as he realized his face had been near impaled. The shocked gasp from the teen had Axel leaping back a few steps.

Axel casually twirled his weapons, his eyes narrowing. "I thought I smelt a burning rat. I'd expect no less from a low leveler."

Ikurx's eyes grew wide and he jerked back, bumping into Vexen. He raised his hands as if that would be enough to shield him from the fire user.

Vexen ignored the biting words and allowed both his hands to rest rather roughly on Ikurx's shoulders, keeping the teen pinned as he was. He bent his head low and kept glowing eyes on Axel even though his words were for the Nobody in front of him. "This is Axel. He is one of the few I told you about. He needs you for his own selfish reasons just as much as the rest of us do, but it's funny..." He trailed off as he smirked. "He doesn't seem to care much for your safety."

Ikurx stared wide eyes. What colour was left in his face blanched.

Axel reached behind himself to finally yank the strip of paper off his back, shaking it Vexen's way, furious. "You're the one that's using the only thing in existence that can make us whole again as a human shield!" The paper burst into flames, incinerating into nothingness.

Vexen only watched as the ashes fell to the floor. "And you're the one who feels the need to run around and set everything you see on fire like the over eager pyromaniac that you are." His eyes roamed around at the ashes that were still scattered from various papers from the earlier fight. He turned his gaze back up to the Heartless and titled his head to the side. "Who knows what would have happened had the fail safe been caught in the midst of it all. It certainly wouldn't have been my fault."

"That's why back stabbing," the coo of a female voice whispered much too closely near Vexen's ear. So sweet like an endearing lover as five blades, or rather five sharp clawed fingers, plunged themselves into Vexen's back. "is such a preferred tact." She plunged her hand forcefully deeper.

Vexen's entire body locked up at the sudden intrusion through skin and his hold on Ikurx grew even tighter. "Larxene..." He choked the name out through a grin despite the pain. "How nice of you to join us." There was obvious sarcasm in his voice.

Zexion's one eye narrowed at the scene. He knew Vexen was no real fighter and was in no position to do so anyway. Thankfully he still had a small trick he could use for his own and Larxene's attention was too focused on Vexen anyway. With a quick flick of his wrist he called forth Axel's chakram which had been taken captive by his paper and sent the weapon heading towards Larxene to impale the Heartless where she stood.

Halfway to its mark the chakram was slammed down to the floor by a heavy steal blade that curved around the edge, making the obvious weapon a very large scythe. The blade stayed in the floor, keeping the chakram held down as the owner of the scythe's eyes stayed narrowed on the chained weapon that had been heading for the Heartless. "It seems you'll have to try better then that." Eyes rose to stare at Zexion before they turned to look towards Axel.

Axel took a step back and then another. He tried to give a nonchalant chuckle, but it was nervous at best. "... It seems we have a regular reunion on our hands." His eyes fell on the shaking Nobody in Vexen's grasp. He knew exactly what was to come next. He sprinted forward to grasp Ikurx's hand, yanking the teen forward and out of Vexen's death hold as Larxene let lose a powerful volt from herself straight into her hand inside the other Heartless.

Axel called back what remaining chakram he had left to spin around him aflame, knowing now he was the biggest target of them all with the kid in hand. Ikurx clung to Axel, since he had no other choice; he didn't want anymore hurt. His eyes darted wide from one person to the next.

Vexen's entire body shook with the force that the lightening caused at such close range. He didn't even seem all that troubled that Ikurx was snatched away for the moment, too focused on the powerful jolts being sent through his body. He refused to make any form of noise, though. He didn't want to give Larxene such satisfaction.

Vexen's defenses went up and although he wasn't a very good fighter, he refused to stand there and take what was given to him. As Larxene kept her claws buried, Vexen lifted his own hands and brought them backwards despite the jolts moving through him, and placed chilled hands on the other Heartless' arm. Instantly ice began to cover her skin as Vexen started to pull Larxene's arm out of him, and he left her arm numb for the moment while he pulled himself off her claws. As soon as he was free he let her go and jumped away to a safer area in the room, holding one hand to his wound while the other wiped blood from his mouth.

Zexion relaxed as soon as Vexen had been able to free himself, but still his eye stayed narrowed on each of his former partners. His gaze turned finally to the chakram that were still being held captive by the large scythe. Zexion held out his hand and summoned the linked weapon back to the paper it had been bound to, having complete control over it now that he had been able to capture it on the strips of paper. As soon as each piece was back on the paper Zexion straightened up and turned his gaze on Axel out of them all, watching his weapons spin around him. "What's wrong, Axel? Not feeling quite as cocky anymore?"

"Heh." Axel loosened his stance, taking the time to casually run a hand through his spiked hair. "I've got more than you do, paperboy." Even if all four of his old comrades were now against him. He took a cautious step back. "You know as well as I do that Marluxia planned with Larxene to take over the company." Amusement played over Axel's face, and he splayed a hand out casually as if the conversation wasn't over such tense circumstances. "Zexion, Vexen and our dear departed friend Lexaeus decided to turn the tables and tried to capture Riku. Ironic justice was it? Pitting Riku against Sora." He laughed through his teeth. "No, not really."

Larxene had been furiously trying to wipe the last of the ice off her arm. She swiped her long clawed arm to the side, the last of the ice and water splattering to the floor. She floated a little higher, her claws poised as she gracefully sat perched on Marluxia's strong shoulder light as a feather. Her glowing eyes moved to the Heartless she wounded who had slipped into the shadows of his own destroyed domain. She had her vendettas marked.

Marluxia had pulled his scythe free of the floor as soon as there was nothing under it any longer. He straightened the weapon, holding it near his side and only gave Larxene a small glance, but said nothing to the Heartless. His attention was immediately back once more on Axel. "You act as if you're the most innocent of us all. There's no real justice in anything you've done either and the reason you're standing in this room trying to fight us is just all the more shameful at best."

Paper which held chakram spun around Zexion in a twisted sort of circle. The wound that had been on his shoulder had finally stopped bleeding for the moment, but even then he still didn't seem to notice it. "Giving yourself one too many enemies has come back to haunt you, Axel." Although Zexion knew that Marluxia and Larxene weren't only after Axel's blood. Still, it put the Heartless at a disadvantage that he and Vexen were quite willing to take.

Axel laughed at Zexion. "You're just upset because I killed Lexaeus' Heartless." He grinned wryly. "And Riku killed your Heartless; I felt it. No doubt everyone else did." He took another subtle step back. "But look at you: bleeding all over the place. Shameful. Is being human again really so worth it?"

Ikurx stared at Zexion, through him. He suddenly felt light headed, and he caught himself before he staggered into Axel. This would have been dangerous given the situation.

"Now you're just Xemnas' little scientific lap dog again." Axel tapped his lips. "What was your human name again? Ienzo! Little Ienzo." The spinning fiery chakram had come to rest at either of his sides without notice as he belittled Zexion. "Either way- fire still beats paper!" He threw his hand forward and either chakram flew forward spinning, a fierce wall of fire trailing behind them as they cross paths in an X, barraging either teams of two as Axel turned and ran. "Run- kid!"

Zexion didn't seem to care about the sudden fire keeping them all held captive. He was too angered by Axel's words to him. He could feel more emotions then he ever could as a Heartless and especially more then he could as a Nobody. He wanted nothing more then to be rid of Axel once and for all. The paper surrounding him moved forward and the chakram flew forth into the fire, looking for the target it had been sent after to impale the one it once belonged to.

Marluxia wasn't far behind, taking advantage of Zexion's sudden anger to use his own tactic along with it. The scythe in his hand was let go and flung towards the chakram so it could twist and turn around it, making the weapons even more dangerous for the one they were headed for. It would not be a pretty sight when they landed their mark.

A high pitched sound pierced the air that dulled as it faded out. The sound brought on a rumbling throughout the room before four geysers made their way out of the floor, stopping the deadly weapons that had been on a search for the fire user. The weapons were thrown aside by the force of the water and a few of the flames easily fizzled out as drops rained down before the geysers disappeared.

A hand had shot out to grab Ikurx's shoulder before the teen had a chance to follow Axel's orders and soulless black eyes with nothing but white depths looked around the room cautiously since the fail safe was suddenly in their possession.

Vexen looked on in disgust and annoyance. This was one thing he hadn't been expecting, but he tried to keep his composure all the same despite the wound he was still trying to pass off as nothing. "The frightened mouse crawls out of his hole. Amusing..."

Axel blinked, absolutely startled by who had Ikurx now by the shoulder while he still had the teen by the wrist. "Demyx?" Despite the save he still tightened his hold on Ikurx's wrist. He let out an amused sound. "You of all halves I didn't expect to find here." He reclaimed his chakram; they burst into flame, returning as tattoos.

Larxene swiftly flew from Marluxia's shoulder, a toe touching down on the black water causing a small ringlet of ripple. She retrieved Marluxia's scythe from the ground, twirling it once with ease before gripping it tight between her clawed hands. "Especially when the odds are so stacked against you, water boy." She sneered her sweet smile.

Demyx flinched at Larxene's tone of voice and her choice of words. They all knew him so well. He wasn't one to jump into a fight so easily, nor was he so quick to volunteer. He could feel the Heartless behind him stepping closer through his own black water that he had summoned, but still he didn't move. The once bright blue sitar hung at his side no longer shaped with the Nobody's symbol, but that of the Heartless and colored in black with flecks of red.

Still, Demyx kept a tight hold on Ikurx and only seemed to notice Axel's grip for a second before he raised his eyes to look at the Heartless he stood only inches from. "I want to feel whole too." It was a simple answer to why he was acting so rashly and spoken only to Axel instead of the entire group.

Axel was taken aback. He knew Demyx wasn't one for confrontation, so it startled him to side with himself instead of the other pairs against him. But the offer was there, at least for the convenient moment. "Heh. Who ever heard fire siding with water?"

Ikurx was getting tired of being the living tug of war in this crowded battle. Afraid for his life or not he rather be with the lesser of evils in the room; he couldn't help being biased, having peeked into personal lives through physical contact. "Team up with him already."

Axel was surprised to find the Nobody had spoken up, and so boldly of all times. It was true though, he had no qualms with Demyx; neutral territory was good enough for him. He stuck out his hand towards Demyx offering truce. "Good enough for me."

Demyx's eyes widened only a bit at the gesture. It wasn't that he wanted to fight Axel. It was just that he hadn't expected the other to side himself so easily. It caused Demyx to grin and take the other's hand with his own free one to give a quick shake.

As soon as he let go, Demyx jumped to the side to face Larxene and Marluxia, letting go of Ikurx in the process. He knew now was not the time to be cowardly, and the sudden alliance had given him a little bit of purpose to at least try. He swung his sitar around from his side to his front and easily ran his fingers down the strings that rested on the instrument causing a low, melodious sound to move throughout the room. The black puddle the geysers had caused began to move upward into a watery tunnel, making its way towards Marluxia. Demyx knew better then to mess with Larxene for the time being. Lightening was not an element he was fond of.

Marluxia only narrowed his eyes as the water grew closer to him. Larxene had taken possession of his scythe, but that didn't leave him totally open. As soon as the water started to get too close the Heartless waved his hand out, summoning dozens of black petals that proceeded to surround the swirling water. They moved around the vortex, keeping it in place and continuously draining each bit of water into the petals until the vortex completely weakened. Marluxia gave a calm smirk as he watched and turned his eyes to see Demyx's annoyed and nearly fearful expression. "Still as weak as you always were..."

Larxene laughed as she raised the scythe up high, volts of obsidian shaded electricity racing up her body into the curved blade. She then slammed the blade into the watered ground, the vicious current spread through violently, conducting well since water was washed near over everything.

A second downsides to his ally's power Axel realized. He snapped his hand back to gather an immense ball of fire only to chuck it into the watery current with explosive results. Dark steam whisked through the air; perfect cover.

Axel didn't think twice and yanked Ikurx with him from the scene. Of course he didn't count on Ikurx lashing out a hand to grab Demyx's shirt in their get away; Axel hadn't counted on the tag along. Bringing Demyx only meant they'd be that much slower. Though Axel kept his disappointment to himself; he wasn't about to break the treaty just yet.

Axel yanked them along as he tried to run while they still had the luck of cover. "Hurry up." He hissed his whisper. "If we can make it to the surface we can make a get away. Vexy probably has the heart of this world teaming with his own Heartless lackeys." Which he cussed; the heart of worlds were practically a welcoming open door for ins and outs of Heartless.

"W-What?!" Demyx's panicked voice followed Axel's words as he tried to keep up with the two as he was pulled along by the Nobody. "You mean we won't really be in the clear?" He glanced back at what they had run from and could see some of the smoke starting to lift from his vantage point of being the last in line. The others would easily be after them as soon as they could see again and it was horrible odds. The two of them against so many and with what Axel said even if they did get away they still had plenty of rouge Heartless to tend with. He was starting to rethink his sudden decision to have a back bone.

"Didn't you notice anything coming here?" Axel glanced back with a scowl but then just as quickly a cocky grin; he knew something the other two obviously didn't. Then just as quickly he skidded to a stop, literally skidded, and the others bumped ungracefully into him.

The area around was unbearably cold, although it was only Ikurx who remembered to shiver.

Axel let go of Ikurx and stepped away so he had a good amount of space. "This planet is mostly made of ice." He crossed his arms and summoned the chakram chain with a flash of black flame. Ikurx squeaked having seen those things work at first hand, and he clung onto Demyx.

Axel threw his hands upward and the chain burst into flame easily shooting straight through the hardened ice ceiling with no resistance at all, continuously digging upwards towards the surface. "It makes creating an exit quite easy." He flashed either a rather sly grin.

Demyx had watched the scene with wide eyes. He was rather familiar with Axel's element so it didn't scare him much like it had Ikurx for certain reasons and he let the Nobody cling to him. The new look to the weapons and such did entrance him a bit though, and he found himself staring until Axel grinned at them and that's when Demyx bowed his head, giving a nervous laugh. "I guess I just wasn't being very observant on my way here. That's all. We were all in a rush I'm sure." He looked back up at Axel after those words.

"Amazing." Ikurx stared upward; he was impressed to say the least.

Axel glanced past Demyx as he heard the sound of an intense battle for the race to get Ikurx from either of them. He pointed a finger upward to the long tunnel he'd made. "Care to give us a lift, Demyx?" He shrugged out his arms with a smirk. "That is unless you'd like to ride a pillar of fire up to the surface."

Demyx quickly lifted his hands to wave them back and forth. "No, no! That's okay. I'll do it!" He dropped his hands to push Ikurx away from him so he could have some room to himself and brought his sitar around much like he had before. Only a few strings were plucked, but it was enough as the ground below their feet moved and shifted and soon a large burst of water rose underneath them to lift the three of them up towards the tunnel while Demyx continued to keep his fingers on the strings.

Axel crossed his arms and glanced around, watching the rushing walls of smoothed ice go by. "Hm. Seems you've proved useful after all." He then gave the other Heartless a narrowed eyed smirk.

Ikurx looked from one Heartless to the next before hesitantly asking in a quiet voice. "... You two aren't going to stick me full of wires... are you?"

"That's not funny..." Demyx mumbled the words as he tried his best to glare at Axel. The question from Ikurx pulled his attention away and without even pulling his fingers away from his instrument he was still able to answer the teen with a suspicious gaze. "Wires? No, I'm not going to stick you full of wires. I just want a favour." He said the words as if they were the most obvious thing in the world. "Vexen ran some of his tests on you didn't he?" It was an obvious question after having spent so much time with the Nobody of the scientific Heartless. As the water started to reach the end of the tunnel Demyx stopped playing with the strings, allowing the rest of the pressure to push them along on its own.

Ikurx rubbed his arms, shrinking into himself; he could still feel the little needle tips buried deep in his skin, the sickness and pain. But it was the way Demyx worded the way he wanted him to use his gift. 'A favour.' Asking, not torturing into submission. That's what caught Ikurx's attention.

"Vexen always was Heartless." The comment slipped out of Axel. "What he is suits him perfectly." He muttered with distaste. He patted Ikurx on the shoulder more warmly, trying to assure the Nobody and grinned holding up two fingers. "Sign me up for two more of those favours, eh."

Ikurx glanced from one to the other; either had their reasons, but Vexen's words still haunted the empty echo of where his everything should have been. He wasn't so sure of anything right now. He kept flitting between a body that attempted pretentious emotions and a dull nothing his mind wanted to slip into. There was something very simple and painless about not caring, not feeling.

Ikurx just lowered his head and continued to rub his arms.

The entrance towards the surface was just in sight. But still Axel sighed, though it was more dramatic than anything. "Wonderful. Vexen broke our trump card."

Demyx continued to keep his gaze on Ikurx. He felt a little sympathetic towards the Nobody. He didn't have the same hatred or need for silly revenge that the rest of his former partners that they had left in the smoke did, which was why he couldn't help feeling a little bad for the teenager.

Demyx did have one drive though, and it's what caused his gaze to turn back to Axel. The other Heartless' earlier words made him think and remember something important. "Two favours?" He mumbled the question. "You're really going to do it." His tone suddenly turned bitter which was something rare for him. "Even though he was a traitor..." The water underneath them shifted and became shaky because of his switch in mood, but thankfully the entrance was finally near enough to allow them off.

"I was a traitor." Was Axel's simple answer and he shrugged just as simply as his chakram returned to tattoos on his arms. "And here you are helping me."

"Precisely." The voice was neither Demyx nor Ikurx but spoken in Axel's blind side. Axel didn't have time to turn around and see before a decimating blow sent him flying to the aside; his limp body skidded along the harsh tundra, crashing straight into jagged icy mountains.

Demyx had watched the scene as if it happened in slow motion and stared at Axel's limp form with wide eyes. Without thinking about his own fear he pushed Ikurx behind himself and turned to where the source of the attack had come from. His hand moved down in one quick flick of strings, letting out a much louder melody then any of his other attacks. "Dance water dance!" As the words were shouted puddles of black water came up from all around himself and Ikurx to form dark translucent clones of himself that begin to circle the two of them.

Just as Demyx was about to summon the clones to attack he got a look at just who it was that had hit Axel. His eyes widened and he finally allowed the fear to surface instead of his sudden bravery. The clones stayed right where they were, but he could still feel some of his control slipping.

Ikurx had clung to the back of Demyx's shirt and he peeked around the other to look at what had him so frozen. His eyes grew perfectly wide around and he shrunk back behind Demyx.

As a Heartless Saïx was the physical embodiment of his element as a Nobody; 'The Luna Diviner'; a fierce Heartless, with sharp feline features that were as cold and unkind as the moon itself. His sleek tail was the only betrayal of his reserved emotion, lashing lazily behind him; he saw Demyx as harmless.

Saïx raised a clawed hand stoically to clutch one of the water clone's heads, and with a sudden clench of fist squished its head with a messy splatter of black water. The rest of the clone splattered to the ground as water once again.

Demyx swallowed hard at how easily the one clone was taken out and back stepped, causing Ikurx to move with him. Saïx wasn't someone he had expected to see. Although, he shouldn't have been surprised. Saïx had been Xemnas' number one lackey despite his lower rank. There was only one real reason he would have been drawn in by the light that had brought them all to Vexen's hide out.

Demyx suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes as he remembered why he had started fighting in the first place. He tried his best not to show his fear, but it was still there as he plucked a string, sending the rest of his clones towards Saïx. As soon as the clones made their move he ran his fingers down the rest of the strings while his other hand moved along the neck. Multiple geysers shot forth from the ground and traveled their way towards Saïx at a fast pace.

Each clone was taken down with but one swing of Saïx's hand, splattering black across the pure white of ice. With a dashed leap he was out of the geyser's path and beside Demyx's, his hand snapping out to grab the other Heartless' neck in a vice grip.

"It seems you too betray Xemnas' memory." Saïx calmly spoke. His hand slowly closed, although Heartless didn't need air to live, the crushing act was just as delightfully painful.

"D-Demyx!" Ikurx darted from his hiding behind Demyx and summoning his angelic weapon he swung it hard against Saïx's arm that held him. But it was to no affect. Ikurx's gasped, eyes widening, and he received a blow to the face for his efforts with Saïx's free hand which threw him back to fall on the cold hard ice.

Demyx panicked in that moment. He wasn't able to concentrate, nor able to see his instrument as he was, which left him without his own element to maintain in the situation he was in. He had flinched when Saïx struck Ikurx, but at the same time he had his own problems to deal with. "I'm not betraying anyone. I just have my own reasons for fighting. That's all..." The words were mumbled out to the dangerous Heartless that held him.

Cracks began to form in the ice surrounding the area and followed a crooked path until they found their way towards Saïx. There the cracks stopped and the ice that had been under the Heartless started to tangle itself upwards to cover his feet and legs in a chilly embrace.

"I suppose I should thank all of you for making this so much easier on me." Vexen's voice came in the same direction as the hole which Axel had created much earlier. His hands lay on the ice where the cracks started near his fingertips. "Saïx, what a nice surprise." Although his tone said quite the opposite. Zexion stood behind him looking the worse for wear, more then likely from the battle to follow along after the trio. His human body taking on more risks, but yet he still acted as if none of it mattered.

"Don't forget me!" Axel appeared again, battered and covered in ice, black bleeding down his pale face. "I'll show you how it's done, Demyx!" He grabbed the handle of Demyx's sitar and swung it with all his strength against Saïx's head. The feline Heartless was caught by surprise and still pinned to the ice he took the hit and let go of Demyx.

Demyx fell rather ungracefully onto the ice, not expecting to be let go so suddenly. He stared up with wide eyes at Axel who had found a new use for his weapon and suddenly all he could do was stutter. "A-Axel!" The name came out rather loudly and in a panicked voice as he tried to get back on his feet. As soon as he was he yanked his sitar away from the other Heartless and proceeded to look over it as if it were a child and not an instrument. "That's not how you use it! Are you insane?!" He was about to continue when he seemed to realize he was still very close to Saïx who's legs were still captured. He gave a startled noise and backed away as quick as he could, holding his weapon close even though it had yet to do any good other then as a bat.

Demyx was lucky for Saïx made a swipe for him and nearly took off his head. He then swiped at Axel but missed when the fire user darted from his grasp. He growled loudly, baring teeth and went to smashing and clawing the ice to free himself.

Axel shoved Demyx towards Ikurx. "Never mind the damn guitar- Get the kid and get out of here!" He leaped aside and summoned up his chakram chain, crossing arms so either swung around him in their rows. "I'll catch up with you later." He skidded to a stop on the ice between all three of his former comrades and Demyx. The corner of his lips tweaked up and he grinned at all three. Self sacrifice; damn, third time would have been the charm.

Demyx looked around at each of the other three Heartless before his gaze turned back to the one he had allied himself with. "Axel..." His eyes narrowed after the other's name fell from his lips, but there was a sad look on his face despite his soulless eyes. "He's not worth this." The words were quietly spoken and whether they were heard by the fire user or not, Demyx didn't seem to care. He turned his attention straight to Ikurx and made his way over to the fallen teen. As soon as he was close enough he used his abused sitar to strum a few notes, causing giant geysers to swirl around them and keeping them hidden for the time being.

Vexen's eyes had followed Demyx's every move. While his one hand tried to keep a steady control on the ice surrounding Saïx, his other moved away so it could slam down across from Demyx all the way on the other side of the icy ground. He watched as cracks began to spring up, making their way towards the water that Demyx had created. The water started to freeze up and become completely solid until there wasn't a drop of the black liquid left dripping on the ground. With that observation Vexen slammed his hand into the ground and the crystals shattered one by one.

Vexen watched as the crystals fell only to reveal an empty space where Demyx and the Nobody had once been. Only trails of darkness slowly fading away, making it obvious a portal had just been closed up. The look on Vexen's face was one of murderous intent and he immediately turned it on Axel.

A wide sadistic grin was waiting there on Axel's face for Vexen. "Just too, too slow old man." He stretched out his lanky arms proving there were no chakram to be seen. Of course everyone had surrounded Vexen from above while the Heartless had been busying himself with stopping Demyx. "This is twice now; how sad." He threw his arms forward and each of the chakram with blistering heat dove towards Vexen.

"You're in my playing field now, Axel." Vexen spat the words out as he twisted both his hands in the ice below him. His control on Saïx slipped completely just so he could use the ice under him to mold it over himself as a makeshift shield as the chakrams dove at him. Each of them slammed into the ice. The heat easily caused it to melt, but for the most part Vexen was safe from a demise he had met before.

Zexion was quick to bring forth paper to capture the chakram which continued to try and melt the ice surrounding Vexen. The paper immediately began to burn, but Zexion didn't plan to keep the weapons for long. He turned the thin strips towards Axel and sent the weapons right back towards the Heartless, but didn't seem to care if they impaled him or he caught them. His only concern was something else while his eyes traveled to Saïx who had been let free. "You let the fail safe go so easily. Your goal was just as important as ours and now that weak little coward has him, but whose to say he hasn't been fooling you all this time." His eye narrowed. "Now you're just as much out of luck."

Saïx looked unimpressed with the entire ordeal but soon his long pointed ears perked up and he adjusted his stance to something more solid as his attention turned to a far plain of ice. Soon there a large explosion burst forth from underground and up flew the thunder nymph herself, still clutching Marluxia's scythe quite delicately between her claws.

Larxene wasted no breath on words to give her old comrades time to act. Instead she jolted the scythe with raw imploded energy and speared it into the ice dead center of them all. On impact the electrical energy exploded out of the scythe in jagged waves throughout.

Zexion allowed more paper to twist around himself, but there was only so much it could hold up against. Strong currents of electricity wasn't one of those things and he was pushed back and slammed into jagged rocks of ice, feeling more pain then he ever had as a mere Heartless. The paper that had once surrounded him vanished in an instant since he couldn't keep control.

Vexen tried to keep up his own shield, but the fact that most of it had been melted away thanks to Axel caused it to be weak and he was forced to let it drop away and crack under the pressure of the energy. As he fell back he manipulated a few shards of ice, molding them into sharp picks and sending them Larxene's way.

Axel strained to block the colossal attack with his chakram, but the force was too strong and he didn't have the energy from the last blow he took from Saïx. His chakram flew away, black flame melting back onto skin. He raised his arms to try and save himself what little he could, grounding his feet. But in the end he was thrown back.

Larxene easily smashed the ice shards with her claws with a laugh. She flicked the shining icy fragments from her sleeves. "Ice, Vexen? Really." She sighed.

"Incompetent traitors." Saïx glowered, the electrical attack faded the field, still licking down his form causing pain he ignored; he'd known far greater pains than this. "This I just don't have time for." He pointed a clawed finger Zexion's way; Ansem's youngest assistant, Xemnas' as well. "You." He treaded across the ice towards the human's shambled form. "You finally have what you desire." He narrowed his eyes, tail lashing with impatience. "Will you take your proper place and return the favour to the one you owe this 'second chance' to." Saïx's tone left no room for questioning or second chance.

Zexion allowed his gaze to travel up to where Saïx stood. One of his hands had moved to his side where his back had collided rather hard with ice, but otherwise he showed no real pain and let go to allow his hand to fall away. Slowly, he stood up, refusing to say a word in response to the animalistic Heartless. Only a slight smirk tugged at his lips while he pushed his hair back only to let it fall back to place as soon as it was let go.

The area started to grow colder then it had already been, though none of the inhabitants aside from Zexion would really notice. Still, it was the entire atmosphere that changed around them as a shadowy figure took shape behind Saïx, moving in close to breathe down the back of the Heartless' neck; the wispy hair unmistakable and the cold golden eyes just as familiar. "Just like all the rest you fail me. So weak in your own wants that you let what is needed escape so freely." The voice became lower as the body moved closer. "You're the incompetent one."

Vexen had turned his attention away from Larxene and tried his best to stand as soon as his eyes caught sight of Saïx. It was Zexion's behavior which had him narrowing his eyes and he knew something was up the moment he felt as if even he couldn't stand the area surrounding them. The planet had started to feel even more shrouded in the darkness then it had previous been. That's when Vexen noticed the familiar figure and his mind caught on. He knew the trick, but it still unnerved him to no end to see who it was.

Black petals twisted around beside Larxene and fell away as Marluxia's form came to be. The Heartless had been a silent observer since their break from down below, allowing Larxene to have her fun while he watched from the icy rocks beyond. It was only in this moment he stepped in to watch the scene with narrowed eyes from a closer vantage point, his full attention on the figure behind Saïx, rather then Saïx himself.

Everyone waited with baited breath, eyes captured at the now living image of a man they knew far too well. A man that stopped the battle right where it was with his very presence. The familiar sound of his voice caused now existing hearts to skip livid beats.

A dangerously cold wind blew across the now silent scene, and the sound of ice swept across the tundra beside feet could now be audibly heard. The wind blew Saïx's now longer bangs, each strand gently wavering beside the other.

"... How insulting." The words were whispered indignance as Saïx eyes narrowed sharp at Zexion; this was not an illusion he would forgive. Midnight light shattered from his fist, moonlight falling away as he summoned his awesome claymore.

Zexion didn't seem at all threatened by the sudden weapon in Saïx's possession. "Insulting?" He shook his head, causing his hair to move aside for only a second. "Actually, I find it amusing." He took a step backwards and jumped up to kneel, crouched down on the rock which he had been thrown against earlier. "The mind holds our thoughts. It's just as vital as the heart we all craved so much for." He bowed his head a little as a sadistic look crossed his features. "Obsession." He glanced towards Axel. "Loyalty." He turned his eyes back on Saïx. "Each are so easy to take advantage of so quickly."

The figure of Xemnas reached a hand up to brush across the Heartless' neck almost gentle, but fingers started to tighten. The hand began to encircle Saïx's neck as fingers dug into skin as tight as they could much as the Heartless had done to Demyx. There would be no breath taken, but the pain would still be there.

"... Everyone has a vice." Saïx spoke hoarsely through the grasp, still as icy as the area about them. His hold on the claymore never hindered. "Not admitting to your own makes yours all the more pathetic. You're nothing but a weak, insignificant trickster; hiding behind other's illusions because you're too feeble to fight for yourself."

"...Heh. I think I've lost my reason to stay." Axel murmured to himself as he slunk back along the ground. He subtly called a portal to crawl into.

Marluxia's attention moved towards Axel's attempt at escape. The battered and beat fire user wasn't nearly as subtle as he liked to think. Marluxia wanted to take the chance to go after him, but he noticed in the corner of his eye Saïx's temper flaring. His own chance at revenge would have to wait and instead he followed Axel's example. He called a portal behind himself and Larxene, grabbing onto the girl and pulling her into it before the worst could happen.

Saïx said no more, unnatural light gathered at the star end of his sword and he slammed his weapon with all his force where Zexion perched, the impact violently explosive throughout that side of the face of Vexen's ice planet.

The explosion seemed to rock the entire planet. Ice cracked and broke. A few of the icy rocks around fell apart, causing the area to shake from the force. The explosion caused ice to turn to snow, and as it all started to settle and fall the one place where Zexion had sat, perched in such cocky way, was suddenly empty. Papers flitted down and twisted in the air with the snow to land on the ground. A few feet away darkness curled on the ground, fading away to nothing before ice covered the area. Vexen's own escape.

The illusion of Xemnas slowly loosened its grip. Fingers fell away to touch neck and shoulders until the image of what had once been the Nobody started to fade away since the controller was no longer there to control it. As soon as the hand fell completely the illusion was gone and Saïx was left on the chilly planet alone.

A sigh of breath finally left Saïx's lips, but it wasn't warm enough to mist the air. He ripped the claymore from rock hard ice, letting it thud to rest heavily at his side. His breath dusted away the snow that fell near his face as he looked up at the sky.

"... I'm sorry, Master." Saïx too slipped into the darkness, leaving the desolate icy wasteland.


	15. Chapter 15

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 15

The End of the Worlds had been left behind by one very determined mouse and a broken and defeated teenager. As soon as the dark portal had swallowed Riku up there had been nothing but silence between Mickey and Sora. The boy didn't know what to say or think despite Mickey's optimism that they would never be apart. Sora didn't feel that way anymore when it felt as if everything was pushing them away.

Mickey had at least been somewhat successful in coaxing Sora to follow him out of the world, telling him that they needed to find their friends and continue with their mission. Nothing would make the smile return to Sora's face, though. It was that which troubled Mickey the entire time they walked the familiar path through the woods Sora, Donald and Goofy had taken before. Mickey found it would have been easier to retrace the steps taken to find their friends, but with the card gone that Sora once had in his possession there was one small flaw.

As it grew darker it was decided that they could use a break, something that Sora didn't protest to. He only watched as Mickey lit a fire for them to rest near and took the food that was offered to him later on without even a word of thanks or even a sound. He stared dully into the fire until it completely died away, listening to Mickey urge him to go to sleep before the mouse did the same himself. Sora didn't have much energy either way and found himself easily drifting off among the ground below.

The night was warm; there was no need to huddle under blankets when the sky was so clear with stars. A soft wind rustled leaves, sending a few to flutter on the breeze only to land on the curled form of Sora. But even the comfort of nature wasn't enough to sooth the restless sleep and numbed mind of the teen.

Shadows barely danced under the moon light, and in them something lonely could only keep stayed in their watch. But here, in night, while all was asleep; perhaps it would be alright to give in. Although they waited until either was sleeping deeply.

From Sora's shadows another figure drew from, appearing to kneel beside the sleeping boy's form. A gloved hand reached up to pull away the blind fold, letting it fall disappearing back into shadows. Riku reached over and plucked one of the leaves off Sora, dropping it aside before he dusted the rest off, just needing a reason to touch.

"... He could have at least taken you to rest at an inn." Riku spoke ever so quietly, resting his hand on his own knee. "Sleeping outside you'll catch a cold." He softly chastised, even though he knew the weather was pleasant, his voice ending in a sad chuckle. He swallowed, closing his mouth. Sora always looked so inviting to crawl up and cuddle warmly against him. The sorrowful look on Sora's soft young face tugged painfully at Riku's chest, and he wanted all the more to slip beside Sora and keep him tightly in his arms.

Riku's hand rose again and he faltered, hand shaking a second as it hung in the air. Frowning at himself he touched a few strands of Sora's hair with his gloved fingers. But that wasn't enough. Yet it was all he let himself make do with.

"... Nice night." Riku barely whispered. "Not as nice as Destiny Island's nights but, it still has some of the same stars. Right?" He ran just a few fingers through Sora's hair, petting the soft brunette hair back; wanting to ease that sad expression from Sora's sleeping face. "... At least that's what you'd say. Something like that doesn't sound right coming from my mouth." Riku paused in his actions and frowned more. "... You always knew when I'd have a bad dream... that's why you left your window open just enough so I could pull it open and walk in." A smile tinged the corner of his lips. "Even when it was cold or raining and your mother got mad because we'd both have colds and had to stay home together."

Riku drew his hand from Sora to pinch high up on the bridge of his nose, his eyes ached so badly. He let out a shaking breath, lowering his hand again. "... Sometimes I wished people could hate you." His hand tightened as he looked away angrily. "As much as people can hate me. Kairi always looked at you like I did. But she always looked at me... as if she was afraid." He let out a very small distressed noise. "Sh-she knew. The dark... I..." Riku looked back down at Sora. "... I just wanted her to look at me the same way she did at you. I tried to save her like you would. I was going to do it _better_ than you. ... But you had to save me too." His eyes rose to Sora's sleeping companion. ".. -you and Mickey."

Riku touched Sora's furrowed brow, drawing his thumb across so the rest of his hand could brush against his cheek. "... Just keep your window open for me, okay?" He let the words quietly leave him. "... Don't leave me outside all alone... in the dark."

During the small pets and quiet words, Sora had uncurled himself from the fetal position he had taken to in his sleep as his body seemed to ease up. The tense expression had remained on his face despite as he continued to rest less then peacefully throughout.

It was the touch to skin from rough gloves which had blue eyes fluttering open in their light sleep. A distressed noise left lips as Sora awoke from the only peace he had from the rest of the worlds, even though it was still far from any peace he wanted.

Sora moved a hand up to rub at tired and abused eyes, but was stopped by the feeling of a gloved hand resting on his cheek. It immediately got his attention even with his tired state of mind and his eyes followed it to the source.

A soft 'shhh' quieted Sora's waking noise. The touch of the familiar hand brushed against Sora's cheek again, unfaltering this time. It was too dark for Sora to see his company, but the hushed voice gave him away. "Go back to sleep Sora. Everything's alright." Fingers ran assuringly through Sora's hair. "You -you just fell asleep by the beach again." Riku prayed Sora's mind was too hazy to question such romantic lies. ".. I'm here. You can go back to sleep again."

"By the beach?" Sora's hushed voice was barely heard, hoarse and thick with sleep. His eyes narrowed in curiosity and for a second it seemed as if he would try to look around to confirm such a thing, but it was too dark and he was still feeling too sleepy. His groggy mind gave into what Riku told him for the time being. "Alright..." He quietly agreed as he finally rubbed his eyes.

Sora didn't want to just lie back down, though. He scooted forward to where he heard Riku's voice and reached out a gloved hand until he felt the other's body. As soon as he could feel Riku he cuddled close to the taller teen, not understanding why Riku wasn't near him to begin with, and proceeded to lie across the other's lap until he was settled with his head near the other's chest. It was then that he allowed himself to try and relax again, shutting his eyes.

Riku's heart beat heavily in his chest, but he wasn't about to end such a wonderful farce so soon. He loosely allowed his arms around Sora, though he wanted so badly to clutch Sora in his arms. Instead he busied himself with petting Sora's hair. Though with aggravation for his glove he yanked it them off with his teeth before he continued to run his fingers through the other's hair. He brushed Sora's bangs aside, tucking unruly hair behind his ear, though it never listened.

"... Do you mind if I still talk to you?" Riku barely spoke. He knew he wasn't the chatty one between them; Sora always had to drag his words out most of the time. He hoped that wouldn't alert the other in anyway. "I mean... you don't have to listen. Just keep sleeping."

Sora shook his head, but the action was so small that it couldn't really be seen. "Mmm..." He let out the quiet sound which signaled that it was perfectly fine. He leaned his head into the touches given to it while he cuddled closer to Riku, enjoying the contact as he rested.

Riku let out a little relieved sigh masking it as a normal exhale. ".. K-Kairi's going to be mad if she finds out we camped out here without her." The girl's name brought a pang to his chest; why he felt the need to bring the girl up with Sora now conscious, he wasn't so sure. Maybe it was to help prove that things were as they'd never be again. "... But she never liked to stay out late, anyway. .. I do. It's nice and quiet when everyone goes home." Riku held Sora just a little closer, cradling the other in his arms. "... and I can practice my sword fighting in peace. And swim. It doesn't matter to me if the waters colder." Riku went quiet a moment and he gave a small sad sound of amusement before he murmured to himself. "... Makes me wonder why I hate being alone so much when I am alone so often."

"Everyone hates to be alone..." Sora's small voice was muffled and nearly slurred as sleep still clung to it. He had listened to Riku's words and tried to keep a conscious mind, but he was still teetering on the edge of falling asleep at any moment. "...Just because you want personal space every now and then doesn't mean you have to suffer for it..." He shifted to crawl closer up and bury his face against Riku's shoulder. "...'Sides, you're not alone..." Those few words were nearly whispered out as a quiet yawn.

Riku swallowed thickly but rested his head against Sora's. He stroked a few fingers against Sora's cheek as he tried to keep his composure; but his heart ached. "You always have an answer for everything." He wrapped his arms more possessively around Sora, feeling so guilty for the farce. Sora's understanding was always so overwhelming. "... I always wondered how someone like you could love a someone like me." The words just left him before he had a chance to reconsider, and now he regretted it; but he couldn't stop. "... Especially when a someone like Kairi matches your light so perfectly."

"Doesn't matter how much we match." Sora nuzzled his face near Riku's hand, letting out a small little sigh afterwards. "...You're the one I love...I want to be your light." He let out a small sound after his words as if they were more then obvious. "...Promise I always will be. Kairi will understand 'cause you and I mean so much to each other..."

Riku went silent; he didn't think he could say anything without breaking their little illusion. "Sorry... I'm keeping you awake. Go back to sleep." He lowered his hand so he could cuddle Sora tighter, enjoying the feel of his light warm and comfortable against his chest. He leaned his head down so he could press an endearing kiss on Sora's forehead. His lips lingered there and as he raised his head again he had to fight himself to keep the choked sound that wanted to escape him; he hoped Sora could forgive this little white lie. "... Sorry." Riku murmured, masking his apology for what he felt.

Sora gave a small shake of his head, as much as he could for how sleepy he felt. "Mmm...don't mind." A tiny smile had come to his lips when he felt the kiss, which was such a change from the earlier worry and sadness that had been covering his face. "I like staying awake with you...like talking with you. I'm okay..." Though his tone had grown much drowsier.

Riku leaned his forehead against Sora's head. "You're so bad at staying up all night." But some how he managed to smile; perhaps it was just to mirror Sora's. "... But I like when you stay awake with me too." he added quietly after.

Riku shut his own eyes, Sora was the epitome of comfort and his drowsiness was catchy. He didn't want to think about their current situation anymore, he just wanted to be lost in the idea, the illusion they really were on their island. So he did like Sora always did and thought of the most obscure thing his mind could reach for and blurt it out to light the situation. "We should get married." Riku paused and blinked; perhaps that was _too_ obscure. But it had him, of all people, of all times, laughing.

The words caused Sora to let out a very sleepy giggle that was muffled since his face was pressed against Riku's side, but still it joined in with the other teen's amusement. A yawn stopped his laughter and as soon as it passed he was able to speak up. "Right under the paopu tree...right in our spot..." The smile that had been on his lips turned into a lazy crooked grin that he tried to keep held in place. "Then everyone can see just how much we love each other...that light and dark can never be apart..." A gloved hand idly began to run through strands of silver hair since they were so near. The actions lazy as fingers only played with the tips of Riku's hair.

Riku moved his head so his long silver hair hung over Sora's face like a veil, brushing against his features pleasantly. Riku's smile could only grow wider; Sora's laughter always brightened his heart. "And, of course, you get to wear the big, poofy, white dress. A tiara. High heels. The bouquet." His shoulders shook with the new laughter that wanted to leave him; the mental image of Sora staggering around in such get up was just too funny.

Sora let out another childish giggle despite the fact he had just been poked fun of. "Mmm...no fair. I don't wanna wear a dress." He ran his fingers through each strand of hair near since Riku had moved his head so close. The actions were still just as lazy as they had been before. "...Unless my mom makes me...she can be pushy...but I don't think I'll do well in high heels." He gave a small pout. "I'd fall over in the sand..."

Riku couldn't keep the laughter in if he tried, a carefree sound that he tried to muffle against Sora's shoulder. Sora's drowsy words were just too pricelessly entertaining not to give into such good humour. And it was such silly moments like these that he realized just why he loved his childish friend so much; and just that much more now.

Riku tried to talk through his laughter, but it came out shaky and most likely hard to hear. "I- I could carry you across the sand. Or I could wear the dress." He snorted. "I think I could brave the sand in high-", he choked on a laugh, "heels. My hair is longer, but you'd look better with ribbons and flowers in your hair. And in the stockings."

"Nooooo...stockings would be itchy." The words were drawn out and whiney, but immediately after he spoke them Sora gave Riku another lazy grin. He pulled on the other teen's hair in a playful gesture. "I'll wear the flowers...you can wear the ribbons." He twirled a few strands around a gloved finger. "...We can get the girls to braid it for you."

Riku's chuckles slowed and he leaned down to place the softest of kisses on Sora's lips, grinning playfully after. "Only if you help."

Sora's tongue darted out to lick at his lips after the kiss and stayed out to hang out the side of his mouth. He gave another quiet giggle after the words and brought his tongue back in so he could speak. "...I could help. Selphie taught me how..." His fingers tried to twist at strands of Riku's hair, but only started to bunch them together more then braid them. "...Too tired right now. Maybe later..." He gave up, but a smile stayed on his lips despite the fact.

"You must be tired, especially if you admitted knowing how to braid hair." Riku turned his head to kiss Sora's hand before resting his head back against Sora's. "But... I'll let you braid my hair all you want tomorrow. Okay?" He smiled a little, a pang of sadness running through him at the thought of tomorrow. "You're the only one I trust, besides myself, to touch my hair."

In Sora's state of mind he seemed so surprised by such a thing that he let out a small noise. "...Really?" The shock left just as quick as it had come as Sora's mind was quick to change the subject only slightly. "...You have such pretty hair, Riku..." He blew on the strands that were still near his face. "...That's what the girls would say and I think they're right. You do. It's so pretty..." He let out another yawn after his last few words trailed off.

Riku blinked but soon chuckled. "Thanks, I think. I guess it's good that you like my hair." He ran a few fingers through Sora's, brushing it back away from the teen's face. "Yours is nice too. Suits you. It's as bouncy as you are." He ruffled it to prove his point; it bounced back into place despite the treatment. He tilted his head to one side. "Of course, if we get married, you have to wonder what kind of hair our kids will inherit. They'll be one crazy Sora-Riku hybrid, won't they?" He was back to the quiet immature laughter again.

Sora's own laughter mixed with Riku's although it was much quieter and drawn out. "...I think we'd make pretty kids..." Although the idea was impossible, Sora's foggy mind was making him talk nonsense no matter what. "Especially if they have your eyes...'cause I like your eyes." Sora poked a weak finger at Riku's shoulder. "I like looking at them..." He let out another giggle that was even drowsier then the rest. "I just like everything about you..."

Riku took up Sora's hand that poked him, raising it to hold before he raised it to lean his cheek against. A sly look spread on his face. "Bet I could top that." He playfully challenged.

Sora's laughter died away, but a small smile still stayed on his lips. The fingers on his hand which was held twitched out of instinct before he answered with a playful tone. "...Then try to."

Riku leaned his head down so he was nose to nose with Sora, his silver hair brushing down on Sora's face giving them their own little personal privacy. He smiled his grin. "I _love_ everything about you."

Despite how tired he was, Sora's smile widened at such words and he let out another small little laugh as he moved in to try and kiss Riku. His aim was completely off and his lips hit the other's chin instead, but he didn't seem to care much as he pulled back still just as happy. "...You're so sweet, Riku. I love you..." He snuggled in closer to the older teen, letting his head nuzzle under Riku's chin.

"Mm." Riku hugged Sora tightly, cuddling him warmly, since he didn't know when they'd be able to have this luxury of being so carefree. "You sound like a teenage girl when you're tired, Sora." He chuckled lazily. "You should just go back to sleep before you break something and stay this way." He held Sora just that much closer even though he chuckled at the teasing.

"Do not...and will not..." The two arguments were spoken so weakly from Sora that they held no real merit. It was easy to tell he was finally giving into sleep cuddled so close to Riku as he was. The closeness was just so comfortable that he couldn't hang onto consciousness anymore and didn't really feel as if he wanted to. "...Mmm...Riku...don't go home...stay with me while I sleep..." The last few words were mumbled under Sora's breath as the smaller teen started to drift back off.

Riku gave a nod against Sora's hair, nuzzling at the same time. He gave Sora a small squeeze in his arms. "Okay." The one word left him in such a small voice. So he stayed that way, listening to Sora's breath slow and deepen. He curled closer around Sora's dear sleeping form, burying his face in Sora's hair. He didn't want to leave, but he didn't think he had the strength to stay either.

"You're being rash, Riku..." The voice didn't come from Sora this time around, but from the other side of the small camp that had been made. The two teens hadn't exactly kept very quiet with their laughter and giggling, so it had woken the other inhabitant up long ago, but he gave them their space since it had seemed to cheer Sora up from his depression.

"What will you do when he's coherent and fully aware that you're near? He was able to let you go once. You two can't keep doing this." Mickey's voice was low as to not awaken the keyblade master in Riku's arms. With the way Riku had acted in The End of the Worlds he knew he was taking a risk with the teenager's temper, but Riku was his friend and with Sora near, maybe the boy would stay calm. "You both need the time away. To think things through and realize what's important."

Riku didn't answer right away; he was too busy coddling the sleeping form in his arms, feeling just how fragile Sora was with his guard down, so peaceful. Then bitterness shot through Riku as Mickey's words finally settled in and he snapped out the first words that came to him. "Obviously what Sora and I find important isn't what's important to you. But you'll send us apart until we say what you want us to say." He clutched Sora possessively, as if the mouse would suddenly take the teen from his arms there and then.

Sora shifted under Riku's sudden tight embrace. A quiet noise escaped him, but unlike before he didn't awaken. His mind much more at ease then it had been earlier and allowing him a deeper sleep.

Mickey only watched from where he had sat up and gave a sad sigh. "Riku, you're a dear friend to me and I know that Sora means a lot to you. The problem is the two of you are only getting hurt worse by being together." He looked away towards the woods nearby and continued to keep his voice low as he went on. "Sora's mindset has changed completely because of you. He's no longer worried about others around him and only wishes to search the darkness for you."

"Then there's you, Riku. You threaten both friend and foe if Sora's smile fades away." Mickey turned his eyes back on his friend and a worried expression came over his face that was hard to see in the dark. "You can't save him from everything, Riku. There are other people that Sora needs to protect and there are demons that you need to face on your own."

Riku's hold on Sora lessened, and he looked like that of a small child who'd just been kicked by someone he loved and trusted. He bowed his head letting his long silver hair over shadow his expression as his brows furrowed. His skin prickled and he suddenly felt cold, despite the warm body nuzzled against his chest in his arms. Riku's eyes stung but he refused to show any of the hurtful betrayal that he felt. He just wanted to hold Sora for a little longer more. For now even Mickey wanted to push them apart.

Mickey continued to watch his friend with sad eyes. He hated to see how his words had affected Riku, but they needed to be said. The decision both boys had made to stay alone without a care made it obvious how irrational they had been thinking at the time. Still, Mickey didn't say anything else. He only kept his gaze on Riku and Sora before he turned it away back to where the fire had died out long ago; letting Riku have the time he wanted with his friend.

Riku didn't move or say anything else after, he just held Sora as if the boy were some precious doll of his, clinging to it as if that's all he had in the world; and in truth, it was.

Even in his sleep Sora clung in return, gloved fingers gripping the fabric of Riku's clothing possessively as he slept. Breath ghosted across Riku's hair, making it sway as every few now and then Sora let out a small sleepy sigh during his rest. It was while the smaller teen nuzzled his head down closer to the other's chest that Riku's name was the thing that fell from his lips as a quiet sound during his peaceful sleep while his hands gripped even tighter.

"... I'm so sick of being alone." Riku slowly shook his head. "Always alone." His voice ended shakily. "As if that's my destiny, to be alone in darkness fighting myself. Forever." He swallowed quietly. "... The darkness doesn't seem so lonely when he's around. The dark is bearable. And I can stand myself."

"Sora's fighting for all of us." Mickey started speaking after Riku's words. "He follows his destiny so he can keep all of us safe, and that includes you as well." He narrowed his eyes. "I don't force Sora into such situations because I like to. I want him to fight so he can save all of us from what continues to threaten us. In order for him to keep the dark away from you, Riku, he needs to do what he's been chosen to do. Not just stand by and wait." A soft sigh left Mickey before he went on. "Don't ever think of yourself as alone. You'll always have friends like me and people who care deeply for you like Sora, even when you're taken in so much by the dark that it seems like there's no way out."

"... His destiny chosen by the keyblade-" Riku lifted his head so he could pin Mickey down with a cold stare, "or you." He held Mickey in his gaze. "... The lines are blurring between the two, I think. And I don't think you understand the balance between light and dark. Light can't dominate the worlds, just like darkness can't. And just like the keyblade protects the world of light, there will be something as equally strong acting as the counter part." Riku sightlessly brushed his fingers through Sora's hair. "... I think the wiser choice would be to have darkness as an ally, than an enemy." Riku smirked, just enough to cause Mickey's hair to stand on end. "... But we could always wake up Sora right now and ask his opinion. He is the 'chosen one' after all."

"I don't think that's wise, Riku." Despite the sudden fear Riku's change in mood had placed in Mickey, he still tried to keep his own sort of calm. He didn't want what happened before to happen again. It would only tear Sora apart even more so. "The both of you would only be repeating the hurt that you just went through before, and I know even you don't want to see Sora go through that again."

Mickey turned his attention away from the two teens to look at the ground under him. "I wish it was so simple as to just give in and make friends with the darkness, but it can't be that way. It would be dangerous to align ourselves with such a thing and even now to do so would be putting ourselves at risk. It should be even more obvious to you with what Sora is going through because of Roxas." Mickey shook his head. "Axel doesn't want to make friends or allies, Riku. He only wants what he's searching for and nothing else. The rest of our enemies are no different. It's why we're fighting...to put a rest to it all and when it's all said and done then you'll have your freedom again as well."

"... Roxas isn't evil." Riku quietly spoke up. "That was my first mistake I made when dealing with him. He's _not_ evil. He's misguided. A part of Sora that didn't know what to do- so he clung to the first hand that outstretched to him." Riku looked down at the sleeping face against his chest. ".. Just because you want to be needed and you make the mistake of trusting the first ones that take you in doesn't make you evil. And you shouldn't be continuously punished for your mistakes." Riku's eyes flicked back up on Mickey. "You want to cut the disease at its source? If you had been helping Sora to start, Roxas wouldn't need to exist." His hands started to tighten into fists. "... You're not the one that has to pick up the pieces. After all this you'll go home to your castle, and all will be none the wiser."

But just as quickly as Riku's anger came, it went. "... Roxas isn't evil. He's just lonely and tired of being manipulated and lied to." Riku sighed, his breath mussing Sora's hair. "... I have to learn to love every part of Sora if I'm to save him." He lowered his head down to rest his nose and lips in Sora's hair.

Mickey's ears drooped at the last spoken words. He felt so bad for the two teenagers. They were going through so much, but there wasn't much he could do to help them. He couldn't just tell them to return home. It wasn't that simple. Not with Riku still trapped in darkness and Sora's own being threatened the way it was. They would still continue to suffer no matter what.

"Riku..." Mickey started to speak, but his words were quiet and hesitant. "You might just be right, but what Roxas is doing now is beyond any form of reasoning. He's trying to take the person you care about all for his own personal gain." Mickey's voice started to become a little louder as he tried to make the situation clear to his friend. "When the two joined it was my belief that Sora would continue to be his own person. That Roxas would help the other grow stronger in a sense. I never thought something like this would happen. Something so dangerous." He shook his head. "It's not something that can be easily fixed in a day, Riku, and not something that can be so easily fixed by just love when the other half is trying to break away."

Riku slowly narrowed his eyes on Mickey. "... We don't need your help. Not from an incompetent king."

Mickey frowned at such words. "Maybe I am incompetent. I will admit that I haven't done the best job saving the worlds on my own, but Sora has done his part so well." He looked away from Riku's narrowed gaze. "At least I can get some satisfaction out of knowing I was able to help you so long ago, Riku. You could at least try and remember that. I never wanted to throw the two of you back into this. I wanted you both to have what you deserved, but things can change so drastically. It's no one's fault. It's the world around us that changes. Destiny can do more harm then good."

Riku raised a hand to press it against his forehead; his thoughts were hazy, fogged up, clarity was getting harder when his selfishness wanted to take control. He was arguing against Mickey, belittling a friend who requested their help and they'd accepted; but here they were fighting against it. He couldn't think so clearly. He knew he should have followed Mickey's advice and left before he did something foolish. But Sora's unconscious grip only kept him anchored there.

"... Mickey." Riku started, sounding as if he'd just woken up from a bad dream. "I'm sorry. I'm not who I thought I could be." He raised a hand and from it fell tumbling the blind fold. He began to carefully tie it over Sora's eyes instead of his own; protection, it would hide painful truths and keep hearts safe from darkness. "I may start to act like an enemy, but I hope you can find it in your heart to continue to think of me as your friend." The darkness began to swirl around him as he held Sora close in his arms. "... I'm taking Sora." He smiled with sincerity, sadness in his eyes. "You're welcome to stop me. But I will hold back nothing, dear friend."

Sora shifted only slightly in Riku's arms as soon as the blindfold was fit around his eyes. He let out a small sleepy whine, but just as soon fell silent again and relaxed in the other's tight hold around him.

Mickey stood up instantly as soon as he saw the darkness swirl around. He was on alert and looked back and forth between both boys. Riku, who suddenly seemed so tortured and beyond repair, such a difference compared to the friend he had left behind on the island a year ago. Then there was Sora, who was so lost and frightened without the one he cared for most that he had no real fight left in him.

With those thoughts Mickey stayed perfectly still. No keyblade was summoned and no harsh words were thrown out, only a sad smile for his friend. "I've never once thought of you as an enemy, Riku." He relaxed as he shoulders slumped. "Just...please, try to take care of each other for as long as this fight allows such a thing..."

Riku gave a sad nod, and that's when the hot tears finally fell down his cheeks. He bowed his head trying to hide them with his hair, but they only fell down onto Sora. "... Thank you, Mickey."

The mists of dark captured around Riku and Sora, devouring them into shadow. Riku lifted his head giving his dear friend one last smile; though it was filled with guilt it was also grateful. And soon the darkness swallowed them up, dissipating into nothingness, leaving Mickey alone.

Mickey watched as both of his friends disappeared completely from the dark woods. Only a heavy sigh escaped him and he looked around. He would now be alone in his search for his two companions. He hoped more then anything that he would be able to find them easily, but when he did he had no idea how to tell them what had happened to Sora or Riku for that matter. The news would not be good.

With so much on his mind, Mickey settled back down in the small area he had been using to sleep in. Suddenly sleep wouldn't come easy for him, but he forced it. He would need it for the long search he had in the morning.


	16. Chapter 16

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 16

Sit and wait. That's what they were forced to do ever since Demyx had brought himself and Ikurx through the dark portal to a hidden spot away from the battle. The spot he chose was his own private place. A simple little beach near water which he had taken over some time ago with a few of the rouge Heartless he was able to command. Few meaning only a handful that hadn't really listened to him at all, but still he had the place to himself in the end.

As soon as the portal had closed, Demyx had wasted no time seating himself on a rock to stare out at the water. His expressions were easy to read and worry was one of the more obvious at the moment. He hadn't even seemed to care what Ikurx did with himself as he looked out across the water that had become blackened because of his take over of the beach. As long as the Nobody didn't try to make a sudden break for it, then other wise Demyx could have cared less.

Ikurx had stayed by Demyx's feet at first when he gained consciousness from the hit Saix had given him. He thought better than to pester the Heartless, who seemed to have plenty on his mind. So Ikurx sat and watched the other Heartless that wandered and wiggled on the beach. These Heartless were much smaller and less dangerous looking than the ones that Ikurx had ever seen, but fear had him pinned beside Demyx.

Eventually curiosity got the better of Ikurx when one little Heartless wiggled near him to have a look for themselves. Ikurx stared at it with wide eyes before he reached out and gave its head a poke; its head was skooshy, and it jiggled with the poke. Ikurx blinked and gave it several more pokes before patting it. The Heartless wiggled and decided to run off. Ikurx laughed, getting up to chase it. But just as quickly the little Heartless was joined by several others that occupied the beach and soon Ikurx stopped the chase with a squeak and turned tail to be chased after by the small herd of Heartless instead.

Demyx perked up at the sudden commotion just in time to see Ikurx run by him trailed by the Heartless he had around the beach. "Uhh..." The confused sound escaped him as he tried to make sense of the scene, but just as quickly he shook his head and started to call out to the tiny little creatures he tried so hard to have control over. "Hey! Leave him alone!" Of course it didn't do any good and they just continued to chase him. It caused Demyx to frown and raise a hand to scratch the back of his head. "Well, damn..."

Ikurx ran the other way, back to Demyx. Without warning he jumped onto the rock the Heartless sat on and clung to him. The Heartless that had chased him paused as they had been thwarted, their twitching heads looking at the rock, pawing it, trying to get the one they were chasing to come back down.

Demyx nearly tumbled over with the force Ikurx had used to cling to him. The rock wasn't really that big to begin with anyway. "H-Hey!" He shouted the protest then looked down at the tiny little creatures trying to get Ikurx to come back down. "Shoo. Go away!" He almost let out a terrible whine when they still refused to leave. "Why won't any of you listen to me? Just once would be nice." He looked back at Ikurx and narrowed his eyes. "You're a nuisance." He spoke as if it were entirely Nobody's fault.

Ikurx blinked but instead of letting go or getting off the rock he poked Demyx's head like he did the little Heartless below. "You're not squishy like them." He gave a slight nervous smile. "Demyx, right?" He glanced down at the little Heartless, who were now trying to climb up Demyx's leg to get up at Ikurx. "Th-thanks for..." Ikurx paused for a word, he wouldn't call what was done 'rescuing', Demyx wanted what all the other crazy people back at the ice planet wanted. "For- not sticking me with wires." Ikurx concluded. His smile dropped when the Heartless got nearer and with another squeak he hid behind Demyx's back.

"Y-Yeah, sure. I told you that you didn't have anything to worry about." Demyx mumbled the words quietly until he turned his attention back on the Heartless below much like Ikurx had. "Okay, now this is just getting annoying." He didn't want to harm what little lackeys he had, but if they wouldn't listen to him then he had no real choice.

Demyx moved his arm out and black water soon started to pool around it. In a few seconds the sitar formed and took shape which he immediately grasped. He wasted no time in running his fingers along the strings, causing a low tone to come forth and small jets of water to burst forth all around the rock. It wasn't intended to harm the Heartless that surrounded them just something to make them scurry away and leave them alone.

Ikurx watched the Heartless run away, although one some how got on top of one of the geysers and was bouncing around on the jet of water. He laughed a little. He crawled off the rock once it was safe and faced Demyx with a slight smile. "You're not like them. I mean, like Vexen or those other people fighting, or the little squishy wigglies here." He smiled a little more and stuck out his hand in greets. "I'm Ikurx."

"Not like the others?" Demyx narrowed his eyes at such a thing before he shrugged his shoulders. "No, I guess I'm not." He looked towards Ikurx and at the teen's outstretched hand. Without thinking he took his own hand away from the strings and grabbed Ikurx's own to shake. Doing so caused the water around to collapse and the Heartless which had been bouncing on top to quickly run off. "Uhh...oops." Demyx shrugged his shoulders and took his hand back, allowing the sitar to fade away with a splash of black water.

"So, Ikurx." Demyx leaned back on his hands to get comfortable on the rock once again. His eyes strayed away from the teen and back to the water, but he continued to speak up to the other. "You said Vexen did tests on you. What all was it that he did? What did he put you through?" Demyx knew Vexen could be cruel, so he was curious to know what tortures their fail safe had endured.

Ikurx's stare dulled, and he shakily raised his hands to rub his arms, huddling in on himself. He could feel the sickness from that memory churn in his stomach. Quickly he shook his head. "... I rather not talk about it." He looked away, his eyes falling half shut. He could still feel the cold metal of the chair, the dull fever behind his eyes, and the words that cut away the life from his very insides. Ikurx didn't want to remember that.

"It must have been pretty bad then." It was an obvious statement, but one that Demyx used to let the conversation slide. "Axel was right about what he said. Heartless really does suit Vexen. I guess some things don't really change all that much." He turned his eyes away from the water to look back at Ikurx with a serious expression. "You know why we're all looking for you, right?" He thought about his own words and shook his head. "Well, I guess you do. We all saw Zexion..."

Ikurx gave a small nod; Vexen had made him understand quite well 'why'.

Demyx blinked his eyes at the Nobody's sudden quiet attitude. He felt slightly bad for bringing up such things and tried his best to lift the mood, giving a small laugh. "It's a little funny when you think about it." He turned around on the rock to completely face Ikurx. "All of us playing tug of war over one Nobody." He reached a hand out to poke a finger in the middle of the teen's forehead. "You're a lot of trouble." A small grin came to his lips despite his own worries.

Ikurx blinked a few times, going cross eyed to look at the finger poking him. With another blink he looked at Demyx and the attempted carefree grin. The Heartless was far better company than Vexen, so Ikurx attempted to relax a little.

"Am I?" Ikurx supposed he was. "Guess I'm bad luck too." He tried to smile a little. But just as quickly as it came, it left his face. "So, Mister Demyx, why do you want me?"

Demyx's own smile faltered and fell away as well at the question. His hand fell down to rest in his lap where it twisted and pulled at his pants. "The same as everyone else I suppose." He thought about those words and shook his head. "Well, not everyone. I'm sure some of the others have different reasons." He turned his attention back on Ikurx and shrugged a shoulder. "I just want to feel whole and to feel complete. To feel absolutely everything so..." He trailed off and stopped, shutting his mouth quickly. His hand fell back down on the rock and he shook his head. "That's all I want from you."

Ikurx let out a gentle laugh, smiling after. "You're nervous." It was a refreshing change that he rather liked. He'd never seen anyone act nervous around him; at least as far as he could remember. But there was something genuine about Demyx's nervousness that he liked. He wasn't sure why.

"No I'm not." Demyx mumbled the words back at the teenager. "I have no reason to be nervous. Why should I be nervous?" He realized he was rambling and quickly quieted himself, looking away from Ikurx the moment he did to turn his eyes back to the water. "I'm not nervous. I'm just fine." Still the few words continued to slip past his lips and he narrowed soulless eyes after they were spoken.

Ikurx couldn't help but laugh a little more and tried to hide it behind a hand. He cleared his throat. "Yes, of course not." He turned to glance at the dark water, lapping at the beach like liquid obsidian. "It's very nice here. A lot nicer than that planet. It's peaceful here. Like the church... before they destroyed it." His smile faded and he looked down. A moment later he looked back at Demyx, speaking quietly. "... I'll be honest with you if you'll be honest with me."

Those last few words grabbed Demyx's attention again. He seemed a little hesitant to just up and agree to such a thing, but so far the teenager hadn't been all that bad. It couldn't hurt to go along with the little deal. "Alright, sure." He spoke quietly as he looked back at Ikurx.

Ikurx smiled once before he took in a long shaky breath. He grasped the star charm, and although he knew he shouldn't be feeling emotions, it gave him a little bravery. "H-he strapped me to a metal chair in the dark. He kept putting wires with little needles on the ends into my skin. He told me I was a 'Nobody', and that I couldn't feel emotions. I was just a living, unfeeling tool that everyone wanted." Ikurx looked down. "... I knew he wasn't lying." He fiddled with the star. "... He then injected me with this purple liquid. It hurt... a lot... even though I'm not suppose to feel emotions. It still hurt." He swallowed thickly, his voice falling very quiet. "... But even though the pain was unbearable, I couldn't cry... I wanted to, but I didn't."

Throughout the entire story Demyx felt himself flinching. He knew Ikurx probably went through something horrible, but what the Nobody said was worse then he could have imagined. At the end of the story Demyx let out a sigh and bowed his head. "We were all Nobodies once. All of the people fighting over you. It's true what Vexen said. Nobodies have no feelings. There are no hearts to feel with." He shook his head from side to side. "I never wanted to believe such a thing, though. I always told myself we did." His eyes narrowed once more. "We were all fighting so passionately. We had to have hearts..."

Ikurx slowly nodded, silent for a moment before speaking again. "But, aren't you that half now?" He rested out either hand in example. "Nobodies." He raised one hand. "Heartless. The names didn't make sense to me when Vexen told me." He lowered his hand and gestured to Demyx. "You have a heart now. Right? Can't you feel now? What's so great about being whole?" He didn't know why the question left him; maybe it was anger for being continuously used.

Demyx smiled sadly at the question. "I have a heart, yes, but it's not exactly complete. As Heartless we can feel emotions, but the emotions that take place above all are bitterness, anger, hatred as well as emotions that deal with pain or anguish." He looked down at the sand that rested under the rock. "We can't even sleep. We can't even breathe in the air. Our revenge and need for what matters most to us is what's driving us on." His eyes slipped halfway shut. "To be whole would mean we would be able to feel everything. Every emotion we ever wanted when we craved the real hearts we were searching for. It would make every bit of difference..."

Ikurx looked down as well. Feeling such painful emotions sounded just as bad as having no emotions at all. Either half needed each other to be a true, happy, free person. "It sounds so nice to be whole." He softly nodded. "... I can understand now why everyone wants to steal me, and use my gift. But, everyone seems to have their own reason." He raised his head to look at the heartless. "Can you please tell me yours, Mister Demyx?"

Demyx lifted his head so he could look at Ikurx's face. He was hesitant once again to answer such a question, but he had also agreed to be honest with the teenager. There was no going back on such a thing even though he was the one that had the Nobody held captive and could pretty much do whatever he wanted. He just didn't feel like such a thing was right.

With an annoyed sound Demyx turned around again to face the water. He at least felt the need to look away from Ikurx when he answered. "My reason is annoying and never listens. My reason acts like I don't exist and when he does it's only to poke fun at me." Demyx flicked at an invisible piece of debris on the rock, just wanting something to keep his hand busy. "My reason has his own reason that isn't me." His voice lowered with those last few words and had a bitter edge to it.

A look of confusion crossed Ikurx's face. He scratched the back of his head as he tilted it. "That reason... doesn't sound like a very nice reason." He paused. "Can a reason even have a reason? It seems kind of repetitive." He looked upward as he thought that over but just shook his head. "So- you want to be whole because um... your reason doesn't like you?" He was lost.

Demyx snapped out of his thoughts and the hardened expression that came to his face fell away. "Hmm...no. That's not it. I want to make him understand that he doesn't just have to live for that one person. That they aren't worth so much pain and torture." He shook his head. "Not after what they put him through." He looked back at Ikurx finally and shrugged a shoulder. "I want to be whole and hope that I can convince him to be whole with me."

Ikurx smiled just a little at Demyx's words. "You want to be whole to make someone else whole." His expression softened. "That's amazing." He crouched down and traced little meaningless swirls in the sand as he spoke quietly. "I think you are very different than what you're said to be. I don't think you're 'heartless' at all. Even if you feel bitter emotions, your intentions are very sincere."

Demyx blinked wide eyes at such words. He hadn't thought of the situation in such a way. It caused a small smile to come to his face, but just as quickly it fell away when he thought of just who he had been talking about. "Yeah, well, I'm sure he would disagree with you on that one." He turned his attention away to look back out at the water. He was starting to get fidgety and a little more worried. How long had it been since they came through the portal? He lost track of time so long ago.

"You never know until you tell him. Unless you have." Ikurx started writing letters with his fingers; I. K. U. R. X. The same name Vexen had wrote for him. "So, tell me about him." He rubbed out his name and started anew, drawing something else. "Tell me why you like him."

"Tell him..." Demyx echoed the words then immediately shook his head. "No, I've never told him anything. I've never had the chance to." Before he went on to answer Ikurx's other questions he called forth his sitar once more. It would help him relax to just play around with the instrument. He held it in his lap and plucked at the strings, watching as the black water in the ocean rippled and moved around with each melody he created.

"He's very obsessive. He never thinks before he speaks or even acts for that matter. He never followed orders all that well." Demyx spoke while he watched the water he controlled move about, finding that the words came easy. "Yet, even with all of that nonsense he's the reason I always believed we had hearts, because he always seemed to have the most free will out of all of us which was something I guess I somehow grew attached to. I guess that's why..." He trailed off.

"He made you feel whole. Like you had a heart." Ikurx crossed his arms and rested them on his knees so he could rest his head down on them. "... I think that's the same reason I like helping people find what they've lost. It makes me feel happy when I see how happy I've made them. I make them whole again, and I feel whole again inside." He smiled a little sadly. "Vicariousness I guess."

"It feels good to feel whole. To feel like a part of you is at least somewhat complete, no matter what circumstances caused that feeling." Demyx continued to run his fingers lightly along strings, watching as a small vortex of the black water started to rise up. "It's why you helped Vexen, right? He wanted to bring Zexion back and it made you feel good to do it for him even if he was a total jerk about the entire thing to you."

Ikurx looked up at Demyx; he hadn't expected the heartless to hit the reason so dead on. He turned to watch the water Demyx controlled, mesmerized by both sound and sight. ".. It's what I was made to do. 'Made to do', as Vexen said." He watched the water, dropping the topic. "You play very beautifully. I like it." He shut his eyes just to listen. "... I don't think I've ever heard music before."

Demyx smiled a little at the compliment. Something he had never gotten before. At least not that he could ever remember. "You might have. You never know." He allowed the small vortex to grow larger before he ran his fingers sharply across strings, causing it to break apart and rain droplets of water back down into the ocean. "But, if what you say is true then I'm glad you enjoy what you're able to hear for the very first time." His smile grew.

Ikurx lay down on the sand, resting his head on his arms. The sound of the sitar was only sweetened by the sound of the water lazily lapping at the beach. There was a gentle nostalgia to it, though he couldn't place what of or where from. It was pleasant.

The Heartless didn't bother Ikurx, even while the teen was so plainly lying on the sand. Ikurx didn't have a heart so they found no new interest to chase after him. One did wiggle over to Demyx, reaching up to pull on his pant leg.

Demyx nearly whined at the disturbance. The little creatures never gave him any rest since they never wanted to listen to what he said. "What?" He looked down at the small Heartless while he shook his leg, hoping to shake it off while he tried not to lose his concentration.

The Heartless cocked its head up at Demyx, antenna twitching this way and that. It pointed over far across the beach where a dark figure lay prone across the sand; it was the striking tips of red hair that gave the familiarity away.

Demyx turned his gaze up to where the small Heartless had pointed and what he saw caused whatever grasp of concentration he had to fall away immediately. The water fell with a splash back down in the ocean and his sitar faded away. "Axel!" He shouted the name as he jumped off the rock and headed towards the still figure. He skidded to a stop in the sand and fell to his knees, reaching out a hand to place it on the other's shoulder, shaking lightly.

Axel looked thoroughly scraped up, and he didn't seem to respond when Demyx shook him. Though as Demyx's panic grew a sudden weak conk to his head was received, Axel lowered his fist with a groan.

"Think you could have picked a more obvious location." Axel chastised in a hoarse voice as he rolled with a thud onto his back. His pale face was streaked with liquid black, the rest of him singed making who had attacked him the second time quite obvious. Though somehow despite Axel managed a wry smirk. "All you need is a giant sign that says 'welcome to Demyx's humble abode'. Maybe in neon blue."

Demyx lifted a hand to rub at his abused head. His eyes narrowed on Axel's body, but there was concern in his eyes for how badly beaten the other Heartless looked. "It's not obvious. You told me to get Ikurx out of there and I did. This is a safe hideout. I've been able to stay here by myself without anyone bothering me yet. So, why not bring him here?"

"That's because no one considered you a threat before." Axel shut his eyes, content to just lay there prone on his back for a moment. "How do you think I found you?" He made a small sound of aggravation in his throat. But his eyes opened again and he grinned up at Demyx. "Heh. Thanks." He gave a cocky sniff. "Never expected anyone in our little special club to not be out for my blood. Least of all you. I'd of expected you to stay clear of us all, drinking martinis on a tropical island or something."

Demyx dropped his hands back down only to dig at the sand that was underneath him. "Not everyone is as pissed off at you as you may think. You slipped by a few of us. Besides..." He glanced down at his hands. "I told you back there that I had my own reason." He raised his eyes back up to look at Axel and frowned. "It's no big deal. Right now I feel bad that I can't heal you." He gave a small smirk. "Unless you want me to douse you with water, but I think for you that would make things worse."

Axel closed one eye and glared up at Demyx with the other. "Douse me, and I burn you."

Ikurx had been watching Demyx and had started walking towards the two, and now came to kneel beside either of the Heartless. He gave a slight grin. "I don't know how to heal, but if you died, I could bring you back good as new."

Axel glared up at Ikurx. "Not helping either." His response only had Ikurx muffling some laughter.

Demyx tried his best not to laugh for fear of Axel really going through with his earlier threat. Even if he could just cancel out the Heartless' element he'd still rather not try it. "Sorry, Axel. Guess you're just out of luck." He looked over the other's wounds. It wasn't hard to tell what happened to him. "Larxene did a number on you." He cocked his head to the side and his eyes narrowed a little. "You should have run away with us when you had the chance, ya know. You shouldn't have stayed behind."

"I know, self sacrifice isn't really my forte. It was my Nobody's." Axel shrugged, ignoring the pain the action caused. "Unfortunately he's dead, so I had to step in and take his place." He huffed. "Besides, even if I had died there and then, you'd make sure to bring me back. Right, Demyx?" Axel looked up at Demyx with a half lidded gaze, that same smirk of his returning to his lips.

Demyx found himself fidgeting with the sand beneath his fingers once again when the question was asked of him. Of course that same bitterness that had shown itself a few times before tried to surface and made its way into his answer as well as his expression. "Why? So you could just try and throw your new life away for him just like you always do, all over again?" He swallowed hard when he realized the words had actually left him and his expression fell back to its usual nervousness. "Yeah...sure...whatever."

Ikurx glanced at Demyx; and suddenly things became all the more clear. Although he already had an inkling before, but he respected Demyx too much already to go peeking into his past.

"Heh. If there's anyone who everyone hates more, it's Roxas." Axel ran a hand through his hair, though much to his aggravation he got more sand in it than anything. "Doesn't matter. Second time around things have turned out better." With a strained grunt he pushed himself up to sit. "Third time, you won't need to see either of us again." He tried to shake the sand off his hair. "... Damn sand, gets into everything."

Without really thinking about it Demyx reached a hand out and started to brush the sand away from Axel's hair, watching the small bits of beach fall away from the other Heartless. "Everyone has good reason to hate Roxas. He left with no real good reason. He was a traitor and went against us." His eyes narrowed and his hand slowed while it continued to brush the sand away. "He wasn't a very good friend to you. You shouldn't put your life on the line for someone that doesn't care at all."

Demyx's wrist was suddenly grasped in a tight, hot fist. "He cares." Axel spoke in a hard tone. He threw Demyx's hand back at him and floated up as if pulled by imaginary strings to stand. He took a few steps away, deciding he was going to walk off his injuries.

Demyx blinked wide eyes at Axel's retreating form while he rubbed his wrist. The other's words had his eyes narrowing once more and he quickly got to his feet to follow behind the other Heartless. He didn't care if Ikurx stayed behind or not. "How can you say that? He didn't seem to care about leaving and how it would affect our group. He didn't seem to care about how it would affect you. Some _friend_ he was, Axel." Demyx nearly shouted the words. "Roxas was and always will be a selfish, good for nothing, backstabber!"

Axel made no word, turning round in seconds to slam his fist hard into Demyx's face.

Ikurx flinched hard, hands going to his mouth. "... Demyx."

"... Next time it'll be a chakram." Axel muttered low.

Demyx had staggered back from the force of the punch. He raised a hand to wipe at his mouth, smearing black across his skin, but not really caring much about it. Axel's threat caused his narrowed eyes to widen for a second before a sad sort of laughter escaped him and he straightened up, facing the other Heartless once again. "I helped you and you threaten me. I guess I should have expected that."

Demyx tilted his head; trying to free it from the pain the punch had given the one side of his face. "Why do you keep putting yourself through all of this? Why do you keep defending him so much? Why won't you forget him?" Demyx couldn't help but question things that he badly needed answers to as he stood there staring at Axel with a nervous gaze.

Axel's hardened expression cracked just a little. Demyx had helped him, risked his own second life to do so, so perhaps he owed him, at the very least, some honesty. Axel's expression finally softened some. "... Because I love him, Demyx. And now I have the heart to give all that meaning."

Demyx could feel his fists tighten painfully at his sides. He was sure the heart he finally had more then likely skipped a couple of beats, but he was too shocked to really notice it. His head bowed and his shoulders slumped as anger and every other feeling that a heartless was supposed to feel took over him in that instant. "Love, heh, doesn't really matter does it? Roxas can't love..." The words came out in a cold tone of voice.

"That's what that Nobody there is for." Axel shot back at Demyx as he gestured sharply to Ikurx. He stepped closer to Demyx, purposely intruding on the other's personal space, narrowing his eyes. "... I couldn't care less what a watery coward like you thinks. I'm not here to seek yours, or any of the other member's approval." He leaned closer. "So Roxas is a traitor. But so am I." He pointed a finger against Demyx's chest. "The only difference between Roxas and me is, that Roxas stabbed you all in the front, where as I stabbed you all in the back." Axel's voice fell to a quiet darker tone. "I'll be using the fail safe first. After that, I couldn't care less what you do with him."

Demyx lifted a hand quickly to slap Axel's own away. The sudden burst of emotions inside of him had caused him to have somewhat of a backbone against the other Heartless who he glared up at. "What's to say Roxas won't just up and find a way to stab you in the front just like he did everyone else? You're giving him something that all of us wants. I wouldn't doubt it if he left you behind just like he did before after he got his chance to be whole."

The sudden rush of bitterness and hate left Demyx just as quickly as it came and his expression turned sad as he stared up at Axel. "Axel, please. You're wasting your chance. You don't need to do any of this for him."

"We all have our own reasons, Demyx. Don't question mine." Axel pushed past Demyx, walking away towards Ikurx. After just a few steps he muttered, "... I'm going to find Roxas."

Ikurx backed up, nearly stepping and falling back over a roaming Heartless as he tried to keep out of Axel's way.

"You mean you're going to find Sora." Demyx wasn't so completely naive that he didn't know what was going on. It was why Ikurx was needed so badly. "You just got away from a really dangerous fight, you're horribly wounded and you're going to find the keyblade master on your own just so you can get back his Nobody."

Demyx turned around and hurried over to grab at Axel's wrist, stopping the other Heartless before he could take anymore steps away. "You're so incredibly stubborn when it comes to him. So damn obsessive that you turn a complete blind eye to anyone else and everything else around you." Demyx kept his head down; staring at the grip he had on Axel's wrist, afraid that if he looked up he would lose his nerve.

"Is it so wrong to try and make you realize that the world doesn't revolve around him? Around the person that didn't even seem to bat an eye when you were around." Demyx tightened his grip without realizing it. "Yet for some reason you would always talk to him. You would always pay more attention to him then to someone who actually craved it." His head lowered a bit more as did his voice. "I have a reason...don't I matter, Axel?"

Something in Axel went lax, maybe he was realizing just how bad his wounds actually were, but he didn't fight Demyx's grip the second time around.

"... You didn't need a heart to smile back then, Demyx. And you didn't need me to actually laugh aloud. You sang, you danced, and you had those stupid water clones to keep you entertained." Axel sighed heavily. "You knew who you were before you split in two. You knew your past. Roxas had none. No where to belong. No Heartless. Because he never had a heart of his own." Axel's fingers twitched and curled into a loose fist. "... I wanted to be that reason he smiled and laughed. Because he was my reason. He made me feel like I had a heart. And it didn't matter whether I stayed a Nobody or not; my real heart didn't matter anymore."

Axel lowered his head, the wound there making him feel disorientated so he went slack. "... So, I guess you don't." He slowly shook his head. "Not when I have this second chance." Axel finally turned around to face Demyx, even if the other Heartless didn't want to look at him. "... At least I know that one person will cry if I die a second time." The words left him near a quiet somber whisper.

Demyx's hold finally loosened up at those words, but his hand never fell away. Instead it trailed up to follow the line of tattoos on Axel's arm that could easily become a dangerous weapon in a split second. "You don't need to die at all." The words were almost as quiet as Axel's own and a last ditch effort at trying to get the other Heartless to listen, but deep down Demyx knew it was a lost cause.

"Even if the heart you have now belongs to some selfish and ungrateful Nobody, it doesn't make a difference to me. I'll still worry about you and hope that someday you'll open your eyes a bit more then what they are now. He doesn't deserve you, Axel." Without thinking much about it Demyx pulled the hand away that he had used to grab Axel's wrist only to reach up and pull the other Heartless down a little by his front so he could press their lips together for a very quick kiss on his own part. Once he pulled back Demyx gave a crooked grin to the fire user and let go of the other to jump back a few feet before he could get scorched for his actions.

"I was reborn for a reason. It was all because of you." Demyx continued on as if the kiss had never taken place, but a small smirk still stayed in place along with the concern in his expression. "If you're my reason then I don't want to watch you go off and run into things that you can't handle." His voice lowered. "Not while you're still hurt. I refuse to..."

Axel stared at Demyx, quite taken aback. He was startled most of all by Demyx's forwardness; confrontation wasn't the other Heartless' strong suit, especially bravery. He raised a hand to rub his lips; a kiss was one of the least things he expected from Demyx. He moved his hand to run it through his jagged hair to gain back his nonchalance, looking at Demyx as if he'd gained three heads.

"... Are you high?" Axel couldn't believe those words had left Demyx's mouth; even if the sitar player was the more romantic of the Organization. "Because I don't think you realize what you're saying." He rubbed a temple with a finger. "I think you lost something vital in that head of yours going from Nobody to Heartless. Like common sense."

"And I think you have it completely backwards. You're the one that's lost all common sense." Demyx shrugged his shoulders after the words and gave a small smile. "Not that you had much to begin with." The smile fell away and he dropped his eyes to the sand under his feet. "I know exactly what I'm saying. I always hated to see you jump through hoops for him. Then that day, the day we all found out he left, that look on your face. We were told we didn't have hearts, but that look made me feel so crushed inside."

Demyx tightened his hands at his sides and he turned his gaze back at Axel. His expression more determined then it had been earlier, even though there was still some nervousness there. "If you can fight so damn hard for your reason, then why can't I?"

There was no kindness to be found on Axel's face despite Demyx's determination. "... Because you'll die, pointlessly." He spoke the cold words without hesitation. "And I won't care. And I doubt that's what you want."

Demyx's eyes narrowed after the cruel words. The back bone that he had gained slowly started to fade away as his shoulders slumped and he looked away. His narrowed eyes lowered to fall halfway as he gazed out towards the black water. He had nothing to say to such hurtful words and suddenly he hated having a heart.

"... Just like he did to me." Axel turned away, continuing to walk down the beach.

Demyx flinched at those last few words. He didn't run after Axel this time around and instead stayed right where he was. It would be no use stopping the stubborn Heartless anymore when his mind was so wrapped around one thing and one thing only. "You'll only end up getting hurt..." Still those last few words were vaguely mumbled quietly under Demyx's breath and he didn't seem to care if Axel heard them or not.

"I've already been hurt." Axel murmured. He wiped the black smeared down his face. "... I'm going back to the darkness. I'll mend faster there." He raised a hand to call up a portal. "Don't do anything stupid like use the fail safe while I'm gone. Everyone will just come rushing in here, and your little beach home will over crowd with unwelcome company."

Ikurx came to stand beside Demyx, looking from one to the other sadly. He rested a hand on Demyx's shoulder, trying to offer some silent comfort to his aching heart.

Demyx stiffened up at the touch, but did nothing to push Ikurx away. The earlier feelings of hurt were easily pushed aside as if the entire situation had never happened as Demyx tried his best to completely forget it, but just by his voice it was more then obvious he was still affected since his voice only slightly shook. "I'm not that stupid. Give me some credit."

"I don't give credit to people who have already died." Axel slipped away into the portal after he spoke, leaving Ikurx to Demyx.

Ikurx watched Axel go before he looked back to Demyx. "... I see what you mean by 'passionate'." He glanced back to the place Axel had been. "And... acting without thinking."

Demyx stared at the spot where the portal closed off at and smiled sadly at Ikurx's words. "Y-Yeah." His smile fell away and an annoyed look came over his face as the hurt started to creep over him again and the anger took hold of him as well. "Idiot. I can't believe him. He's just doesn't care. He's too damn stuck on him..." He looked away from that one spot, not able to keep his eyes on it any longer. "Damn him..."

"You're both in the same boat." Ikurx stepped away from Demyx to curiously approach the black water; though he didn't dare tempt if to touch it. "Though he seems to carry more baggage about the one he's after. Sacrifice is noble. Not everyone gets to do it twice. Except, I think twice is just too sad. Second chances are precious." He looked at Demyx. "That's the difference between you two. You know it and he knows it, but he'll repeat history to try and change it. You won't." Ikurx kicked idly at the sand. "Water and fire."

Demyx frowned and walked over to the water. He kneeled down and unlike the teenager he reached a hand out and ran fingers along it, watching it ripple under his touch. "Why should he have to take such risks with his second chance for someone that never took any real chances for him?" His face fell at the thought of such a thing. "I just wish I could make him understand that he can be cared about. That he doesn't have to fight for it." He pulled his fingers up and as he did water followed, forming into a black bubble which floated along where his fingertips moved.

Ikurx gave a helpless shrug as he watched the bubble move. "... I don't know. I can only follow the threads of people's hearts that connect each other. I don't always understand them." He reached out, sticking out a tongue curiously as he poked the black bubble. "Not when I don't have one of my own."

Demyx smiled a little at Ikurx's curious nature and watched as the bubble popped from the slight poke to it. He allowed his hand to drop back down and formed a few more, using both hands to make smaller bubbles rise from the black water. "You're a very caring person, Ikurx. It shows that you have some form of humanity in you. Heart or not." He watched the bubbles he controlled, making them sway with his finger's movements.

"I'm just worried about what Axel might do." Just as Demyx spoke the concern showed plainly on his face. "His mind is so set on this one goal that he'll do anything to get what he wants. Even if that means going after Sora just to get Roxas with no knowledge or care over what might happen to him. It won't accomplish anything at all." His hands shook as the worry nearly overpowered him and a few of the bubbles popped.

Ikurx placed a hand on Demyx's forearm, trying to comfort and steady the Heartless' shaking hand. "I'm sure if you stay with Mister Axel, he'll be alright. You want to take care of him because you care; he'll come around if you're just as stubborn." He smiled just a little. "That Roxas person sounds like bad news anyway."

Ikurx used his other hand to lift underneath the bubble, cradling it even though he didn't have the power to control it or stop it from popping. "You love him, right." He looked from the bubble to smile at Demyx again. "That should help you do anything."

Demyx's eyes widened at that and he turned his gaze to look back at Ikurx. He didn't expect the Nobody to catch onto something that he, himself, hadn't even said aloud yet. He quickly turned his eyes back to each bubble he controlled and his eyes fell halfway as he moved his fingers to make them sway once again, his hands no longer shaking thanks to the teen's comforting gesture. "Roxas was Axel's best friend, but, you wouldn't have been able to tell it by looking at them. I guess it was small little gestures between them, but I never saw it." Demyx lowered his head. "Or maybe I didn't want to. To me it just never seemed like Roxas cared."

Demyx quickly shook his head after those words and his eyes narrowed once again. "If he does bring Sora back and he does get his chance with Roxas then will there really be a point to my reason?" His shoulders slumped and he turned his attention back on Ikurx. The teen was suddenly his only comfort even though he was seen as only an object to all the other Heartless. To Demyx he was suddenly a person to talk to. "Should I really continue to try and be stubborn? You heard him. He told me that he wouldn't care..."

"If it means that much to you." Ikurx nodded. "Of course." He smiled wide for Demyx. "You can't shy away from such a genuine feeling, right?" The teen suddenly perked up and he rested either hand on Demyx's shoulder to give him an excited shake. "I know what you should do! I know what you should do!" Ikurx was literally grinning from ear to ear. "You should write Mister Axel a song. A song just for him!"

"W-What?!" Demyx had heard clearly what Ikurx said he was just too shocked to really understand the suggestion. The bubbles popped as his embarrassment caused him to drop his hands back into the water and lose his concentration for the moment. "A song?" He shook his head back and forth. "I-I don't really know about that. I mean he already thought I was crazy enough for just kissing him. Imagine what he would think if I did something like writing him a song." He blinked his eyes as realization dawned on him and he lifted his hands up to bury his face in them with a groan. "Oh man...I kissed him..."

Ikurx laughed and gave Demyx another friendly shake. "You did. I saw." He leaned over so that he could peer at Demyx's face even if it was buried in his hands. "What was it like? Did you like it?" He poke-poked Demyx's hands with another laugh.

Demyx only gave another groan from under his hands as Ikurx poked him. Finally he lifted his head and dropped his hands, but kept his gaze away from the teen as he answered. "Well..." The word was drawn out as he tried to find some way of explaining himself. "I enjoyed it for the first quick second I was able to kiss him. I don't really have anything to compare it to, ya know?" He shrugged his shoulders, trying to drop the subject as quick as he could, but couldn't exactly shake it off and ended up groaning again. "I can't believe he didn't light me on fire right then and there."

Ikurx looked to the sky thoughtfully. "I've never seen kissing. But I know what it is. Never been kissed either. But I know that it's nice. That is strange." He curiously examined Demyx's face. "And you don't look any different." He pulled on Demyx's bottom lip. "Hey- do you think Axel liked it? And that's why he didn't set you on fire?" He pulled Demyx's open at the sides with his fingers.

Demyx blinked his eyes as his lips were pulled and he tried to answer but his words were muffled at first and hard to make out. He was forced to lift his hands and push Ikurx's own away so he could actually sound coherent again. "Wishful thinking. I doubt it very seriously." He shook his head and smiled sadly. "He was just too shocked to really react very much. I'm sure if I had stayed near him longer he would have at the most smacked me or something."

Ikurx knelt in front of Demyx, smiling up at the Heartless like the eager, naive teen he was. "So was that your first kiss? Have you ever kissed anyone before?" He paused as he tapped his own lips. "Aren't first kisses spose to be special?" He paused. "Think that was Mister Axel's first?" He bounced a little.

"You ask a lot of questions." Despite the words Demyx smiled a little and shook his head. He leaned back to rest on the palm of his hands, not minding the sand beneath them for the time being. "I think that was my first kiss. I don't really remember kissing anyone else." He shrugged a shoulder. "As far as Axel goes...well..." His smile fell away and a frown took its place. "I'm not really sure..." He didn't want to think about if the fire user had ever tried such a thing with Roxas. He couldn't remember seeing such an act done between the two as a Nobody, but he didn't really even want to think about it.

Demyx glanced back at Ikurx and tried his best to smile again. "Besides, we all had our own lives before we became Nobodies. Especially before we became Heartless." He looked down at the sand under him as he seemed to think over his own words. "So, who's to really say...?"

Ikurx nodded. "Well then: congratulations!" He flared his hands out. "On your first kiss!" He paused with a blink. "Or is that inappropriate to say?" He gave a nervous laugh and folded his hands on his laugh. "Never met anyone who's had their first kiss before."

Demyx blinked his eyes for a few seconds at the congratulations before he nervously looked away with a laugh. "Well, considering the circumstances I wouldn't really consider it all that great to be quite honest." He caught onto Ikurx's last few words and it brought him back to the teen's own situation. "I guess it makes sense that you haven't met anyone who has. So far you seem to have only been around us. I mean all of us Heartless. It's not something that we spontaneously do at random." He blinked. "Well...most of the others I mean."

Ikurx tried to actually picture those he met randomly kissing each other. He made a face and shook his head at that. "Disturbing", he laughed a little, "mental image." He shook his head but then perked again. "So! Are you going to write Mister Axel a song?"  
Demyx looked away at the question. He had hoped he had been safe from the topic, but suddenly it was brought up to him again. "I don't really know." He started to fidget with his pants, trying not to show his sudden nervousness, but it was a lost cause. "I don't think he would really enjoy such a thing. I don't think he likes my music all that much to begin with." He smiled a little. "Of course that could be because of what comes with it..."

"Think that's why he doesn't like you?" Ikurx watched Demyx fiddle. "Because you're water and he's fire." He shrugged. "Although I thought everyone liked music. Fire or not." He gave a slight guilty smile. "It was just an idea."

"I think he doesn't like me because he's just too glued to Roxas to care much about anyone else." Demyx seemed to think over Ikurx's words and shrugged. "Although, maybe it is because we're just complete opposites. Who really knows." He let his hands fall in front of him and soon his sitar formed in a rush of black water much like it had earlier. He grabbed it and held it in his lap, strumming a few notes and acting as if it was nothing out of the ordinary when the water in the ocean started to move. "Maybe if I can really make him see how much he matters then he'll actually listen." He gave a quiet laugh at such high hopes, but continued to play anyway.

"You never know until you try!" Ikurx plopped down onto his back beside Demyx. He pillowed his head on his arms. "But you play so beautifully, how can he not see what's reflected in your heart."

Demyx tried his best to smile at such words. "You're so optimistic. I'm sort of amazed, considering all you've gone through yourself and the fact you _still_ have to go through so much." He continued to move his fingers along the strings, finally turning his eyes to the water and the waves that started to form as the music echoed all around the beach. "It's nice to have some company, though. Especially company that can help me feel better about everything..."

"Guess that's why I'm optimistic." Ikurx shrugged his arms. "Makes me feel better too." He lazily moved his feet as he shut his eyes, letting the sound of the music move through him like it did the water. "Hmmm... what do you plan to do when you become whole again? What's the first thing you'd like to do?"

Demyx opened his mouth, thinking he had just the right answer for such a question, but found that he didn't have an answer at all. "Wow...hmm...I'm not really sure." He laughed a little. "It would be such a big accomplishment for me. I was always the odd one out in the group when I was a Nobody. If I was to actually succeed at what I wanted then it would be a shock even to me." He looked back down at his fingers, paying more attention to which strings he plucked. "It's sad I know."

"I think if I was whole again and everything with Axel worked out, if he actually let go of Roxas, then I'd be happy. I'd just live my life. Maybe I'd be living it the way I was supposed to. I'd really feel complete and I'd just want to be normal." Demyx narrowed his eyes as he thought over it. "Why would I need to fight anymore?" He let out a thoughtful sound. "Maybe...I could be a real musician. Instead of having to use all this talent as a weapon all the time."

"You could join a band. Become famous. Travel around to play at concerts." Ikurx chuckled. "Sounds like a lot of fun. You'd be signing autographs and selling merchandise with your name on it." He raised a hand and made a signing gesture. He twirled his finger around drawing a star in the air. "I hope you'll give me a free shirt if you do."

Demyx easily grinned as he looked back at Ikurx, only stopping his fingers for a second. "Of course I would. I'd even invite you to every concert. Free front row seats. No!" He nearly shouted out loud. "Backstage passes!" His grin grew as his mood lifted with each thought. His fingers started to move again and he looked back down at his sitar. "What about you? Every Nobody has a goal. All of us in the Organization, when we were Nobodies, we all craved a heart. So, that's what we searched for even if we had to do horrible things to get those hearts. If you ever get free from this game of tug of war, is there something you want?"

Ikurx froze, staring wide eyes at the sky. He quirked his lips thoughtfully. That was a question he never really gave much thought to. Everyone seemed to want to dictate his use, so he never gave much serious thought to what he wanted to do on his own.

Ikurx scratched his head before letting it flop back on the sand. "I have no idea. There's nothing I really want. Not for myself." He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow as he gave it more deep thought. "Mm. The most expected idea would be to go figure out who I am- er- was. But." He blinked open his eyes. "It doesn't really matter to me. Sure it would be nice. But I've learned enough from hearing what everyone else has said about me." His voice went a little solemn. "It just feels like such a pointless shadow to chase."

Then just as quickly the seriousness left Ikurx and he looked hopefully up at Demyx with a smile. "Think I could join your band?"

Demyx glanced at Ikurx out the corner of his eyes. He felt bad for the Nobody, having been in the same boat as the teenager was in a previous life. He couldn't help giving the other a small smile as he nodded his head. "Sure, I don't see why not." He ran a thumb down each string one at a time and the sounds echoed around even as he pulled his hand away, causing tiny pillars of water to jet up then back down as the music finally died away. "You've helped me. I don't see why I can't return the favour."

Ikurx sat up with a grin, kicking up sand he launched himself at Demyx, tackling into the other with a glomp. "Thanks!" He hugged the Heartless around the shoulders, grateful. "I never thought I'd have an actual place to end up. Now I have a goal too." It was nice to be thought of and played out as more than just a tool. It was acceptance, and a future; that's what he was missing.

Ikurx paused with a blink. "Although I don't know if I can play an instrument or sing." A worried frown crossed his face.

With the sudden launch Demyx had lost his concentration on the water he was controlling and let his hands rest on the teen hugging him instead of his instrument. "Huh? Oh...um...sure." The words were said in a stuttered response to the Nobody's thanks. So far Demyx wasn't used to such a thing. It caused a small smile to come over his face after the confusion and he lightly pushed the other teen back after Ikurx's worries came up.

"Well, it's not all that hard to play an instrument." Demyx thought over his own words. "At least I don't think it is. It's always come natural for me, so it might be for some people." He shook his head. "But don't worry. You can always learn I suppose. No matter what you'll still be part of it."

Ikurx made a happy sound, practically bouncing on his knees with the promise. "I could maybe sing vocals. Or play a tambourine." He laughed. "That doesn't take much talent." He grinned. "Thanks again, Mister Demyx. I won't let you down. I'll practice, and sure to be good enough." He sat back on his knees. "Maybe Mister Axel could be your groupie. Er- whatever a groupie is."

Demyx tried to imagine such a thing and it only had him laughing. His sitar vanished in a rush of black water as his control slipped because of his sudden laugh attack. "I-I don't really know about that." He tried to speak up and was a little successful. "If anything Axel would probably be the one to rig up the light show. You know the nifty fireworks and all that neat stuff. At least it keeps him busy." His smile fell away and his laughter died down as he tried to imagine it all coming true and his voice fell as he looked out at the water. "It's nice to think about..."

"So... what are you going to call your band?" Ikurx quietly asked.

Demyx gave a shrug. "I don't really know. I never even thought I would have such a goal. So, a name hasn't really come to me." He rested his arms on his knees, allowing his hands to hang down. "Probably something we can all agree on. We'll just think about it when the time comes I suppose."

"You could always ask Mister Axel for ideas on a name too." Ikurx smiled a little. "Next time you talk to him. I wonder if he has any future dreams too. When he's whole again I mean." He toyed with the charm dangling from his collar. "Maybe you could talk to him about those dreams. I'm sure it's something he'd like to talk about. And something you'd like to hear."

Demyx stiffened up at such a suggestion. He was quite fearful over the thought of asking Axel about any of his dreams. Earlier words spoken had detoured him from his own hopes and he had a feeling he knew what Axel's own dreams involved. "Hmm...maybe." They were the only few words Demyx gave in response.

Ikurx didn't suggest or question anything more. He seemed content to turn and stare out at the dark expanse of water before them. He glanced up at the clear sky, not many clouds resting in it.

"I like it here. I hope I can come back someday again." Ikurx smiled a little. Then a Heartless decided it was going to wiggle up to him and it had the teen giving a startled noise and both he and the little Heartless scurried away in opposite directions.


	17. Chapter 17

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 17

As a Heartless the darkness was everything that it wasn't to a creature of the light. The darkness was welcoming, wrapping tightly like a nostalgic embrace. A place that all consuming could sate the needy feeling that always tugged like an ache in the chest, because the darkness was just as lonely as those that it assimilated. Misery did like company after all.

It was easy to forget here, but it was just as easy to dwell on painful thoughts until the negative feelings became raw and numb. The pain only existed for so long until nothing was felt. To others it may have seemed like it was incasing ones heart in a cold hard uncaring shell but to those who knew no other choice it was a way of growing stronger, and moving on, while standing still.

In a place like this all were connected yet at the same time furthest apart; like being in the same room but divided by clear unbreakable plastic. You could appreciate the littlest of smiles and warmth because you knew that in the darkness you'd be stripped away of all good intentions to see the ugliness and lies of you and others. In a way the darkness was honest; while lying.

It was here that Axel stayed, curled comfortably in nonexistence while his body, completely comprised of his raw emotions and means, was fed exactly that to mend. He allowed his mind to slow, and die, give up his caporal individuality to become the very darkness that ripped and tore and consumed; he simply gave in. In this state of nothing he could feel other hearts he knew, their emotions and intentions. It was like this he had found Demyx, and like this he could watch others and keep free of their vengeful natures; and at the same time he could find the one that he now existed a second time for.

Love to hate, hate to love.

Sora had been taken in by a vast expanse of darkness, Riku was unmistakable to see. His darkness was vast, violent, and only the very suicidal would trek across his path to snatch what light he had that kept him anchored to humanity.

Love, hate; either were an amalgamation of light and dark. Those naive few that failed to see it were truly all the world's undoing. That was evil; not darkness.

Axel knew he should have heeded Demyx's words, but when had he ever been a rational mind. Hearts were far more impulsive.

The darkness was an ally, but best of all it was a traitor. Axel let himself slip away, fall to that dormant place where minds went when they weren't awake. Even the brightest light casted the smallest, darkness of shadows; Sora's was Roxas. It was too easy to slip past Riku's darkness to brush against Sora's.

It wasn't real fingers that brushed along Roxas' cheeks, but it wasn't real cheeks that Axel touched either. To any other their touch would have been ice cold, but to each other it was as warm and comforting a touch as the glow of fire in a storm.

 _Wake up._

Much like the few times before those words had been said they had the same effect on the individual they were spoken for as blue eyes obeyed the command to slowly open. This time around they belonged to the body they were meant to belong to. Even if the illusion wasn't real it didn't really matter at the moment. For a brief period in time it could be allowed as the other half slept on.

Roxas felt a rush of relief pass through him. There was only one person that would wake him up in such a way. Only one person that _wanted_ him woken up at all, considering everything he had heard lately. After those few last desperate, clinging seconds he still had at least another moment with the only person he was even bothering to stay awake for. "Axel..." The name fell from his lips before a small smirk tugged at them.

In seconds that smirk was captured up by fiery lips after his name was uttered. Axel wasted no time burying his fingers in blonde hair that wasn't truly there but was more real than any illusion, digital or not, could create. It was their essence, and that was far truer than any physical form could dictate in caporal characteristics.

Axel returned the smirk, just a little, softly, against Roxas' lips. "... You worried about me."

Eyes had shut at such a sudden kiss and a small noise was let out. Only when Axel pulled back did Roxas open his eyes halfway, trying his hardest not to grin at Axel. "Maybe..." The word was drawn out a little as arms moved up to wrap themselves around the other's waist. It was hard not to touch. He had another chance to be himself and he wanted to take it for as long as it could be kept up. "You made me lose control and left." An annoyed sort of noise left him as he finally narrowed his eyes. "Did you think I wouldn't worry after what you told me?"

Axel grinned a little more, brushing away the blonde hair that always curled at Roxas' cheek with a thumb. He softly toyed with the blonde locks, petting them with his fingers. "Tell me how much you missed me." Axel spoke the words with cocky affection; he was now beaming with good humour.

Roxas shook his head at the small little demand and the grin came back to his face to replace the annoyed expression. He lifted one arm up to tangle it in the Heartless' hair, pulling Axel down, yet still having to rise up on tip toes at the same time. "I missed you this much." He pressed a hard kiss to Axel's lips. "And this much." He let his lips trail down to the other's neck, pressing kisses against skin. "And this much too." His hand dropped away from the other's hair to fall near a shoulder where he bit down lightly, licking the skin afterwards. When Roxas pulled back the grin never left his face. "Satisfied?"

"Almost." Axel murmured the word breathlessly. He pushed Roxas back against the wall that wasn't there, keeping the other stretching up on his tip toes for each close touch. "But not quite yet." Axel kept his hands then on Roxas' shoulders. "I've done it." He brushed the bridge of his nose affectionately against Roxas'. "... I have what'll fix everything."

Roxas didn't fight against Axel's hold on him. He was too curious to the other's words that had been spoken, remembering a similar conversation before they had parted ways again what felt like too long ago. "What'll fix everything?" He blinked his eyes as he tried to figure out what Axel meant, but for the moment, with the other so close, his mind was coming up blank. "What do you mean?" He rested his forehead against the Heartless' own while his hands rose to trace up and down arms. "What have you done?"

Axel drew his finger across Roxas' bottom lip, leaning nearer but teasing him by never giving him the satisfaction of another kiss. "Something to make us both whole again." His grin grew wider. "... So we can live like we promised together in that town of yours."

Roxas let out a small whine because of the teasing. He bit at Axel's finger to get back at the Heartless, licking at the tip of the digit before he let go to give the other a wide eyed stare. "Whole?" The word fell from him in disbelief and just as quickly his eyes narrowed. It seemed too good to be true. "What is it? What could you have possibly found that could do such a thing? There's a catch, isn't there?" He frowned.

But Axel just wouldn't have such a worried expression on Roxas' expression when he felt quite the latter now. He pressed his lips with hot affection against Roxas', kissing him fiercely before he slowed to kiss him ever so softly. He let it linger for a moment, gently tugging on Roxas' bottom lip with a soft grin. "The catch..." Axel spoke in a slight whisper, "is... you'll be stuck in school, with me, studying, bored most of the time. And you'll have to deal with that jealous friend of yours, as I constantly paw you in public."

Roxas had let out a soft, needy noise at such affection given to him by the Heartless. As soon as Axel pulled away he found himself licking his bottom lip and grinning at the other's words. "Oh, is that all?" He tilted his head to the side, keeping his eyes on the other. "I think I can handle all of that just fine. Especially the pawing." His grin grew. "I'm pretty sure that part won't be a problem at all. My jealous friend will just have to get used to it." Roxas lightly ran nails over tattooed arms after his words while he leaned in to give a quick lick to the other's lips.

Axel's fingers halted Roxas' mouth, the Heartless himself grinning slyly at such horrible teasing; he adored making Roxas squirm with need. "I lied. There is one catch for you."

With a flick of fingers Axel held up a crown card; an image of a beach with a black river on it.

"Come here alone. Absolutely alone and unfollowed." There was no room for argument in Axel's voice as he held the card out for Roxas. "I'll be there waiting for you."

Roxas lifted a hand to take the card between two fingers and inspected it. The place didn't look at all familiar and it had him narrowing his eyes as he kept them on it, but still he spoke up to the Heartless that had him pinned despite the stern tone given to him. "You do know who he's with right now, right? You understand that it's going to be difficult for me to just up and take over to go to a random area like this." He shook his head. "I don't know, Axel. It might be hard." He turned his gaze back on Axel.

"I'm sure you'll find a way." Axel gave a slight shrug. "You always find a way to weasel out of dangerous company." He stepped back from Roxas, breaking the contact between them.

"Thanks for the compliment." Roxas smirked a little, but it fell away as soon as the Heartless started to walk back. He looked back and forth between the card and Axel for a few seconds before he gave a quiet whine which he tried his hardest to cover up. "You're not leaving yet, are you?" He took a step forward.

Axel paused, looking back to Roxas before looking to the nothingness that surrounded them. "... If I stay too long _he'll_ know I'm here." Though he knew that was the answer that neither of them wanted to hear. Not when Axel had heard that pitiful noise that Roxas tried to keep in.

Roxas frowned at the answer he got. It was disappointing to hear such a thing, but they both knew it to be true no matter how much Roxas didn't want it to be. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't try his hardest to talk the other into staying a little longer. These moments were so rare. "Oh come on, Axel. You're not scared of him are you?" Roxas spoke up in a teasing voice as he took another step towards the Heartless.

Axel went rigid; non-admittedly he did fear Riku. The teen was out of any of their control; he used the darkness to his own whims and killed any who dare tamper with his light. But Axel couldn't say all that to Roxas. Though Axel knew Roxas was just playing on his ego; unfortunately it worked. At least he played along with it.

"No." Axel coolly ran a hand through his hair. "Of course not. But with such a bold comment like that, I think you're trying to convince me to stay." His smirk was nothing short of interested.

"Hmm, it's not such a bad thing is it?" Roxas took another step towards Axel and was soon close enough to touch the Heartless again, but he didn't. "I mean, if you aren't afraid of him then it shouldn't be a big deal, right?" Roxas knew he was asking for much. He had seen through Sora's eyes the way Riku had been acting lately. He wasn't stupid, but he _was_ selfish and just wanted to keep Axel near no matter the consequences.

Axel crossed his arms, tilting his head up to smirk down at Roxas. "Dunno. I may need more convincing." If he was going to die, he may as well have good reason for it.

Roxas grinned at those words. He used his free hand to reach up and grab onto the back of Axel's head, bringing the other down forcefully so he could crush their lips together. He bit harshly at Axel's bottom lip to get back at the other for all the earlier teasing before he pushed his way inside the Heartless' mouth, not able to keep the grin off his face despite the kiss.

Axel gave a pleased throaty sound, obliging Roxas' tongue with his own. He grabbed Roxas near, clawing his dark fingers down following the arch of back all the way down only to grasp lower down and pull him even closer.

Axel broke the kiss, not sparing them a flick of his tongue before he spoke. "That's a good start. Almost convincing. But, I dunno. I don't think it's _needy_ enough." He gave Roxas' rear a squeeze knowing he was pushing his luck; and not just with Roxas. "I think I _almost_ feel wanted." He tried to keep his wicked chuckling behind his grin.

The squeeze along with Axel's words had Roxas indulging the other and letting out a quiet whine that he didn't even try to keep in this time around. "I guess I'll just have to remedy that, then. Won't I?" He pressed even closer to the taller body if it was at all possible and let out a quiet moan at the contact before he leaned down to lick at the Heartless' throat, nibbling at skin here and there as well.

Axel laughed lightly. "Y'know, I hope your other half doesn't have lucid dreaming, or talk in his sleep." He literally purred his satisfaction, moving to attack one of Roxas' ears with his mouth, grinning his words. "That would be rather awkward for his silver haired company."

Roxas gave a louder moan at Axel's actions which turned into a shaky laugh. "He'll get over it." He gave a final quick lick to Axel's skin before he pulled back only a little. "Payback for how much I've had to sit through their little kissing sessions lately." He rolled his eyes before he turned his head to give another lick to Axel's cheek. "Sometimes being the other half isn't all it's cracked up to be. If it wasn't more then obvious before."

Axel's good humour fell away, as did his grin against Roxas' ear. His intimate hold became a more possessive embrace as he moved to hold Roxas more closely in his arms. He leaned his head against Roxas', half nuzzling the blonde hair. ".. I take it they _kiss_ a lot." Axel said the word as if it were something foreign and distasteful.

Roxas' own smile fell away with the sudden tight hold given to him. He hadn't expected his words to have such an effect on Axel, but at the same time he _should_ have. He allowed his head to rest close to the Heartless' chest with the sudden closeness and gave a simple nod. "Yeah. Clinging, kissing. Simple things like that. There's not much I can do about it though." He frowned when he remembered something. "Sora knows that I've been stealing his body. Riku told him and now he's probably going to try and fight even harder." He let out a sigh.

Axel buried his fingers in Roxas' hair, running through the unphysical manifestation; soft, warm, so badly did he want this to be his and his alone. Only bitter, hateful thoughts could be sent to Riku; thoughts that would probably give him away.

".. Check your pockets." Axel murmured quietly. "What's there... -It should help in some way."

Roxas blinked his eyes at those words. He pulled back from Axel rather reluctantly, considering he wanted to just stay in the other's hold, but as soon as he stepped back his hands fell to his pockets. The card was placed inside for the time being and one hand barely brushed past the sphere that Hayner had given to him. It wasn't the only thing he felt, though.

Carefully Roxas pulled out the twin key chains that had been placed in his pocket. They dangled from his fingers as he held them out in front of his face to look them over. The two chakrams just as much an illusion as he himself was at the moment in time and would easily return to his other half when he, himself, did as well. "When?" The one word left him as he tried to remember when exactly he had been given such a gift from the fire user and turned wide eyes to Axel and away from the dangling key chains, knowing exactly what they could do.

"In your dreams." Axel's fingers just barely brushed away Roxas' blonde bangs. "But only in _your_ dreams." His hand fell away but it didn't falter his slight smile on his lips. "Your very own."

Axel's words had that rare smile showing on Roxas' lips. The key chains continued to dangle from his fingers as he looked at the Heartless with a thankful kind of expression on his face. He stepped forward so they were close once again and raised up on tip toes to place a gentle kiss on the other's lips, pulling back right after to speak quietly. "Sometimes I wonder if there's anything you won't do for me."

"For a smile like that... I don't think I'd know any limit." Axel shared the soft smile. "Even more so than each kiss." He leaned down just enough to place a kiss but he didn't. Instead he just nuzzled his cheek against Roxas'. "Even though I love each one I love your smiles so much more." Axel let his eyes shut, though he wasn't real, he could still 'see' all around, feel. "... And I hope to see more on your real lips." He added very quietly. "... Hear from your real lips."

Roxas' smile grew a little more at such words. The possibility of such a thing happening was so close that he couldn't help it. "Soon..." He spoke the word quietly and it made it all the more real. His hands placed the key chains safely back in his pockets for the time being as he turned his head to press a kiss to Axel's cheek. It was an affectionate gesture instead of something rough and needy. "I'll meet you there. I promise. I won't let anything stop me..."

"And I'll be there... waiting." Axel smiled just a little. It was time to go, any longer and their plot would be found out by Sora's darkness. Axel felt himself fade from Roxas, slipping back to where he'd come from. He let his hands fall to touch Roxas', brushing across skin while he was still lingering there. "... For you."

Roxas grabbed what he could of Axel's hands, refusing to let go until the Heartless was completely out of sight and gone from the darkness around them. For once it was his turn to watch Axel leave instead of the other way around, but he refused to go back to the body he was borrowing until he was alone despite having to watch the other fade away. "I know. You always are..." He spoke the words quietly. The smile still on his face.

The hand that Roxas' held misted away, curling, lingering against his skin before dissipating. Axel's other hand raised to brush fingers across Roxas' cheek, but his dark fingers disappeared before they could touch skin; leaving nothing but a cool ghost of a touch.

"... Soon." And then Axel's soft smile disappeared too.

Roxas dropped his hands to his sides once the Heartless completely disappeared, leaving him alone in the darkness. His head bowed as he took in the silence around him and the sudden empty feeling that came with being who he was. A cruel smirk twisted at his lips and a short laugh escaped him before quiet words followed. "I won't let you deny me this, Sora..." With those few words his image slowly started to fade as well. The illusion that he was fading away to go back to the body he occupied.

-

A sharp gasp came from a body that had once been in a deep sleep. A loud whimper was soon to follow and eyes tried to open themselves, but were encased in darkness which only had the owner panicking even more. The one small whimper turned into a frightened cry as Sora struggled to figure out what was going on while he fought against the sudden rush of pain that had startled him awake.

Hands grasped Sora's wrists tightly to keep him from ripping away the blind fold.

"Shhh. Sora. Don't." Riku's familiar voice tried to calm. But something felt incredibly off; disturbingly so. "You can't take the blind fold off. The darkness will over whelm you." He claimed Sora tightly against his chest. "W-what's wrong?"

The first thing Sora should have noticed was the fact it was Riku's voice which he heard and not Mickey's which whom he had been traveling with before he had fallen asleep. His mind couldn't pay much attention to that, though. He couldn't think clear enough to let that shock settle in and focus on one thing. All he could do was continue to whimper as the pain continued to grab him and he clung tightly to Riku despite the darkness. "I-It hurts." His voice was strained.

Riku wasted no time tearing them out of the darkness, from the safe little pocket he'd kept them in. He could only assume that it was the darkness itself that was causing his light pain.

They appeared in a large empty ally of a non-descript planet; it hadn't mattered where, just as long as it was far and safe. With all the million hearts here, they'd be harder to pick out.

Riku settled with Sora's clinging form on the ground, cradling him. "Does it still hurt?" He yanked off the blind fold now that they were free from the darkness.

As soon as his eyes were free Sora blinked them wide open, but his vision still felt blurred around the edges. His grip on Riku became painfully tight and the fear he had felt so many times came back tenfold as he slowly started to remember feeling such pain before.

Sora tried his best to stare into Riku's eyes, but he felt so unfocused. So completely out of it. He leaned forward only to have his forehead fall ungracefully onto Riku's shoulder and shake it from side to side with a small sound that was everything pitiful. Only one name falling from his lips. "Roxas..."

"No!" Riku clutched Sora tightly, clasping the other teen's clothing so tightly his fists shook. "No- you can't come out, Roxas. You can't." He pressed his cheek against Sora's hair. "I won't let you leave. You're Sora now. You're back where you belong." Riku held Sora closer, tighter. "You're hurting yourself. Stop." He began to rock Sora in his arms, moving back and forth gently, trying to ease what he could only assume was horrible, unbearable pain.

"Won't listen..." The words were spoken weakly from Sora and almost hard to hear. "Isn't listening..." Another small noise left the teen as he tried to take comfort in Riku's embrace, but it just wasn't helping. The pain wouldn't go away. "Riku...he isn't listening..." He nearly let out the words in a whine, but for good reason. "I'm scared. Riku...I'm scared."

"You don't need to be scared, Sora. I'm here. I'm here, Sora." Riku nuzzled his head firmly against his friend's, trying his best to show Sora that. "I won't let you go. Fight it." His voice went a little shaky; he couldn't bare to hear Sora in so much pain. "I know it hurts, but you have to fight against Roxas. You have to stay in control. He's you, not the other way around." Riku held Sora so tightly his arms began to hurt, but he didn't care. "You can't leave me Sora. Please don't leave me." He very quietly whimpered.

"I don't want to." Sora clung even tighter after those words. "I don't want to leave you..." He tried to lift his head, but it only swayed from side to side as soon as he did. The blindfold was away from his eyes, but still he felt as if there was darkness all around him. He took in a shuddering breath as he tried to fight against the pain his other half caused and it only caused a near sob to escape him. "Riku...I can't..."

Riku rested a hand at Sora's cheek, steadying him, stroking his cheek with a thumb. "Y-you have to." He rested his forehead against Sora's, kissing his other cheek only to nuzzle near again. "Please." His voice was so strained in a whimper plea. "I need you." He searched Sora's cloudy eyes, but the life he knew inside them was fading. Riku placed a small desperate kiss on Sora's lips. "I- I love you Sora."

The start of the other teen's name faded from Sora's lips before it could even really be heard as eyes fluttered closed for the briefest of moments. The grip that had grown so tightly grew slack as gloved hands fell down to fall between them.

As quick as eyes had closed they shot open and the faded, cloudy look which had overtaken them was gone. Replaced by the bright blue they once were before so much had transpired. There was a slight tilt of head as the owner studied Riku and slowly a small smirk tugged at lips over the obvious that had just taken place. "Too easy..."

Riku felt the energy drain straight from the very marrow of his bones. It was Sora, but no longer Sora, that he held in his arms. ".. Roxas." His loosened hold grew tighter despite who was in Sora now. It was still Sora, a part; he couldn't hate Roxas anymore. Perhaps that's what made it hurt all the more. "You went back to Sora willingly. Why are you doing this?"

Riku touched Sora's face, brushing across it with weak affection. "..You need each other." He let out a shaky breath as he continued. "...I need you."

Roxas quickly pulled his head away from the touch and narrowed his eyes. He would have moved away from Riku, but the other teen had such a tight hold on him that at the moment it wasn't possible. "I became part of Sora because it was the only way for me to exist. I won't need him anymore very soon." The words were spoken with as much venom as he could use in his current state.

Riku rested his head on a shoulder he had always known, but now was so foreign to him. He didn't dare let go of Roxas. Even if it wasn't consciously Sora, Riku couldn't fathom being apart from the teen in any form.

"... You were a part of Sora before you had a name. You didn't fight him then. You cared and fought for everything Sora did." Riku weakly nuzzled 'Sora's' shoulder. "You're the same. You're no different." He quietly finished. "... Don't leave."

"That's just the problem." Roxas began in an even tone. "I'm sick of being the same." He finally struggled to get out of Riku's tight hold, moving away from the teen once he was free of Riku's grip and getting to his feet as he took a few steps back.

"You want to care about me just because I'm Sora's other half, hmm?" Roxas narrowed his eyes once more on the person he had come to have a mutual hate for. "Well, I don't want to be forced to care about the same person Sora does just because I have to share." His hands moved to his sides as the bitter expression on his face grew. "I want to be my own person and care about the person I _want_ to care about!" A rush of flames shot forth near his hands before a blinding light took over and solidified the two keyblades made from the two chakram key chains he had been gifted with.

"I want to be whole. It makes no difference to me what happens to Sora in the end." The words were spoken in a hushed voice after Roxas had taken hold of the blades with a tight grip on each. His head bowed to stare at the ground.

"It matters to me!" Riku choked out the shout. He struggled to stand, stumbling onto weak legs. "Every part of Sora matters to me- even you. Even if you don't want me to. Even if you hate the reasons why." He took a step towards Roxas. "... I care about you."

A keyblade was lifted to stop Riku in his tracks. The blade pointed at the taller boy's neck as blue eyes stared hatefully into green ones. "I don't care about you." Roxas narrowed his eyes further. "I'm sick of being the other half. Of having to watch you and Sora paw at each other while I'm on the inside craving the person I want. The heart that I wish I had for my own so I could say what they want to hear." His grip on the other blade tightened. "I'm going to get my own heart and when I do I won't have to ever think about you again."

Riku swallowed thickly. "W-who?" His expression grew hurt, angry, but there wasn't any energy behind them. "... Who is it you're _trying_ to love?" He began to shake; a part of Sora who cared for someone else, it made him ill. "That Heartless? _Axel_? What kind of life do you hope to live with a Heartless?" He swayed unsteady. "...You're the one being selfish. You wanted to help Sora. You helped him defeat Xemnas! You- Namine- you both were so happy to go back to your old selves!" The darkness welled up painfully in Riku's chest; it knew the hurt, the hatred, and wanted to lash out. But Riku couldn't. He didn't want to fight against Sora anymore; any part.

"I had no choice!" Roxas shouted the words back at Riku as he swiped the blade back down to stay at his side. "It's your fault I'm like this! It's your fault I'm stuck in this damn body! I was forced to become one with him! I wanted to find out the truth, yes, but I didn't want to lose myself either!"

A weak laugh started to escape Roxas' lips after the shouts. His shoulders shook and he idly twirled each keyblade at his side. "Axel and I, we're going to be whole. We're going to live our lives the way we were supposed to. The way we want to. I won't let you or _Sora_ stop that from happening." The bitter look came back to his face and the laughter died away. "I'll have what I want."

Riku's breath grew quicker, more labored. The shock of hearing such horrific words come out of Sora's mouth was needles and pins cruelly plunged into his heart. Riku could never imagine such apathetic selfishness ever coming from Sora, or any part. The darkness knew this, feeding off the vicarious betrayal. Without Sora, there was no holding any of that bitter viciousness.

Riku refused to lose Sora again.

Ever.

"No." Way to Dusk was summoned to Riku's hand. He was done reasoning with Sora's unreasonable half. "I won't let you hurt yourself, Sora."

Roxas raised a brow at seeing Riku summon his own blade. He hadn't expected the other teen to do such a thing considering he was using Sora's body. "No, not Sora." Roxas lifted up both of his keyblades in front of himself, criss-crossing them until they clinked together, blocking his view for only a second. The noise echoed through the dark alley they were in. "Roxas." He dropped the blades back down to his sides and grinned in a cruel way at Riku, using Sora's own body to do so after he spoke the name given to him. "Sora has no real say in this."

"That's where you're wrong." Riku raised his free hand, drawing it across his eyes mist curled around from his eyes around his head to tie as the dark blind fold. " _Sora_." The corner of his lips upturned.  
Riku twirled his weapon, pointing the blade Roxas' way. "Ready when you are. I know I'm going to take you down, I always beat you, Sora."

Roxas narrowed his eyes on Riku at the constant need to call him his other half's name. He didn't respond to the other's cocky words. Instead he started towards Riku, letting the tip of his blades run across the hard ground and causing dark flames to trail after along with the sparks. As soon as he was close enough he raised his right hand to swing one of the blades at the taller teen. The other blade lifted up to follow close after as he swung his left arm hard.

Way to Dusk swept up kicking up dust and liter as it blocked each swing of the keyblades. Flame licked viciously as weapons collided. Riku narrowed his eyes underneath the blindfold; he didn't recognize the key chains of Roxas' weapons. They were new; and fierce.

"Your Heartless 'boyfriend' give you those key chains?" Riku scoffed as he backed away from another attack. He didn't like them; there was something unnatural about them. They blocked the shinning light that the keyblade usually emitted; Axel was a clever bastard. "Pathetic trinkets." Riku leapt back using the wall of the ally way behind him as ground to shoot forward to slash at Roxas.

Roxas backed away while he raised both blades up to block the attack. A grin tugged at his lips as he pushed back at Riku's own keyblade. "They might have been a little gift, but pathetic? I think not." With those last few words he pushed back roughly against Way to Dusk, forcing Riku away from him. His own blades swiped down in unison as soon as he had another chance to attack the taller teen, black flames moving out across the air and along the ground following the blade's path.

Riku leaped onto a garbage can onto the wall, scaling up it to its height. Pushing hard from the edge of roof he spun round, dark energy licked across Way to Dusk as it gathered intense negative energy. As Riku swung the blade hard the raw dark flew down at Roxas still in the ally way.

Roxas narrowed his eyes above him on Riku and the energy moving towards him. He lifted both blades above his head and twirled them around in his hands. Flames came forth from both keyblades and swung out towards the dark energy as Roxas swung both blades down. Both energies pushed against each other and it had Roxas sliding back on his feet, not able to hold himself steady. He was forced to let go and quickly jumped away as the dark energy collided with the alley way where he once stood. The flames he had been trying to hold having faded away once he jumped away.

Riku had landed on the opposite wall, wasting no time to run down it. He let gravity take him the rest of the way down, swinging Way to Dusk where Roxas then stood.

Roxas lifted up both keyblades to stop the attack. He didn't block Way to Dusk in a normal manner; instead he blocked the keyblade by keeping it held tightly between both of his own fiery blades. His eyes narrowed on Riku as he kept their blades steady, not pushing against Riku, but staying absolutely still. "Why am I not allowed my own soul?" He spat the question out at Riku. "Why does Sora deserve every bit of happiness? Why do I have to suffer?!" He finally broke their blades apart and pushed Riku back, glaring hatefully at the other teen.

Riku skidded back; he lowered Way to Dusk but kept it ready. "You were happy! Back at the island- you were happy to be whole again!" His brows furrowed under the blind fold. "It wasn't until we came back that you split from Sora again! That bastard Axel wants to rip you apart from yourself- who knows what will happen! What damage will happen to either of you!" His free hand tightened into a fist at his side.

"No!" Roxas swung each blade at his side with the loud shout. Dark flames licked at the air as he did. "Axel would never do anything to intentionally hurt me! Axel cares about me! Axel was my friend!" He took in a deep breath and continued to glare something vicious at the older teen. "I'm sick of being a Nobody. I'm sick of being the other half of perfect, little, Sora. I want my own life. I want my own feelings that I can share with the person I screwed up with. I want to make it all up to Axel, but none of that matters! What I want doesn't matter at all!" He swung the blades again, harder, causing them to drag across the alley floor.

"That's not the same Axel you knew! The Axel you knew is _dead_!" Riku shouted the words cold and loud. "This Heartless was never your friend! He was never part of the Organization! His memories are only echoes of what his Nobody went through. They aren't real! What he feels- is only a false memory of someone who died before him." Riku shook his head, causing his silver hair and blind fold tales to sway. "You insult Axel, the _real_ Axel you knew, what he meant, his friendship, by believing this Heartless to be the one you never really cared about."

Riku lowered his weapon at his side. "... You never really cared about him, Roxas, because you couldn't and because you weren't meant to. You were just a piece that went missing... that never meant to leave. You were never meant for this." Riku let out a gentle sigh. "... There's nothing to make up for, Roxas, because there was never anything there to start."

"Shut up..." Roxas had lowered his head halfway through Riku's words. He had had enough of it all. He didn't want to listen to anymore of it. "You don't know what you're talking about. If I didn't care about Axel then why would I want to try so damn hard? Why would it hurt so badly when I'm forced to let go of the control I've taken just to realize I might not get another chance to see him?" His grip on the two blades tightened. The gifts from the Heartless that he was trying so hard to be with. "You don't understand anything..."

Roxas lifted his head to once again look at Riku with narrowed eyes. "Heartless or Nobody. It doesn't matter. Axel is still Axel. Annoying, impulsive and a complete stalker. I'll always know it's him and I refuse to give up because he's waiting for me." With those last words Roxas ran forward and crossed both blades over before he swiped them down, causing flames to come down right as he neared Riku.

There was little time to block the hateful attack, Riku blocked with the guard of his weapon but there was little strength to hinder Roxas' twin bladed attack. The fire was hot, darkness burning darkness, and Riku staggered back with the wound to his arm.  
"No, _you_ don't understand." Riku spat back. "Everything you believe and fight for is empty- a lie! What you feel isn't real. You don't really care- you just act like you care because that's what you think you should do. You ride on the guilt of your returned heart, Sora. You think that Roxas should try to make up for what he did- but you don't need to! You don't need to pretend. Axel's Heartless is just playing you for a fool!"

Roxas would have none of it and let out a frustrated noise at the words spoken to him. He brought both blades down at Riku once more, but he didn't at all let up. Over and over he slammed each fiery keyblade against Way to Dusk, taking out every bit of his aggression. Not caring that he was only hitting metal and not flesh.

"I refuse to be Sora any longer! I'm not Sora at all!" Roxas screamed his words in aggravation as each blade continuously slammed down one after the other. "I want to be whole! I want to be me! I want to have my own reason for living apart from him! I want to be in my own body again and be cared about and held by Axel, not by you!" With those last words he slammed both blades down as hard as he could for one final time and kept them there as he breathed in and out deeply after such actions and loud words. His eyes wide, but the bitterness still on his face.

Riku's chest slowly rose and fell as he stared at Roxas' face. His arm stung from the previous hit and Roxas' passionate onslaught of furious hits. He never expected such emotion from a Nobody; but Roxas was borrowing Sora's heart after all. Such hopeless anguish; Riku nearly pitied the Nobody. Nearly.

Riku jerked Way to Dusk up to lock it onto the twin keyblades, yanking them aside. He then grasped the front of Roxas' shirt, turning to slam him back against the ally wall. Letting go Riku slapped his hand hard across 'Sora's soft cheek. "... Stop this." Riku ordered in a shaky voice.

The hard hit had Roxas' eyes widening even more along with the sudden force in which he had been pinned. He was still trying to catch his breath from his previous actions, but it didn't stop him from narrowing his eyes on Riku despite his position. "No." The word was muttered darkly. "Not until I get what I want. What I deserve for what I've had to put up with."

Way to Dusk was let go to clatter away as Riku grasped Roxas' shoulders, pushing him against the wall as Riku loomed incredibly near. "You were content being whole at the islands." Riku slowly shook his head as he captured one of Roxas' wrists to pin against the wall. "... What's changed now?" He brushed a thumb over the painful mark he'd made across Roxas' cheek.

Roxas twisted his head to the side to get away from Riku's touch. He hated the feeling of the other's hands on him, but he couldn't escape the grip that had him pinned as easily as he did that one hand on his cheek. He remembered being in Twilight Town, among all the data, and easily escaping moments he hated by just shouting the names of his friends. He wished badly that he could just escape so easily right now.

"I was never whole." Roxas spoke the words harshly. "I'm just one half. I'm not whole at all. Axel made me realize that. He helped me come back to life. He helped me wake up and made me see that I could have a reason. That I could have a heart. That I didn't _have_ to live as Sora's shadow." He struggled against Riku's hold. "I want to be my own person. I want to be somebody."

"You have all of those things; a reason, a heart. You _are_ somebody! And not just a shadow. You're an important piece to a greater puzzle. You accepted that. You can't welch on who you are. You can't deny who you're apart of." Riku pulled his blind fold down, letting it fall to rest around his neck. He stared down at Roxas, gaining eye contact even if the Nobody didn't want it. " _Roxas_... you are Sora, no matter what you say, or do, or fight. You can't change who you are. Sora is your somebody. There's no changing that." Riku took Roxas' chin and made the Nobody look up at him. "Sora is Roxas, and Roxas is Sora."

Roxas shut his eyes tightly to block out the view of Riku. "You're wrong. You don't get it at all." His voice had quieted, but the harsh tone was still there. "The reason I have right now. The heart I have right now. They're all Sora's. I have to live through Sora and feel what Sora feels. I'm so sick of it." He shook his head from side to side. "I accepted what I did because I had to. What else was I supposed to do? Fade away?"

Roxas' one hand that was pinned tightened into a fist. "Now I just want to feel for myself. I don't want to feel what Sora feels. I don't want to be part of Sora. I don't want to share Sora's heart." He opened his eyes to narrow them, staring straight into Riku's own. "If I had my own body before then why can't I have it back? I want it back and I want Axel. I don't want you."

Riku wasn't detoured by the anger or the hateful words. He affectionately pet Roxas' chin for the moment with his thumb. "... I love Sora. Every part. Every piece. Even his flaws." He let out a shaky sigh. "Especially his flaws." He let go of Roxas' wrist, his other hand trailing across jaw. "... And you're Sora's biggest flaw." He stepped back from Roxas, letting the Nobody finally have his space.

Roxas immediately moved away from the wall once he was let go and continued to stare at Riku with narrowed eyes after the touches and words. There was a ringing in his head and it felt just as painful as the very first time he had been forced to merge with Sora so very long ago.

Roxas was losing control already and it meant he had to hurry up and leave before he lost it completely.

From within his pocket, Roxas pulled out the thin card that had been given to him by Axel. The card hadn't just been an illusion. It had carried over to Sora's own being and Roxas held it out between two fingers, giving Riku a pained smirk. "Soon, none of that will matter anymore." He allowed the card to lift up into the air near him before he re-summoned both blades to his hands. He pointed one at Riku as dark flames licked at the air viciously near the teen, and pointed the other towards the card. "Soon..." He repeated the word quietly to himself.

"... Even if you some how manage to get a heart, it won't be yours, because you are Sora. And it won't be Sora's either. You won't be whole, because you are just a half by yourself." Riku's expression was terribly sad as he shook his head. "You won't be able to love him. It won't be right." He splayed out his hands in plea. ".. Don't do this. Don't hurt yourself for him."

Riku took a desperate step forward. "... I love you."

Roxas shut his eyes tightly as the pain came again, but he shook his head against it refusing to give in. He twirled his blade which was near Riku in a silent threat for the other to stay away. "I don't love you." The words were vicious and cold as they were spoken back. "Besides..." Dark flames gathered around the keyblade that was pointed at the card. "He hurt himself for me. It's my turn..." The flames shot forth to encase the card.

As soon as the card was covered in the darkness it began to shift and slowly there was no longer a card. In its place a portal started to emerge, swirling with the black mist that surrounded it. Roxas stared at it with borrowed blue eyes until he turned the keyblade he had used on the card to join the other, pointing both at Riku. "Heh...this time he'll be saying goodbye to you."

It shouldn't have shocked Riku to hear that Roxas knew, though it did. Riku shook his head, sorrow filling his eyes. ".. I pity you Roxas. You'll only see the truth more hurtfully if you do this." He shrugged out a hand. "... I'll find you again, Sora." He reached out, splaying fingers, though he knew the teen before him wouldn't take it. "It doesn't matter what is said... I'll be with you, Sora."

Roxas stared at the hand held out to him with a blank expression on his face. The keyblades dropped to his sides for a second to barely touch the ground and for a moment Roxas was silent as the portal behind him waited for his departure.

Just as quickly Roxas snapped his head up and glared at Riku as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but the pain in his expression was obvious. "I don't need your pity, so don't bother giving it." He stepped back and with one final movement he brought down both keyblades to bring up a small wall of dark fire between himself and Riku.

After that the blades vanished from his hands and he continued into the portal step by step, never taking his eyes off of Riku. Only when he was completely inside the darkness did the portal finally close around him and the flames he had put up vanished from the alley way floor.


	18. Chapter 18

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 18

On the sandy beach near black water, a large portal started to make itself known. Black mist trailed up and swirled around while a body stumbled out of the darkness. A body that didn't usually tread in such darkness and would have easily been swallowed up in a second. The person tumbled and fell to their knees on the sand as they freed themselves of the portal, ignoring it as it finally closed up for good and a card fell to the ground in it's place.

Blue eyes stared down at the sand, but were completely unfocused on what they were staring at. A pained sound fell from lips and gloved hands raised up to clutch at spiky brown hair, willing the pain to go away so control could be kept. It wasn't working and slowly Roxas started to feel at a loss.

"Roxas!" A familiar voice called out to him.

With a whisper of dark flame soon lanky arms were picking him up from the sand, collecting him up. A hand steadied Roxas' head, dark fingers running through the brunette hair trying to sooth the pain that fought in there. "You made it."

Roxas easily slumped against the taller body holding him and let out a heavy sigh. "Axel..." That one name as well as the hands running through his scalp had nearly all the pain leaving him. "Barely. I barely made it here..." He spoke the words quietly in response to the Heartless and shook his head against the other's hand. "I had to fight off Riku." He gave a weak, amused laugh. "Heh... déjà vu."

"You made the seconds tick away like hours." Axel murmured the words against Roxas' hairline; he nuzzled his lips against the teen's forehead. "But you got here sooner than I expected." Axel held the smaller body closer, wrapping his own long arms to encase him in a tight embrace just to assure Roxas that he was well received, and greatly missed. "You must have done something right if you got here alive fighting against Riku." Axel chuckled very softly.

Further down the beach Ikurx sat beside Demyx. A Heartless had claimed the Nobody's lap, which had been alright with Ikurx after the initial fear and shock. He continued to fiddle with the antenna, petting the Heartless ever so often.

"So that's a 'Roxas'." Ikurx idly commented to Demyx as he watched the scene play out. "... The Nobody." He finished rather distantly; though he wasn't sure why, perhaps it was in sympathy for Demyx.

Demyx sat on the rock he had claimed as his own, staring at Axel and what was believed to be Roxas. "No..." His eyes narrowed as he watched Axel hug the smaller body so tightly and in such a warm embrace. A bitter feeling rose up within him. "That's Sora. Roxas is only taking over his body." He looked away from the two, no longer able to stand the scene and went back to strumming his sitar rather roughly which caused the waves to crash harshly.

"Nobodies can do that?" Ikurx ran a hand through his hair thoughtfully. "...Sora." It was then the Heartless on his lap decided it was going to toy and yank at the charm on his shirt collar. "H-hey-! That isn't a toy." He tried to stop the little wiggly Heartless from yanking on it.

All of the commotion on the other side of the beach grabbed Roxas' attention. He placed a lingering kiss on Axel's lips to keep the Heartless satisfied for the time being so he could pull away from his arms and walk over to where the waves were strongest. His legs still a little shaky.

Roxas narrowed his eyes as he spotted two other people with them on the beach. His mind had been so focused on Axel and actually getting to the location that he hadn't been able to look around to see if there was anyone else. The music that echoed around and the black water that moved along the shore had his mind instantly clicking into place as to who one of the people could possibly be. "Demyx?" There was a little bit of disbelief in his tone as he said the name. "What are you doing here?" Even Roxas knew of Demyx's personality during his short time in the Organization. So, when Axel had told him the other members were after him he had expected Demyx to be counted out of the equation completely.

Still, after Roxas asked the question of the Nobody turned Heartless, his eyes strayed over to the other person that sat near the rock. All he could see was tinted hair and it had his eyes narrowing for a second, about to speak up to address the other person, but Demyx cut him off.

"I live here..." Demyx cut in before Roxas could open his mouth again. Soulless eyes turned to narrow on the Nobody who was borrowing the Keyblade Master's body only to drop back down just as quickly on the instrument he held.

Axel walked over to stand between the two of them. "Now, now, children. Let's play nice. This is supposed to be a happy reunion." He reached over and ruffled Demyx's swept up hair. "Demyx helped me out in a pinch." He shrugged as he walked over to Roxas to rest a hand on his shoulder.

A little Heartless peered past Demyx and then the person's head who the Heartless sat upon. "I helped too." Ikurx blinked and then gave a guilty laugh. "... Unfortunately I got knocked out right after."

Demyx lowered his head even more when his hair was ruffled. He refused to look up even as he raised a hand to fix his hair, having to pull it away from the strings of his instrument to do so. "Yeah, more then you could say you've ever done. Huh, Roxas?" He mumbled the words in a cocky sort of tone under his breath.

Roxas narrowed his eyes hatefully at such words and was about to bite back a snarky remark at Demyx, but something stopped him. The other person that had peeked out near the Heartless caused whatever words he was going to say to die away. His hateful stare fell away, but his eyes stayed narrowed as he stared into green eyes.

The Nobody blinked several times, unsure why this Roxas person was staring at him so intently. Ikurx scrambled up to stand, walking around Demyx to stand in front of Roxas. He tried to smile, but Roxas had about a friendly demeanor as ice. "I'm Ikurx." He extended a hand in greeting.

Roxas took a step back despite Axel being so near as Ikurx stepped close. His eyes moved down to the hand extended to him and he didn't know why, but he just felt as if he didn't want to touch the other teen. As if he already hated him by just one simple look. He looked back up at Ikurx to look at the other's eyes again without taking his hand. "Roxas..." He spoke his own name in a hushed tone.

Ikurx looked down to his empty hand; he looked it over and gave a slight nervous chuckle. "I guess it is slightly dusty from the beach." He dusted his hands off on each other, wiping them on his pants. "It's nice to meet you Roxas. I've, erm, heard a lot about you." He pointed lightly to the Heartless beside Roxas. "Mostly from Mister Axel." And Demyx; but he wasn't about to repeat the arguments he'd heard from either.

Axel slipped an arm over Roxas' shoulder, resting a hand on his chest as he leaned over to grin against Roxas' ear. "He's the one that's going to fix things."

Roxas leaned back against Axel while at the same time his eyes widened. "Him?" He spoke the word as if the other teen wasn't even there. His wide eyes lowered and his expression became skeptical. "I don't get it. How is he supposed to fix things? This makes no sense, Axel. Are you trying to play some sort of joke on me?"

There was a loud noise as Demyx plucked one of the strings on his sitar rather sharply. "That's right. You wouldn't know about it. Or, about him I guess..." He plucked the string again causing a large geyser to shoot up from the black water. "For good reason. Oh well..." He shrugged a shoulder as if none of it mattered to him.

Ikurx glanced back at the blast of water then to its cause. "Everyone calls me a 'fail safe'." He spoke up before anyone else could explain. He looked back to Roxas with a sad sort of smile. "I have a gift. And everyone who was apart of your group wants to get a hold of me to use it." He shrugged out his hands to look at them. "I make things whole again; dead, Heartless, Nobody." He paused as he looked at Roxas more closely. "... You're very strange." Ikurx raised a hand to tap where Roxas' heart was. "You're whole. But..." Ikurx looked to Axel before he shook his head, rubbing a temple with a weak smile. "You need my help?"

Roxas had taken another step back at the touch. It caused him to be completely in contact with Axel, but he didn't seem to take notice of it or care much. Ikurx's words caused him to narrow his eyes once more on the other teen. He couldn't ever remember being told such a thing about any sort of 'fail safe' while in the Organization. Of course he guessed that's what Demyx meant by his words.

"I'm not whole." Roxas echoed the words he had just spoken before in the alley way not long ago. "I'm a Nobody. I'm fighting to become whole. I want out of this body. I'm sick of sharing Sora's feelings. I don't want to have to steal a piece of his heart anymore. I want my own." His fists tightened at his sides as the anger took over him again.

"I can't make something out of nothing." Ikurx tried to reason quietly. He wasn't sure how he'd mend this. He gave a small shrug and walked back over to Demyx, since Roxas didn't want to be near him.

"Anyway... I promised Mister Demyx I'd help him first." Ikurx stated with a guilty smile as he stood beside the sitar player.

Axel's face went blank with that information. "What?"

"He's one of the few people who took the time to talk to me, like a person, instead of sticking me with things and forcing me to... well... help." Ikurx shook his head and dropped that memory. "After all this he's going to let me join his band. And..." He tapped his fingers together nervously. "I want to help him first."

" _What_?" Axel repeated louder this time.

Demyx flinched at Axel's last shout. The sitar vanished from his hands finally before he decided to stand up from the rock to face the other Heartless. "Is that such a bad thing? So what if he wants to help me first? I should be allowed my chance too..." After his words Demyx quickly looked away from Axel. Not able to keep eye contact for long.

The decision had also shocked Roxas as well. Axel had told him that they would finally get what they wanted. He had been looking forward to it this entire time. He had fought so hard against Riku to get to this place only to find out he was going to be denied it. It had the anger coming back tenfold and it was all directed at Demyx as blue eyes glared hatefully at the Heartless. "What the hell could you possibly need with him?! What could be so much more important then the two of us wanting to be whole?!" He took a step forward towards Demyx with the last angry shout as his eyes narrowed further.

Demyx only turned his head to glare at Roxas. Even though the short teenager had stepped forward, Demyx didn't dare move an inch. He only stayed where he was and kept silent to the questions shouted at him.

Ikurx stepped in before either Axel or Roxas could say anymore, stepping between them and Demyx. He raised his hands up at his sides, barraging them from getting any closer. "You won't change anything by bullying Mister Demyx!" He scowled; he'd had enough of this. "This is _my_ decision! I never said I wouldn't help you- but acting like some pushy jerks and treating me like I'm some kind of lifeless tool- isn't going to win you any sympathies with me!"

Ikurx looked shocked at his own anger that shouldn't have been possible, but it didn't stop his determination. "Maybe you should ask- instead of assume I'm going to do exactly what you ask when you ask it." He frowned. Where such impulsive words had come from, he didn't know. Perhaps it had been Vexen's work that had opened his eyes in such a cruel way.

Those last few words caused something inside Roxas to snap. In an instant his hands were at his sides and the fiery keyblades came to life, gripped tightly in his palms. He took a quick step forward so he was inches from Ikurx, having to look up at the other teen, but still it didn't detour him. Something about the other rubbed him the wrong way and the words spoken ticked him off much the same.

Demyx was quick to move an arm around Ikurx to pull him back. As soon as he had a hold of the Nobody he took a step back to get away from Roxas' sudden threatening stance. The blades Roxas had called shocked Demyx for only a moment, but still he wasted no time summoning his sitar to his side before he raised his eyes to Axel for a quick second.

Axel narrowed his eyes fiercely back at Demyx. "I suggest you change that Nobody's mind, Demyx." He sidled closer to Roxas, placing a hand on his shoulder. "... Or I won't be responsible for what this Nobody does."

Ikurx stared at them with wide eyes before looking away with disappointment. This was the fight at Vexen's planet all over again.

The threat had Demyx stepping back with Ikurx a bit more. Some bitterness showed through in his expression as he continued to stare at Axel with eyes that were open only halfway. "Why can't he chose who he wants to give his gift to? Why do you have to be so demanding about this? If he wants to do it this way then let him. What could it possibly hurt, Axel...?" The last few words were spoken softly.

Roxas' eyes had widened a little when Axel spoke of Ikurx being a Nobody like himself. The shock quickly went away when Demyx started to speak and the anger came back as he twirled both blades at his side causing sand to kick up with the slight breeze they made. "We've been waiting long enough for this. Why should we wait any longer? You were always a coward, Demyx. We've been fighting so hard for what we want. Why should your chance just be handed to you?" His words caused the Heartless to grip the instrument at his side tighter and it had Roxas smirking.

"... I've made up my mind." Ikurx quietly spoke up. "Fighting won't change it." He looked to the dark water. "Hurting people will only change my mind to help you and I don't want to do that." He finally raised his gaze to look at Roxas and Axel. "I will help you Mister Axel, and... I'll try to help you the best I can Roxas." Despite the angry tension he managed a very small weak smile. "But only after I help Mister Demyx."

Roxas held the blades at his side tightly. It wasn't at all the answer he wanted despite Ikurx's promise to help them later on. Later wasn't soon enough for him. Not for how long they had already waited for each other. He pulled himself away from Axel to move towards Ikurx and Demyx. As soon as he was near he pushed Ikurx aside, knowing it would do no good to harm the other Nobody.

In one quick movement Roxas slammed the tips of both keyblades down into the sand of the beach as hard as he could. Dark flames shot up all around to encase the four of them and trap them for as long as Roxas wished to keep them controlled and held where they were. He looked up from the sand to glare something fierce at Demyx and nearly spat out his next words. "You..." His eyes narrowed. "What gives you the right?"

Demyx looked down at Roxas while he ignored the heat that was around. He could have easily destroyed it, but he didn't feel the need to play with Roxas' temper anymore then he already had. The most he did was shrug a shoulder in response. "If you only knew..."

Axel's hands tightened into fists at his sides; he knew exactly why. Demyx was so calm, so determined, even though he knew his mind had already been made. But what worried Axel a little was Roxas' violent reaction; it reminded him of his own. Were they really so desperate that they couldn't wait?

Before anything else could be done Ikurx stepped in front of Roxas; people were so afraid to hurt him, he didn't care about what happened to himself anymore. Without thought he slapped a hand across Roxas' cheek. "STOP THIS!" He shoved Roxas back from Demyx. "Stop all of this now! You selfish jerk!"

The dark flames vanished as soon as Ikurx's hand made contact with skin. Roxas stumbled back and let go of his blades so they fell to the sand. His eyes were wide and the mark which had been made by Riku so much earlier suddenly hurt ten times worse in just one second since Ikurx's hand had made contact with that same spot.

Wide blue eyes stared into determined green ones until finally Roxas dropped his gaze while he rubbed at his abused skin. "I'm selfish?" He spoke the question quietly, his voice almost an even tone. "I'm selfish just because I want to hurry up and have something that might get taken away from me at any second? Maybe I am, but even so, I think I have every right to be..."

"Other people hurt too. Not just you. Everyone has problems, and pieces of themselves missing that they want filled." Ikurx let out a sad sound, raising a hand to rub an eye even though no tears would ever come. The action was just instinctual. "Being demanding does not make you more worthy of help. Everyone has their reasons and everyone else I've seen would say their needs out way everyone else's'." Ikurx lowered his hand and his gaze. ".. I'm sorry if you've had a tough time. But fighting over who gets help first won't get you want you need any sooner." Ikurx bowed somewhat. "I'm sorry. Please be patient."

Roxas took a calm step back away from Ikurx and as the keyblades vanished from the sand he allowed both of his hands to drop back so he could grab onto Axel's own. "I've tried my hardest to be patient. That's all I've been doing. That's all we've been doing." He stared down at the sand where his blades had just been. "You're a Nobody too, right? You feel just as empty as I do. You know exactly how I feel. What I feel. Why can't you understand?" He finally raised his eyes to stare back at Ikurx while his hands tightened around Axel's own as if the Heartless would suddenly vanish just like the blades had done. "I'm losing control and I don't want to wait for the moment that I lose it completely again."

Demyx frowned at Roxas' words and the touch of hands. Despite Roxas' sudden need to care so much in Demyx's mind it didn't make up for everything that had happened in the past. "Isn't that a shame?" He spoke up in a harsh tone. "Maybe if you hadn't of turned your back on us you wouldn't be in this mess." He looked away. "Maybe none of us would be in this mess."

"Demyx." Axel sighed the name hard; the fighting between the two was becoming aggravating. He slipped his arms around Roxas, leaning down to hold him for the moment. It was rare for Roxas to share his pain, even the smallest bit with anyone, least of all a stranger. The Nobody always kept his hurt to himself, though baring it as a sad look constantly on his face.

Axel held Roxas a little tighter, hoping that was enough to keep him in control. A subtle kiss or two placed near Roxas' ear. He just needed Roxas to calm down; his desperate behavior wasn't helping them at all. Quietly Axel murmured a 'calm down' against Roxas' ear.

Ikurx was left frowning; though for many a reason. He ran a few fingers through his pale hair. "... Yes, I guess I am a Nobody. I don't know why. And I'm not whole. And no, I can only pretend to feel." His hand fell to his side. "It's not so bad. And it doesn't upset me. It makes me happy, well... at least in some way, to see people whole again." Ikurx paused, raising a hand up to tap his own lips apprehensively. "... I'm sorry that being whole hasn't made you happy." He shook his head. "Your life is full of complications... heart versus body."

Roxas had almost flinched at Demyx's hateful words, but it was Axel's arms around him which caused him to ease up. The few kisses and quiet words near his ear had him shutting his eyes to try his best to do as the Heartless said and control his temper. Something that always got the best of him. Even when Ikurx spoke up again he still kept his eyes closed, refusing to open them and refusing to let Axel leave him. The Heartless was the only thing keeping him in control at that moment.

"I'm not happy because I have to share my feelings with someone that feels things I don't feel." Roxas let out a heavy breath that came out very shaky. "I want my own body back. I want my own memories back. I want to live for him." One of his hands squeezed around Axel's own. "Not the one Sora lives for..." His eyes finally opened a tiny bit to stare at the sand. "I just want _my_ life back." He kept silent after those last few words, leaning back against Axel and keeping as close as he could to the other.

Ikurx hung his head and slowly shook it. It was a sad story, but a promise was a promise.

Axel squeezed Roxas' hand back. There was no getting around this. At least, not like this. He nuzzled the side of Roxas' head, holding the small teen tighter. "Stay here a second. You'll be alright." He placed a lingering kiss at the back of Roxas' neck before he slowly untangled himself from the other. It was tough to let go of Roxas, especially when the teen was so incredibly clingy. It was a rarity, but as of late it wasn't so uncommon.

Axel ran his hand up and down Roxas' arms, giving him a brief smile before he turned with a more serious expression. "Demyx, can I talk to you somewhere private." He twirled a finger.

Demyx's head shot up at the sudden voice, having looked away from the scene long ago. The words had him giving Axel a nervous glance, but he had no real way of saying no. Axel would only find a way to drag him off anyway. He gave a quick nod and looked back at the two Nobodies one last time before he turned away from them to lead Axel further down the beach.

The walk was long, especially if the two Heartless wanted to be out of hearing distance of Ikurx and Roxas. Demyx stopped only when they were even out of sight of the two teenagers, finding a spot where more rocks were surrounding each other. Demyx leaned against one and avoided eye contact with Axel for as long as he could, trying to play dumb. "So...uh...what did you want to talk about?"

"Well," Axel drew out that one word as he shrugged his lanky shoulders, "there's the weather." He slowly walked to Demyx, one assured step at a time on the sand. "There's the view. We could even talk about meaningless things like how our day has gone." Axel stood much too closely in front of Demyx, and just as suddenly he slammed both of his palms against the rock on either side of Demyx's head. "Or..." Axel leaned down closer still to Demyx. "How you're going to give me your turn with the fail safe."

Demyx jumped a little at the force in which Axel had slammed his hands on either side of his head. His eyes stared wide up at the fire user in fear, but it was how close the other was which caused him to stay perfectly still. He couldn't move nor did he want to. "W-Why would I do such a thing? I'm getting my chance. You heard Ikurx. Just be patient." His words were a little shaky, but still he went on. "Besides...Roxas doesn't deserve it..."

One hand left the rock, thumb barely skirted against Demyx's cheek. "Maybe he doesn't." Axel spoke his words very quietly as he then brushed his thumb across Demyx's bottom lip. A grin perked the corner of Axel's lips as he continued, leaning closer still. "... But don't I?" His finger fell from Demyx's lip to lightly take his chin. "Haven't I given enough to deserve it?" Axel's hand fell further, drawing a finger down the front of Demyx's throat. "... What more could I possibly give?"

Demyx's eyes widened further at the sudden touches, but slowly they fell halfway as Axel's hand moved lower across his throat. It caused him to give a harsh swallow before he could even think to answer. "Of course you do...A-Axel..." Demyx blinked his eyes at how the other's name came from his mouth and he quickly tried to back up even further against the rock, but it was impossible. "But, you're just going to waste your chance to be with him." He continued on despite how quiet his voice had gotten.

Axel's finger traveled back up Demyx's throat. "It doesn't matter, just as long as my turn is first." His finger tilted Demyx's chin up as Axel leaned close enough so his breath ghosted against the other's lips, but not near enough to give Demyx what he wanted; yet. "...And I'm sure you're quite willing to give your turn to me." His fingers moved to trace Demyx's jaw, following along to his ear. "Right?" That one word curved his grin wickedly.

Demyx let out a needy noise at not getting exactly what he wanted. The fact Axel was teasing him was making the entire situation all the more cruel. He tried to lean away from the rock to move closer to the other Heartless' lips, but it just wasn't possible since Axel seemed to have made sure he wasn't able to. It only had him letting out even more of a frustrated sound before he spoke. "But what about me?" His voice dropped even lower as he stared at Axel's face and nearly shivered at the touch given to him.

"After." Axel simply concluded in the same soft, grinning tone. He leaned back just a little, enough to tease Demyx. "... Then you'll get what you want." He ran a few long fingers through the dirty blonde hair that hung down the back of Demyx's neck, purposely brushing his fingers against skin as he toyed with the hair.

Demyx allowed his eyes to close for a second as he felt the other's thin fingers move through his hair. One of the simple things that had another small noise escaping him. His eyes opened halfway after a while to glance up at Axel and he chewed nervously at his lip before he spoke up. " _Everything_ I want?"

A small 'heh' left Axel. "Can't say." He softly tangled his fingers in Demyx's hair, and then softly pulled his fingers from the light hair, letting it trail across his fingers. "Depends what kind of miracles this kid works." Axel cupped Demyx's cheek with his fingers, tilting his head just enough so Axel could ghost lips and breathe near the edge of jaw, placing just the smallest of kisses at the lobe of Demxy's ear.

Demyx let his head fall back against the rock as soon as he felt Axel's lips near his ear. He tried to keep the rest of his noises in, but it just wasn't happening. His hands which had been limp at his sides, finally rose up to rest on the other Heartless' waist to cling. "Mmm...he seems pretty amazing so far." He spoke in between small noises. "You saw Zexion. You could be whole. We could both be whole and feel everything. Not just hate."

Axel grinned against Demyx's ear. He obliged the other's hands at his sides, pressing closer but never truly touching. His own body was unnaturally hot, considering his element. "So let me have the first go." Axel let his tongue slip out to give the slightest of teasing licks to Demyx's lobe before he took it between his teeth to give a sharp nip.

Demyx still seemed hesitant to the idea as it was brought back up. It was that one final bite which had him nearly melting against the rock and letting out one more louder noise. The hands he had placed near Axel's hips, almost digging into the Heartless' skin. "F-Fine..." He cracked so easily, but couldn't help himself. Not with what Axel was doing to him and giving him what he craved. "You can have it..."

Inside Axel's grin was wide and victorious, though outside he kept his sleek composure. He leaned back just enough so he was face to face with Demyx. It was almost sad Demyx's giving nature; it wouldn't be fair not to give a little something back.

Axel brushed his fingers along until he grasped Demyx's jaw softy but firmly. "That's a good boy." He purred the heated words hushed against Demyx's lips. "... Thank you," He finally pressed his lips flush against Demyx.

Demyx was quick to respond, but the low moan he let out was muffled behind lips. His hands easily moved up from hips to wrap around Axel's neck to bring the other closer if at all possible. As his eyes slowly shut completely he couldn't stop thinking about how much better the moment was compared to the kiss he had forced on the other Heartless so much earlier.

Axel pressed Demyx back against the rock, pressing closer like the other wanted. He grinned against Demyx's lips, though not for the reasons the other Heartless thought; if Roxas found out what he did to step up their place in line, the Nobody would surely go on a rage, but that didn't stop Axel just yet. He let his tongue slip out to lick Demyx's lips. "You're so easy going." Axel chuckled low in his throat before he pressed a deeper kiss against Demyx's mouth, sneaking his tongue against the other Heartless'.

Those words only had a slight laugh leaving Demyx which trailed off as a needy moan against the other's lips. The feel of Axel's tongue had his own curling around it lazily as he muffled his noises against the other's mouth, allowing Axel to dominate him in anyway he wanted while his own hands slipped down Axel's back to touch skin.

Axel broke the kiss, licking his own lips after. It was strange to taste someone else there besides Roxas, though it wasn't unpleasant. It had his mind spinning a little and a grin permanently etched on his lips. "... We should head back." He messed with the few strands of hair that fell on Demyx's forehead.

Demyx blinked his eyes open when the kiss ended. The sudden realization that they needed to get back had him almost protesting, but he knew that soon he would be close to what he wanted. It caused him to quiet himself and nod his head in response. "Yeah, guess so..." He allowed his hands to fall away from Axel, one falling to his side and another lifting up to push back his hair as he grinned up at the other Heartless.

Axel returned the grin; resting his head on Demyx's a moment. ".. Thanks again, Demyx." He grinned more before he stepped back. He should have felt bad for using Demyx's emotions against him, but he didn't; not a spot of guilt, nor for Roxas. But that's what he was, a Heartless, it was all about his personal gain. Perhaps the guilt would come later with his change, and he'd realize the gravity of what he'd done. But not right now.

Axel continued to back up, smirking. "Better hurry back. That little toy you've made friends with is probably already worrying about you with his lack of emotions."

"He's not a toy." Demyx was quick to defend the Nobody that had been the only one to help him feel better so far up until this moment. "He has a name and he's not just an object." Demyx pushed away from the rock to walk past Axel. "He's a good kid. Even if he is just a Nobody." He left it at that and walked away from the secluded area; knowing Axel would follow if he was to get what he wanted.

As soon as the two Heartless made their way back Demyx wasted no time in walking back over to the rock to sit down for the time being. He had only given Ikurx a short glance, but spoke nothing to the Nobody, knowing Axel would want to be the one to break the news. Besides, for some reason he suddenly felt too nervous to even open his mouth.

The entire time the two had been gone Roxas had taken a few steps back on the beach to have a bit of personal space away from Ikurx. When Demyx and Axel returned he first watched Demyx with narrowed eyes as the one Heartless sat down only to then turn his attention on Axel. A rush of relief coming over him for a split second as the one thing that could keep him in control returned.

Axel walked over to Roxas, leaning over to inspect his face. "Hm? Not a smile for my return?" He laughed and ruffled Roxas' hair. "Lighten up, you should be smiling."

Ikurx walked over to Demyx with a few well behaved Heartless in his arms. "Don't think he likes me..." One of the Heartless jumped from Ikurx's arms to make itself comfortable on Demyx's head. "H-hey. Come back little wiggly." But the other one decided it wanted to take over Demyx's lap.

"He'll get over it in time." Demyx mumbled the words to Ikurx's first few worries as he looked down at the Heartless in his lap. It was a rare occurrence for the small creatures to come anywhere near him other then to bug him and he couldn't help laying a hand on it to pet it for at least a few seconds.

Roxas had pushed Axel's hand away much like he would usually do in the past and gave the other a look. "Not now, Axel. I'm just not in the mood." He spoke the words in an even tone as he looked away from the fire user and towards the other's that occupied the beach with them. A small scowl on his face. He saw no reason why Axel felt he should have been smiling. Especially after the decisions that had been made. "What did you two talk about? You obviously didn't burn him up..." He mumbled the last few words with a small bit of disappointment that he didn't even try to mask.

Even Roxas' worse than usual bad mood wasn't enough to detour Axel's grin. He slung his arm across Roxas' shoulder much to the teen's chagrin. "Now why would I do that? Especially since he's been so kind as to let us have first shot with the fail safe." He poked Roxas' pouty cheek.

"My name is Ikur-what?" Ikurx turned sharply to gape at what Axel said before he looked to Demyx. "... Why would you do that?" He plucked the Heartless off of Demyx's head only to have it wiggle in argument.

Demyx suddenly felt even more nervous at being stared at by the Nobody. "B-Because..." He couldn't just blurt out the reason why. Not unless he wanted Roxas to impale him with his keyblades. It wasn't something he looked forward to. His eyes traveled to Axel and Roxas and a frown formed on his face when he saw how close the two were again. "I just thought Axel deserved it more..."

Roxas was in a state of shock. He couldn't believe it was so easy. Although he should have known Axel would find some way to be persuasive. What that way was, Roxas didn't really care. All he knew was that they were back to being a step closer to getting what they wanted and it had a grin finally coming back to his face while he turned to bury himself against Axel since the Heartless already had his arm around his shoulder.

Ikurx watched Axel and Roxas hug and such over getting what they wanted. It didn't quite sit right with him, especially when Demyx had been so dead set about being first. Seeing Axel and Roxas act so happy and close seemed to defeat the purpose of Demyx's reason.

Ikurx looked back sadly at Demyx. "Are you sure?" He tried to look at Demyx's wandering gaze. "I mean... It was you I promised I'd helped first."

Demyx quickly turned his eyes back on Ikurx and tried his best to give the Nobody a smile. "Y-Yeah, I'm sure." He wrung his hands together in front of him. Anything to occupy them instead of calling the instrument he so badly wanted to use against the Nobody that was so close with Axel. "Besides..." He continued on. "I'll get what I want. Don't worry..." He tried to be a little surer of himself with those words and smiled a little more.

Ikurx sighed but nodded. "Alright... If that's what you'd like to do." He hugged the little Heartless tighter in his arms and it gave a squeak of protest but didn't fight it much.

"Roxas." Axel stated the Nobody's name loudly for all of them to hear. "I want Roxas to have first shot." He grinned down at the Nobody in his arms. "He's the only one of us without a body, or a heart of his own, to speak of." He ran his hand through the brunette hair, missing the touch of the soft blonde, though their blue eyes were very much the same. "It's only fair, right?" Though Axel knew it wasn't.

Roxas leaned his head into the touch while he gave his own grin right back at the Heartless. The words and small gift that came along with them had Roxas forgetting about the fact there were others around, not that he cared anyway, as he leaned up and crushed his lips to Axel's own to show him just how thankful he was.

Demyx narrowed his eyes and the smile he had tried to keep up slipped away from his face. That bitter feeling started to come over him again as he watched Roxas press himself against Axel when only moments ago it was himself that was making such needy sounds for the other Heartless. He had given the chance to Axel, not to Roxas, and the betrayal hurt worse then anything else. "Axel..." The other's name was the only thing he could get past his lips.

The hair on the back of Ikurx's neck bristled and he nearly scowled at the sight. He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much, maybe sympathy for Demyx and his cause. But it left a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. He sat down on the edge of Demyx's rock, back to back with the Heartless. He didn't say anything after.

Axel tried his best to pull away from Roxas' mouth but it was hard with Roxas grinning and clinging as he was. Though he felt a tinge of regret ache inside his chest. He was giving his chance to be human again to give Roxas what he craved since his creation. He was giving the person who never blinked an eye his way till now the most precious chance of all. Axel had given him death, even love and now life; something didn't feel right. Axel only feared that Demyx's previous words might be right.

Axel gently pushed Roxas away at arms length, the corner of his lips upturned for him. "Go on. Go become a Somebody."

"I hope you all realize that if my gift is done here all your old group friends will come rushing in here." Ikurx's words started sarcastic, his bitter mood only a reflection of Demyx's, not truly his own. "It always happens. So... Demyx's home will only be exposed." He sighed, fiddling with the antenna of the Heartless on his lap.

Demyx tensed up at the warning. It's not that he didn't realize such a thing before hand. He just hadn't cared about the group coming along when he had told Axel he could have his chance. It hadn't really mattered to him. Now that it was Roxas that would get the shot instead he suddenly didn't want to take the risk for someone he felt was a traitor. Demyx wouldn't dare speak up, though. He only shook his head, knowing that if he said anything he would be going back on his word to Axel.

Roxas turned away from Axel to face Ikurx. The way the other spoke had his eyes narrowing. It felt like a threat to know that after he had what he wanted they would be in danger. "So?" He started out quietly. "It doesn't matter. We'll just get rid of them." He shook his head. "Axel will still need his chance after me..." He finally took a few steps towards Ikurx. "I'm not going to let some little messed up reunion screw things up."

Ikurx glanced up at Roxas, the other Nobody was too impulsive for his tastes. "... They're tough. Mister Demyx and Axel barely escaped as it was. It's not as easy as you think." He sighed. "... Would you really want to risk what you have because you want things _now_?" His voice fell quieter as he looked back up at Roxas. "Besides after I help you, it'll have to be a while after I help Mister Axel. My gift takes a lot out of me... M- I can barely stand after."

"I know they're tough. I've been around them and seen them fight." Roxas shook his head. "But, as long as I've existed I've never once backed down from anything my entire life." The determined expression on his face fell to something a little desperate that he tried his best to hide. "I'd do anything at all to get away from this body. To be who I want to be." The danger of the situation wasn't just coming after him though, and he knew this.

Roxas turned his eyes back to the Heartless behind him to see if after everything spoken it really was okay with Axel. If he still wanted it just as bad.

Axel sighed as he ran a hand through his spiked hair. "Maybe we could get the hell out of dodge right after? If we don't stay long, maybe we can give them the slip." He walked over to Demyx, leaning over to peer at his face. "This is your home turf. Maybe you could, I dunno, tsunami them as a distraction and then we all run."

Demyx glanced up at Axel and suddenly realized how close they were. He scooted back on the rock as much as he could since Ikurx was behind him. "I don't know..." He looked away from Axel's face and out towards the water. He was so tempted to turn the other down. He didn't want to help Axel just so he could run away with Roxas, but he didn't want Axel to get hurt either. "I suppose I could do something of the sort. It does help that they would be in my area. I could probably handle it so we could get out..." He spoke on hesitantly.

"Good." Axel stood up with a decided grin. "Then it's settled." He glanced around. "Better than counting on this measly army of Heartless." He turned to face Ikurx and Roxas. "Ready then?"

Ikurx glanced at Axel and he looked away before he ended up making a bitter face. He suddenly didn't want to help this impulsive Roxas person, but he really didn't have any other choice. And he hated that feeling.

Ikurx stood up and moved to hand the Heartless he'd been holding back over to Demyx since it was his to begin with. He looked at Demyx with concern as he quietly spoke. "Are you sure this is okay?"

Demyx had taken the Heartless and hugged it to his chest despite its squeaking and wiggling in protest to the treatment. He couldn't bare to look Ikurx in the eyes because he knew the Nobody would be able to see right through him even with his own soulless eyes. "Yeah. I'm sure..." There was just no real point in fighting it anymore. That much was obvious.

Ikurx stared at Demyx, his mouth an even thin line. Finally he hung his head, closing his eyes as he spoke quietly. ".. Okay."

Ikurx turned and started walking. "Everyone stay here. Roxas, follow." He didn't feel much like being his upbeat polite self; even if he had no heart, whatever was in his chest felt heavy and distressed.

Roxas was a little hesitant to follow the sudden order from the Nobody. It was only when Ikurx started to get further and further away did he finally start hurrying after. He turned his head to give one last look at Axel and a small brief smile for the Heartless before he turned his head back around and quickened his pace.

Axel gave a small wave, his own smile fading as he watched the two Nobodies walk off. He backed up and sat down on the rock where Ikurx once sat, back to back with Demyx. He bowed his head. "... Thanks again. This means so much to me... even if... you hate it." He tapped his fingers together on his lap. ".. I just wanted to say thanks again."

Demyx tensed up at the contact that was barely made between them. One of his hands brushed against the antenna on the Heartless that had finally decided to settle on his lap. "If I had known..." He let the sentence hang in the air unfinished, but plainly obvious at the same time. The thanks he was getting for the situation just made the entire thing even more unbearable.

".. You died to Sora... and I died for Sora." Axel quietly spoke. "... But you and I both know better. Who and what we are and how we were created." He sighed through his nose as he shut his eyes. "So, what were you doing before your Nobody died?" He glanced back at Demyx even though he couldn't see much of the other Heartless. "... Why did you decide to pick up where your Nobody left off?"

"What other reason do I need besides you?" Demyx knew the answer was as blunt as they came, especially from him, but he had no reason to beat around the bush anymore. He continued to idly pet the Heartless in his lap, keeping his hands busy. "My decision. My reason. It was all because of you. Of course now..." He let his hands fall away from the small creature in his lap to dangle off the rock instead while he looked out towards the water. "I'll just have to figure out a new reason. Something different since you continue to be so stubborn..."

Sightlessly thin fingers wrapped around Demyx's wrist, slipping to rest on the pad of his palm. "... Its better you do." Axel quietly spoke, giving Demyx's wrist a small squeeze. "... Look after that fail safe kid. He's got no one else and Nobodies are a lot more fragile than they tend to let on." Axel quietly sighed, his fingers slipping lower on Demyx's hand. "Go do that band thing he said something about... on some unknown world... far from everyone else." Axel's hand slipped away but not without a lingering touch to Demyx's fingers. "... Maybe I'll come see one of your concerts."

Demyx wanted so badly to let out the noise that was caught in his throat, but he fought against it and stayed perfectly silent. It didn't stop him from shutting his eyes as tight as he could while he gave a quick nod to Axel's words. He had to fight the urge to grab the other's hands and hold them tightly, using all his willpower to keep his own limp. "I'd like that..." When he finally spoke his words were weak, but still heard.

"Yeah..." Axel quietly agreed. ".. Me too." And he let the silence fall between them as they waited.


	19. Chapter 19

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 19

It was a fair ways away along the beach, though not completely out of sight from the two Heartless at the dark water's shore. Away from internal influences Ikurx felt a little more clear headed. Demyx's sorrowful need and distaste for Roxas was numbing away inside his chest to the heavy nothingness that had and always did remain there. Ikurx could feel the desperate feeling that clawed inside Roxas, despite his knowledge of the other being a Nobody. Axel's own sadness was tied heavily to Roxas'. Though Axel's heart wasn't connected to Roxas', Roxas had no heart of his own to speak of. Whatever Roxas was, or using to feel for his own, it was tied to Axel's heart; like a thin rope tied to someone out in a sea trying to swallow them.

Ikurx turned to face Roxas. He eyed the other Nobody, still assuming Roxas disliked him even though he had no idea why. "Hm... I'm going to have to touch you." There was still somewhat sarcasm in his voice; perhaps he was still annoyed with Roxas. He raised a hand to show that it was harmless enough. "So you better not bite me."

Roxas had stopped only a few feet from Ikurx as soon as the other teen quit walking. His attention had immediately turned away from the other Nobody so he could look around the area they were in, but Ikurx's voice brought him back to the moment. The tone of voice in which the other used had Roxas raising a brow, but he didn't disagree. He only bit back with his own snarky words. "Sure, go ahead I guess. I'll keep these teeth to myself for now." He smirked.

Apprehension crossed Ikurx's face before he gave a disapproving look. "...You can just as easily be helped with a muzzle." He muttered to himself as he reached over and placed a hand on Roxas' chest. The touch felt awkward and made him nervous. He felt pressured, and although he'd touched people like this before, this of all times he felt embarrassed. Ikurx couldn't stop the tinge of pink crossing his cheeks, and he lowered his head trying to hide it.

"Uh...um." Ikurx stammered, for lack of anything better to really say. "..Hmm." He tried not to move his hand, that would only make the situation more awkward; but his arm was getting tired. "Uh-uhmm... erm... m." His cheeks grew hotter.

Roxas blinked his eyes at Ikurx's sudden mood change. The other teen had bowed his head, but since Ikurx was taller Roxas could still barely catch a glimpse of his face to see tinted cheeks. It had him raising a brow as the sudden situation became awkward for him and he wondered if it really was a good idea to let the other touch him. "Uh, are you supposed to be doing something?" He finally got the question out since Ikurx was only stuttering.

"...I've um.. Never done this on the living." Ikurx finally blurted out. His head lowered more as he shifted his hand to rest over Roxas' heart. "... And you're already one person... So, I'm kind of new to this."

Roxas shrugged a shoulder at the sudden worry over the situation. "Well, only the body makes us one person." He looked down to watch Ikurx's hand as it moved over Sora's heart. Something he wanted so badly to have for his own. "All you have to do is find a way to get me away from Sora, right? I mean if you can make the dead whole again like you said, then you can do anything I'd assume." He looked back up at the other Nobody.

Ikurx finally raised his head to look down at Roxas with sympathy; he knew what it was like to fake emotions and tag on others to feel something. "Yeah, but the dead aren't as torn as you. There's only one person in their body."

Ikurx could feel the strings that connected to the heart under his palm; so many good friends, long time friends, a family, a home, battles won and lost. And one continuously fought. Love and light. All of it tied to another that was sinking deep into its own self despair.

But this wasn't Roxas' heart. Not in the way that Roxas wanted, not as independent.

"Your- I mean... Sora, whoever, this heart is amazing!" But just as quickly as Ikurx's awe came it went. "It's so sad. Your situation. You want to love him, but you can't. You know you should, but you just _can't_." Ikurx frowned sadly for Roxas. "... That must be horrible suffering."

Roxas looked away from Ikurx and down at the sand. He wasn't impressed at all by the other Nobody's amazement in Sora's heart and Ikurx's last few words only made him feel even worse. "Yeah. It's not all it's cracked up to be in here." He shook his head a little. "I just want out. I want to be myself and feel what I want to feel." He looked back up. "None of this is me. It's Sora's life. Not mine."

Ikurx gave a gentle sigh. "I suppose it would do no good to tell you that you are a part of this whole." He frowned a little. "... You, as an entirely different identity, 'Roxas', you don't have any of these things. Not really." His hand fell away from Roxas' chest. "... I could try to help, but the end results won't be what you want. Not entirely."

Those words only caused Roxas to narrow his eyes. He hadn't been expecting them, although he should have after so many things he had been told lately. "What do you mean by that? You can give so many others the chance they want. Why can't you give me what I want so easily?" He hesitated on his next words, taking a step back from the other Nobody since he was free to do so. "What's the catch to having what I want?"

Ikurx went a little slack, and he looked upward as he gave it some thought. "I'd have to split you in half to make you whole." He lowered his gaze back to Roxas as he gave a helpless sort of gesture. "This doesn't make much sense when you think about it, but... it's the best I can do." He frowned considerably. "... It's probably not good for either of you. But, you're going to ignore my warning anyway, right." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Roxas looked away which made Ikurx's last few words truer then if Roxas had said anything himself. He kept silent for a few seconds as he tried to get his thoughts in order from what Ikurx had told him and when he finally spoke his voice was low. "We were split in half before and everything was fine. The only difference was that I was a Nobody. If we were able to be apart from each other before, then Sora can deal with it again and I'm damn sure I'll deal with it because it's what I want. To be a Somebody just like Sora."

Ikurx made a soft sound before he spoke up again. "... You'll be half a Somebody. Actually."

Roxas blinked his eyes a few times before he looked back at Ikurx. Those words didn't settle very well with him and his eyes narrowed. He didn't feel angry at Ikurx, but he did feel very skeptical suddenly. "I'll still have what I want though, right? I'll be able to feel and I won't just be an empty shell like I am now, right?" He took in a deep breath before he went on. "I'll be able to say what I want, right?"

Ikurx was hesitant but he nodded. "You'll feel half whole... but Sora will feel half empty." He sighed quietly. "It's all about perspective I guess." He tapped Roxas' chest. "I just hope it fixes the war inside of here..."

Roxas looked down at where Ikurx's finger was still pointing. Instead of the earlier awkwardness of having the other Nobody's hand on him, this time around Roxas didn't really seem to mind all that much. He kept still as a tense expression came over his face. He gave a quick nod before he spoke quietly. "Yeah..."

Ikurx moved his hand to his charm. He tugged it off and in an instance of illumination the angelic weapon was summoned to his hand with the star charm at the end. He nervously tapped the winged blade at the air, too self conscious to give it a twirl like he'd seen Roxas do with his impressive twin weapon.

"... Ready?" Ikurx looked at Roxas.

Roxas had watched the entire scene with a mixture of fascination and disbelief. If only because of the blade that Ikurx had called. It had him speechless for a few seconds which was a rarity considering he always had something on his mind to say. He looked back and forth between Ikurx and the blade he held and a sudden rush ran through him that he blamed on the moment that was drawing near. "Y-Yeah. As ready as I'll ever be." He finally voiced as he drew narrowed eyes back on Ikurx's face.

Ikurx gave his weapon a twirl, illuminated white streaking after the blade. He twirled the blade at his side before catching it firmly. "Please close your eyes," he quietly requested, "and think of the one who you're doing this for, the one who keeps you here, your reason."

Roxas wasted no time in doing what he was told and shutting his eyes tightly. His thoughts immediately went to Axel. His one and only reason. The one who had woken him up from such a deep sleep and had done so much for him. Every single touch and smallest embrace, Roxas thought about, because it was what drove him on. Even those final moments from so long ago when he left the Organization in those dark streets. He wanted to make up for it all. All of this was for Axel.

Ikurx smiled just a little for Roxas' thoughts. He twirled his blade up between his hands. Throwing it into the air he snatched it up tightly between his two hands then brought it down upon Roxas-

The entire area fell bright.

And just the same there was darkness, a peace that was beyond all malicious touch and ill thought. It was here that Ikurx descended upon, touching down on the vast stain glass. The picture was of the same boy he'd just seen; brunette hair and deep blue eyes. But it wasn't 'Roxas'. It was the true owner of the body: Sora. His eyes were so much more cheerful, his smile wide and warm; his child hood friends portrayed around him.

"... Roxas has no heart of his own." Ikurx crouched down and tentatively touched the glass. It was warm, like the sun he'd felt on his skin when his eyes first opened. It had the smallest of sad smiles on his face; Cloud, Zax. Ikurx closed his eyes. Some how, he knew they were alright.

A startled noise left Ikurx as he turned around. There was someone else there. A small huddled figure sitting at the heart of the awesome stain glass mural. Ikurx narrowed his eyes as he tried to see who it was, and when he recognized the person his eyes grew wide. "You're Sora."

Ikurx cautiously stepped towards the dormant personality and knelt on one knee to carefully peer at his face. Without thinking he reached out and gave a gentle poke to Sora's forehead.

The poke caused the huddled body to give a start. Eyes slowly fluttered open inch by inch as a head lifted up off of knees. Blue eyes rose up to Ikurx's face and slowly narrowed as a groggy feeling still weighed heavily all around Sora. His vision was still a mess. "Riku...?" His friend's name was the first thing from his lips as he stared at the eyes that started to come into focus.

Ikurx blinked and gave a soft laugh. The urge to ruffle Sora's soft brown hair was overwhelming, unlike with Roxas in control of that image. There was just something about Sora that had Ikurx smiling. Something sweet and nostalgic like a warm hug from someone you couldn't quite remember.

"No, I'm not Riku." Ikurx rest his cheek on his own knee as he continued to peer at Sora. "My name is Ikurx." He smiled more. "It's nice to finally meet you." He didn't know why he said that, but for some reason he felt like an unconscious search had come to a halt.

There was obvious disappointment in Sora's gaze at being told that the person in front of him wasn't who he thought it was. "Ikurx..." He echoed the name quietly as his vision finally became clear. His eyes continued to stay locked on the other's for a few seconds until the greeting was spoken. He tried his best to smile, but in the end looked away as he rested his head back down, keeping to himself for the time being. "It's nice to meet you too, Ikurx."

Ikurx smiled a little more. He leaned down so he could look into Sora's face. "You're the heart. You care for so many without prejudice. You're so nice." He gave a small almost sad chuckle. "I think I envy your ability to feel so much for people." Without thinking he raised a hand to brush Sora's cheek just barely, pushing back the soft hair resting there; the action felt just, well, right. He wanted to perk up, what he assumed, was such a cheerful person. ".. You're never, ever alone. Heh, not even when you're by yourself."

Sora lifted his head again at the touch and turned his eyes back on Ikurx. He stared at the other for a few seconds until the smile he had tried to give actually made its way onto his face. "Everyone deserves a chance. It's only right. I can't help caring about so many people." He turned his eyes away once more and the smile slowly fell away again. "I don't believe what you say though, about me never being alone." He pulled his knees closer. "I feel very alone right now."

"You're not alone." Ikurx tilted his head with a smile. "I'm here." He leaned down to rest his head on Sora's, showing him in a friendly manner he wasn't. "I'm here to help you. Would you like me to?"

Sora quickly looked to the side at Ikurx and easily seemed hesitant. Especially since this was a person he had only just met a couple of minutes ago. It was the other boy's eyes which had him slowly giving in. Something about them that put him at ease and had him putting a small amount of trust in Ikurx with a slow nod of his head. "How are you going to help me?"

Ikurx leaned back. "Close your eyes." He softly tapped Sora's forehead. "Tell me about your earliest, happiest memory." He smiled just a little sadly; his own was probably just a few days ago. Though he was sure beyond the dark of knowledge there were plenty of wonderful memories, waiting to be resurfaced.

Sora bit his lip, but did as told. His eyes slipped shut again and as they did he tried to reclaim what he thought was lost. Those small happy moments back on the island. "Riku and I were under the tree. We were feeding each other Paopu and it was one of those times in my life that I felt the happiest, because it didn't matter to me if I didn't hear the words said back to me right away that I said to him." Sora hugged his knees tighter. "Those words were nothing compared to how I felt at that moment and I knew he felt the same." A tiny smile came back to Sora's face despite the far away memory. "I was happy..."

The Nobody was perplexed a little. "What words?" Roxas had needed to say some words, but without his heart he couldn't. He knew of them, yet he didn't. What few words could possibly mean so much that somebody would want to break apart from themselves just to say?

"I told Riku that I loved him." Sora kept his eyes closed as he remembered the moment so clearly. Being held so close on the island in their last few moments of peace. "Those were the words, and later on he finally said them back to me. He told me that he loved me." The last few words were hushed as if Sora was afraid the memory would leave him if he spoke too loud.

"... Sora." Ikurx raised his hands and placed his fingers very lightly on the other's cheeks. He found himself leaning forward, his own eyes shutting. He could feel no heart hammering in his own chest like it should have.

Ikurx forced himself to stop whatever it was he was going to end up doing. He swallowed thickly and gave a slight nervous chuckle. "... You'll find him again."

The world went light again.

It faded once more and there Ikurx stood with his angelic weapon in hand on the vast stained glass pillar. Up from its center came Sora's crystalline heart, the brightest and warmest of all that Ikurx had ever seen with each time he'd been to everyone's solace. The heart flew above him and Ikurx smiled sadly. Had he his own heart he doubted he could do this but at least then he could cry.

"... I'm sorry Sora." Ikurx twirled the blade in one hand as light gathered brightly at its end. Then grasping the handle tightly in one hand he slashed the weapon up, and from the bottom of the crystal heart light neatly sawed the beautiful jewel in half.

The enormous stain glass pillar split in two with the heart, white seeping from the split along with jagged black. Light burst forth from the divide and either sides of the pillar broke free of each other, moving far, new murals gleaming on their tops. One of Sora, a cloaked, blind folded figure mirroring him at his side. The other was of a blonde teenager, surrounded by the tawny colours of twilight, the portraits of several teenage friends surrounding him.

Ikurx recognized Axel in the stained glass, and something tugged painfully at the nothing inside him. His weapon disappeared from his hand as he let his eyes fall shut. He gave in to the world about him, falling yet remaining still; letting the world push him gently back, like resurfacing water.

-

Demyx had grown quite content just sitting on the rock back to back with Axel and ignoring the true reason why they were just waiting things out. Despite how much Axel hated water, Demyx had started to play around with it anyway while he was still sitting near the other out of boredom and had used only his hands to call up a few bubbles much like he had done for Ikurx.

The problem was that such a sudden sense of light like the one Ikurx gave off would obviously break his concentration and just as the moment hit, one water ball he had been focusing on just happened to be above Axel's head and broke. Which meant it only had one place to go but down. "Ahh...oops..." Demyx flinched at his bad luck.

Axel gaped, now sopping wet, his usual jagged hair now slicked down from the water. He'd been just as startled from the sudden sense of light as Demyx, but now he was on edge by being doused by his worse liked element.

Axel jumped off the rock shaking the water out of his hair. He steamed, literally steamed, the black water evaporating from the intense heat Axel produced from his hot flash of anger. He promptly shoved Demyx off the rock.

"The HELL!?" Axel growled. He snorted. "I don't have time for this. They're going to be here soon. Be ready. We have to get out of here A.S.A.P."

"Owww..." Demyx whined a little after Axel shoved him, his back having collided with the sand underneath the rock. "You didn't have to push me, Axel. It was an accident." He got up onto his knees to narrow his eyes on the other Heartless before a nervous feeling came over him at the mention of the other's that would soon be by to grab what they had.

"H-Hey, Axel..." Demyx started a little cautiously. "You think Ikurx was even able to help Roxas? I mean, he didn't seem too sure..." He finally stood up on his feet as he called his sitar at ready to his side, looking to where the two Nobodies had retreated and back at Axel.

Apprehension crossed Axel's face but worry paled it. He wasted no time in answering Demyx back and sped towards where Ikurx had lead Roxas. Tight fear captured his heart, halted whatever beat of life it had inside him as he prayed that Roxas was alright in some shape or form.

Amidst the sand three bodies lay prone and barely moving. The most obvious was Ikurx who had done the trying task of pulling Roxas from Sora and used up so much energy to complete that exact task. Such a thing taking everything out of him that he had to give for the moment.

Blonde hair stood out from one of the other bodies which lay nearly face down in the sand. Eyes shut tightly as black and white tape hugged fingers as they clung tightly to sand only to have them dig into it deeper. It was the only movement that came from the body other then a small noise.

It was small twitches and black wisps of mist that came from the last body. No other movement other then that. The figure seemed to be huddled in on themselves and could so easily be mistaken for one of the Heartless that roamed around the beach as Demyx's lackeys, but the body was much too big to be thought of as such.

Demyx had stopped right behind Axel as soon as they reached the area the two Nobodies had occupied and his eyes scanned over the bodies with disbelief. His nervousness over the others soon coming was squashed down over the shock of what he saw in front of him.

"Ra-..." The sound of name wouldn't leave Axel's tightened throat. He staggered; his legs went weak along with everything else. Soon he was staggering over in the sand to collapse on his knees next to the blonde teenager. "..R-Roxas?" He stretched out a shaky hand to smooth it across cheek, hair; Roxas' real face, his _real_ face.

A small hopeful sound choked in Axel's throat. He leaned forward and gently patted Roxas' cheek. "Roxas? R-Roxas, wake up." His voice spoke as he urged him to wake. He was so afraid to gather the small teen in his arms, afraid the wonderful sight would shatter in some sick illusion of light.

The gentle prodding had eyes slowly opening as a small noise left Roxas at the disturbance. He lifted his head away from the sand and moved a hand up to brush some off his face before he noticed the person next to him. "Axel? W-What happened?" Before he could even let the Heartless answer his question he noticed something different. The voice that left him wasn't the one he had been borrowing for so long. The voice he heard was the one he had been born with. The one he had been missing. It had his eyes snapping open as he dropped his hands down to look at them before he quickly turned his wide gaze to Axel.

The Heartless grinned widely as he gave a loud giddy laugh. "It's you! You're really you- it worked!" Axel clasped either of his hands on Roxas' cheeks, feeling the features, hair, ears, neck, shoulders; everything he remembered from long, long ago. "It all worked. It's all of you- here. Now. It's real." Axel couldn't stop the happy laugh that left him.

The touches and excited words that left Axel had Roxas letting out a laugh of his own that he couldn't keep in. It was true. He really was himself. The same person he had been searching to become again while trapped inside of Sora. It brought a rush of emotion over him that he realized was coming from the pounding in his chest he had never had the luxury of feeling before. The one thing he craved more then ever. It nearly had him gasping for breath as his laughter stopped for a second and he locked his eyes with Axel's own.

Without a second thought, Roxas grabbed onto one of Axel's hands and brought it to his chest, keeping the other's hand there so he could feel what had never been there before. The excitement of the moment and sudden nervousness made the muscle inside pound harder. A grin broke out on his face as he continued to stare at the other's face and brought both hands up, letting Axel's stay where it was, so he could bring the Heartless' head down and crush their lips together.

Demyx had moved away long ago to go by Ikurx's side and try to rouse the Nobody as best he could. He didn't want to stay and watch the scene in front of him, but the remembrance of them soon having company had him glancing up with worried eyes at the two as he continued to keep Ikurx close since the teen continued to keep still. His eyes only glanced at the twitching black body that was still a few feet away from them all before he looked back at Axel and Roxas.

"Yuw aveh art!" Axel's words were muffled with a laugh against Roxas' eager mouth. His hand splayed wide to feel the welcoming beat beneath his palm; it was the most wonderful thing he'd ever felt in all his lives. Axel bruised Roxas' mouth with excited kisses. Though he pulled away just enough to talk, his grin couldn't be wider. "A heart. Roxas- you have a heart!" He laughed again. "You have it- you finally have it." His mind couldn't focus on anything else.

Roxas nodded his head after Axel's words, having to control his own excited laughter. He continued to keep his hands on each side of Axel's face, looking up into the other's eyes the entire time. He licked his bruised lips, giving Axel one of his rare smiles that suddenly didn't feel as if they would be as rare anymore. "Say it..." He spoke the words in a hushed voice. His smile turned into a crooked grin afterwards.

Axel nearly crumbled there and then at the hushed request. He leaned his head against Roxas', a few shaky breaths leaving him before he even had the energy or the courage to speak up again. "R-Roxas..." He kept his hand on the other's chest while his other touched Roxas' cheek, his _real_ cheek; and suddenly it felt as if so many years didn't really pass them by. Axel swallowed thickly before he spoke up, his voice so nervous but he meant every word. "I love you."

Roxas leaned into the touch while he let one of his hands fall away to clasp around Axel's own. This was the one moment he had been waiting for so long and he couldn't help closing his eyes to enjoy it despite the complete suspense it more then likely caused the person in front of him. He actually felt happy to hear such a thing leave Axel's lips and the emotions weren't just borrowed. They were his own. Something he was allowed to feel.

Slowly, Roxas opened his eyes and the grin never really left his face as words started to tumble out of his mouth. Words that he had wanted to say for so very long. "I love you too." His grin only grew after the confession. "I love you, Axel. I love how impulsive you are. I love how completely cocky you are even if it does cause you to act like a jerk sometimes." He laughed a little after his own words and shook his head. "I love the way you smirk and the way you kiss me." He moved his eyes back up to stare into Axel's own. "And...I'm sorry that I ever left." His voice fell to a quiet tone. "I'm sorry I never said goodbye." He smiled sadly after those last few words and held the other's hand tighter.

Axel was stunned; words left him, though his tightened throat wouldn't allow them or true breath to leave. The shakiest of laughs left him. It was everything he wanted and needed to ever hear; he felt so complete, his heart so touched.

Axel crashed their lips together, kissing him with deep affection. He needed to taste the other's mouth, his lips, tongue, where the wonderful words came from. He needed to kiss Roxas breathless. But he had better sense than to make a scene of themselves in the sand there and then.

"... I better hear more of that," Axel murmured heatedly against Roxas' lips, grinning wide and wickedly, "back at Twilight Town." They had to get going. Now.

Roxas only smiled in response. His face flushed because of the intensity of such a kiss that had been given after his words. "Anything you want." He spoke the last few words just as quietly as he had the rest while his new heart still continued to hammer in his chest.

Demyx had stood up, having diverted his attention away from the two as he slung Ikurx over his shoulder. He had tried his best to ignore the exchange going on between Axel and Roxas, but it was hard considering the words. The only real thing diverting his attention away was trying to get Ikurx comfortable along his shoulder since the teen was dead weight at the moment.

Something shifted out the corner of his eyes and it had Demyx quickly looking in the direction of the huddled black form that he had been passing off as a random Heartless the entire time. His eyes widened as it started to shift around and suddenly he didn't care about his own jealousy any longer. "U-Uh...guys!"

The one body that had merely been twitching for the past few moments started to move until it was sitting up on blackened knees. Wisps of darkness continued to trail away from the body despite its sudden movements and disappeared into the air. Slowly a head lifted up that adorned messy hair now turned black while sad eyes stared across at Axel and Roxas, a small twitch with each movement.

Axel turned his attention finally to the darkened figure that stared at him. His smile fell. "Oh no... Sora." He slowly shook his head. "The split must have..." But he didn't manage to finish his words, he felt _them_ almost upon them. "We have to get out of here! Now! Our old buddies will be here soon- and worse... _Riku_." He stood up, picking Roxas up with him. "... And he isn't going to like this."

Roxas clung tightly onto Axel, grateful for the help. He was still a little woozy from the sudden split. His own eyes had strayed to what they all knew was Sora and he felt a sudden tug at what he saw. "Sora..." It was Axel's words which had him snapping out of it and looking away from what used to be his other half while he still clung as tight as he could to the Heartless.

Demyx had to pull his eyes away from Sora to actually nod his head to show he had heard Axel's warning. He swallowed hard as the nervous feeling came over him again at the thought of so many of their old group coming to stop them. It took him no time to create a portal for them all to escape into off of the beach, taking one last look around before he made sure Ikurx was safe on his shoulder and stepping through.

Axel kept sad eyes on Sora for a moment, his arms tightening around Roxas. "... I'm sorry Sora." He quietly spoke in a small voice. "You owed me." His fingers buried themselves in Roxas' hair as he kept the teen close. He then turned to follow Demyx into the portal, disappearing into it with Roxas in his arms.

Those same sad eyes watched as the dark portal closed up after the last two bodies disappeared. Sora gave no real notice whether he heard Axel's words or not as he was left on the island alone. His eyes moved away from where the portal had vanished, and with tiny twitched movements, Sora pulled his knees up to his chest as he stared out at the ocean far ahead.


	20. Chapter 20

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 20

The search for the boy named Ikkuris had started to become long and tiring. The group had decided on leaving the world they were on right away to search another planet, finding it the best idea since Ikkuris was nowhere to be found around the town anyway. Of course the first planet was a bust and the company both Cloud and Zax kept wasn't some of the best and caused a headache to form between Cloud's eyes. He continuously questioned moment after moment how Sora kept his sanity with Donald and Goofy around him twenty-four seven. Between Donald's annoying rants and Goofy's constant blunders, it was a wonder Sora got anything done at all.

Near the third world they came to Cloud decided it was time to take a break and was grateful when Zax agreed. Cloud didn't really care what the other two did with themselves for the moment. He just really needed to get away from the two animals that he wasn't used to being around on a continuous basis. With only a small sound signaling his departure from the group, Cloud let his feet lead him away to somewhere more peaceful, ducking around a few trees that got in the way before he got to a small quiet spot with only a few bushes surrounding it. The area was otherwise clear.

Cloud let out a soft sigh at finding such an area, and finally having some silence he allowed himself to relax as he kneeled down near the ground. He was still worried about Ikkuris, but he needed a small break before he went back and dealt with his temporary partners.

There was a tap to Cloud's shoulder, though how someone else could slip in so silently without his knowledge, there was only one person. Zax.

"Hey, room for one more?" Zax spoke quietly, not wanting to upset his already aggravated friend. "I was thinking of getting supplies at the nearby town but-... I saw you head off here. And... well. I thought maybe you could use some company." Zax cleared his throat. "Saner, human, company."

Cloud glanced up so he could actually look Zax in the face. "Hmm, saner company would be a big improvement." He shook his head a little before he looked back down at the grass beneath his feet. It was the closest to an invitation Zax would get from Cloud since his mood had been back and forth from okay to very annoyed the entire trip.

Zax grinned at the approval. "I'll let you have your peace and quiet." He knelt down to flop on the grass, stretching out to make himself comfortable. "I know how much you like your brooding silence. It adds to your mystique." He pillowed his arms behind his head. "You won't hear a peep from me. Speaking only when spoken to." He made a 'zip the lip' gesture over his mouth before putting his arm back behind his head, and shutting his eyes.

The words actually had barely the hint of a smile coming to Cloud's face. He raised his eyes to look away from the grass and at Zax instead. The silence was nice and for once he was finally able to enjoy his long lost friend's company instead of the few moments they had been around each other since the other had been brought back. It actually had Cloud relaxing even more then his own silence had when he first came into the area.

Still, Zax's words had Cloud a little curious and despite the very welcome silence he couldn't help indulging his curiosity with his old friend. He lifted a booted foot to nudge Zax in the side lightly before he let it drop back down into the grass as he spoke in the same bored tone he always used. "What else adds to my mystique?"

"Hm?" Zax had started to doze a little. It took him a moment to realize the question he'd been asked. He blinked open his eyes and made a thoughtful sound. "Well. Let's see... You keep to yourself most of the time. And when you do talk, it's no more than a few words. Straight and to the point." He glanced at Cloud. "Girls like a guy who keeps them guessing." He grinned just a little.

Cloud blinked his eyes as he kept them on Zax. After a few seconds he looked away as he seemed to think over something. It was only after a little bit that he leaned back before he spoke up again. "You think maybe I should try and change all that?" He tried to keep the small bit of amusement out of his voice. "It might stop Tifa from following me around all the time."

"The new, sharing and caring, people person Cloud?" Zax had to laugh. The mental image amused him greatly so. "I don't know. That might encourage her to follow you more. Tifa is strange like that. Push her away and she'll want you more, give her a hand and she'll want the whole arm, then body to go with it." He chuckled quietly. "From the sounds of it she hasn't changed much. Which puts me at ease. ..Everything changes so much- but everything that counts doesn't."

Zax's expression went a blank as he stared far off. "... Everything's changed." He finally blinked back and smiled with a slight guilty laugh at Cloud. "I feel selfish for saying this but; I'm glad you didn't change much. I'd feel bad if you did, and I hope you never do." His smile softened some. "You're good the way you are: the quiet, pouty, brooding loner."

Cloud had turned his attention back on Zax as soon as the other man started to speak again. The words had instantly grabbed his attention and he couldn't help feeling even more relaxed with Zax's own admission. Although something caught Cloud's attention and it quickly had him narrowing his eyes as soon as it clicked in his head. "I don't pout." He moved a foot out to nudge Zax in the side a bit harder then he did last time.

Zax gave a slight laugh, moving an arm to rub and block his side. "You do too. Though only when you think no one is looking, but as of late you have more of a scowl. You tend to cross your arms, bow your head and that's when you pout. Or- are you just trying to look deep in thought." He teased.

Cloud rolled his eyes and looked away from his friend to turn his attention somewhere off in the area. He let out a quiet sound in response to Zax's words before he actually responded. "I don't know what you're talking about." Although, the way Cloud tapped his fingers against the grass made it obvious that he did, but he said nothing else either way.

Zax gave a lazy shrug, letting Cloud have his way. He shut his eyes again, keeping the one arm draped across his own chest. He let the comfortable silence come up between them once more.

Cloud had turned his eyes up to the sky, watching as the trees swayed while he let the silence relax him once more. It was so nice to be away from Donald and Goofy for a while and to just be around someone that knew how to stay calm when they needed to. It had a small sigh leaving him along with all the stress.

With a few small movements Cloud moved out of the kneeled position he was in to scoot closer to Zax. As soon as he was beside his friend he laid back much like the other, but with his hands clasped near his waist instead. It was out of a sudden need to be close to the person he had lost for so long that he did such a thing. The closeness putting him even more at ease as he kept his eyes on the sky through partly opened eyes.

"We're going to fall asleep here if we're not careful." Zax murmured from beside the other. But it was easy to tell he didn't mind the idea. He found Donald and Goofy more amusing than Cloud did, but the two animals were something he could only stand in certain doses. "The sun is so nice on this world."

"If we do we do. If we don't then we can pretend that we did." Cloud easily answered back. He was more then willing to stay away from the other two for as long as he was allowed. Although he did feel a little guilty for stopping their search just so he could have a break. "I can't remember the last time I just kind of relaxed like this." He finally let his eyes slide shut the rest of the way.

Zax silently agreed. He couldn't recall either. It was something well needed, even if it was just a few minutes. They needed to recharge their minds; the body could only go on for so long. The sun peeked through the clearing above to warm the grass they laid on.

"Hey, Cloud." Zax spoke up very quietly. He hoped he hadn't interrupted his friend's sleep by speaking, when he said he wouldn't. "Mm... when we find Ikkuris, what then?" He opened his eyes to glance at Cloud's face. "What is it you want to do then?"

Cloud kept his eyes closed, giving the illusion that maybe he really was asleep, but when he gave a small thoughtful sound it made it obvious he was completely coherent and had heard the question. "I suppose there's really no choice for me." He gave a slight shrug. "The kid needs protection. That's more then obvious. It will be the same routine as usual, considering what we heard from Donald and Goofy there's nothing much else to do. Especially if Ikkuris is involved in it." He let out a single sigh. "I'd fight if I really had to."

Zax rolled onto his side to face Cloud. "You'd protect the kid for the rest of your life?" A light amused sound left him. "And here I thought you didn't want kids."

Cloud finally opened his eyes only halfway much like they had been before and turned his head to the side so he could look at Zax. "Well, he's not my kid." He let a slight smirk tug at his lips. "Besides, he did bring you back so the least I could do is help him out by not letting the Organization get their hands on him. Hopefully such a thing won't take the rest of my life." He shut his eyes again, but kept his head to the side.

Zax rested his chin on Cloud's shoulder with a grin. "Just until he's old enough to kick out of the Strife family nest." He laughed through his teeth.

"Oh yeah, you're hilarious." It was easy to tell Cloud had rolled his eyes under his lids after his words. The sarcasm in his voice was more then obvious. He opened his eyes once more and was about to say something right back to Zax, but the words got caught in his throat at how close they were right then. His mouth clicked close and he quickly turned his head away to look back up at the sky, having to forcefully pull his eyes away from Zax's own and staying silent afterwards.

Zax gave a slight chuckle at Cloud's weird behavior. "Well, then, tell me your plans if I'm so far off. That is, if you have any. You never were one to plan ahead." He reached over to poke Cloud's cheek teasingly. "Pouty." He ended up chuckling again.

"I told you I don't pout." Cloud lifted a hand to push Zax's own aside, giving the other a look out the corner of his eyes. In the end he let out a sigh and turned his attention back up to the sky as he dropped his hand back down. "If everything goes well I guess I just want to stop fighting. Times like this, they're rare. It feels good to relax. It wouldn't be so bad to have more moments like this. Some actual peace. It's probably farfetched, but oh well." He glanced back at Zax. "Going to keep babysitting me even then?"

"You're easier to baby sit when you're sitting still." Zax gave a cheeky grin. "Easier to keep tabs on." He tapped Cloud's chest in gesture. "But I have to say I'd enjoy a little peace too. As boring as it will get." He gave another lazy shrug. "Besides, I know how much you'd disapprove of me going back into battle. Maybe I'll do a few odd jobs for cash. Nothing _dangerous_ dangerous. Just something a little above Joe-Average work. Enough to support the wife and kid; you and Ikkuris." He tried to hide his new laughter.

Cloud blinked his eyes a couple of times before he seemed to realize just what Zax said. It had an embarrassed expression quickly coming over his face that he tried to shrug off with his own laughter. "Yeah right, whatever." He narrowed his eyes on his friend. "Why do I have to be the wife?"

Zax with held more laughter to grin. "You sport a dress and bows far better than I do. And you've bonded with the kid more so than I. It only makes sense." He reached over to gently tug at a blonde lock of hair beside Cloud's face. "Besides, who's ever heard of a black haired house wife?"

The stern expression Cloud had tried to keep on his face fell away instantly. His eyes shot over to the side to look at the fingers which tugged at his hair before they quickly moved back to Zax's own face. He tried to come up with a response as best he could, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders and stutter as his hands fidgeted. "I-I don't know...I d-don't."

Zax rested his hand down from Cloud's hair, his chin on the other's chest. He smiled like a pleased cat as he remained draped, lounging as he was. "So you agree?"

Cloud's eyes followed Zax the entire time and he swallowed hard at where his friend decided to rest himself so comfortably. "I-I guess..." Cloud stared at Zax for a few seconds longer before he seemed to realize just what he was agreeing to. He quickly shook his head and narrowed his eyes on the other man. "I mean, no! Not at all. I don't agree. Geez, Zax."

Zax patted Cloud's chest. "Too late. The damage is done. You've accepted your fate as wife and home maker." He chuckled. "Don't worry; I won't make you wear the dress."

Cloud kept narrowed eyes on his friend for such words, not at all finding the situation half as amusing as Zax was. After a few moments he finally rolled his eyes and tried to push away his embarrassment, but it wasn't all that easy with the other man still on top of him. "Aeris will be so disappointed."

Zax's teasing expression softened. "Well..." He drew his arms back so he could cross them on Cloud's chest to pillow his chin. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Cloud looked back at Zax after those words and kept his eyes on the other man's for quite some time as if he hadn't heard the other correctly. His fingers continued to fidget which was a rare scene and each breath he took caused Zax to move up and down slightly on his chest.

Finally Cloud pulled his eyes away to look back up at the sky and let out a small sound of amusement that only ended up coming out sounding nervous instead. "Yeah whatever, Zax. It's not like we were being serious or anything."

Zax gave a small 'heh'. "True!" He moved away from Cloud to flop his back onto the grass. He put his arms behind his head once again.

Cloud frowned a little at the sudden loss of contact between them, but he didn't dare speak up about it. He only gave Zax a quick glance as he turned his head sideways before he looked back up at the sky and let out a heavy sigh. His fingers stopped their nervous twitching and he tried once again to relax, staying quiet again as silence fell over the both of them.

"So." Zax quietly drew out that one word, though he didn't have much to really add on to it. "... Guess you'll just be living a peaceful existence on your own then? Well, with the kid." He chuckled just a little. "Tifa would probably insist on helping. She'd probably make a better mother than you."

"I don't know how many times I have to keep convincing you, Zax." Cloud answered back in a hushed tone. "Even if Tifa did want to help out she'd have to do it as a friend like everyone else because that's all she is. No mothering or anything like that." He shook his head a little despite it having to rub against the grass beneath him. "I don't know how I'm ever going to get you to believe me when it comes to me and her."

"Okay, okay." Zax quietly assured. He half grinned. "I'm just teasing. I don't really mean anything by it."

There was silence once again between them broken only by the noises around them and their own breath. Cloud continued to take small glances at Zax here and there only out of instinct to make sure that the other man was still beside him after everything that had happened.

"Zax?" Cloud's voice broke through the silence after a long while. His eyes looked down at the thin strip of grass that separated the two of them instead of the sky above. "Aside from all the other stuff we were messing around about. You were at least serious about not doing anything dangerous, right?" His voice lowered a little. "Nothing that would cause you to...leave again?" He finally tore his eyes away from the grass to look back at his friend.

Zax's eyes opened. He gave a gentle smile. "Sure. Nothing dangerous." He ran a hand through his own hair as he gave it some idle thought. "Like, I don't know; odd delivery jobs, pest control. The dirty work no one wants to do." He looked at Cloud. "You don't have to worry about me."

Cloud blinked and the nervous feeling came over him again in that moment. Without thinking much of it he rolled over onto his side, propping himself up so he was halfway across Zax. A small smirk tugged at his lips despite his nervousness and he shrugged a shoulder as best he could in the position he was in. "I'm always going to worry about you. So, it's just something you'll have to deal with."

Zax blinked thoroughly and in the end he gave a nervous laugh. "But worrying is my job. You can't baby sit the babysitter. It just doesn't work like that."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the one that died." Cloud halfway teased as he followed Zax's example from earlier and rested himself across his friend, finding it much more comfortable then laying down on the grass. "Besides, you can still baby sit me all you want. I'm allowed to worry about you either way. We'll just call it even I suppose."

"Fair enough." Zax chuckled quietly. He raised a hand to ruffle Clouds hair, knowing that had it been anyone else who'd done it they wouldn't get their hand back. "Just as long as you aren't brooding about me all the time. I like it better when you actually let loose and act like a person." He kept his hand on Cloud's head. "Maybe we could even work together. Open a small business where we do odd jobs. Hm? How's that sound?"

Cloud didn't mind all that much when Zax messed with his hair. He actually seemed content as he was and gave a thoughtful sound to the suggestion. "I think I'd like that. When all this nonsense is over I don't think I would mind doing something like that." Unconsciously his head started to lean into Zax's hand as his eyes slipped shut.

"Hmm...Zax?" Cloud started to speak up again, though his words were a little softer as he asked his question. "Let's say we both finally do get to relax after everything and we don't have to fight anymore. If you have no other reason to baby sit me I'm guessing you'd settle down with Aeris, hmm?" He let out another small sound. "I can't imagine you babysitting me for all eternity if there's no reason for you to."

Zax looked up at the sky. He made a thoughtful sound. "Hm... I guess not." His hand scratched his head as he thought that over. "Of course, could you really take care of yourself on your own?" He propped himself up on an arm so he could grin down at Cloud as he teased. "You, me, we're both soldiers. Living the life of civilians- I mean... can you even cook?" He ran his fingers down a spiky lock of blonde hair idly.

Cloud squinted one eye open at such a question, ready to defend himself, but found that he really couldn't in all honesty. "Well...I can sort of manage..." He frowned at such a thing. "I can boil water if that counts." He realized he wasn't exactly helping himself and buried his face a little further against his friend's chest. "I'm sure I could learn."

Zax chuckled, combing his fingers through the short hair at the back of Cloud's head. "Well, I could always teach you. I may not be a gourmet cook, but I know a few tricks or two. And things don't always come out burned." He gently tugged at a blonde spike. "My mother didn't want her son living off frozen dinners while he went off to fight." He gave a short embarrassed laugh. "Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that out loud."

Cloud let out a small noise at the attention he was getting, but covered it up quickly with a quiet laugh of his own. "Probably not." He turned his head only a little, making sure not to disturb Zax's hand that was still in his hair. "But I can always tease you about it later. After you teach me how to cook." The smile he gave Zax was lazy, considering he was so relaxed at the moment.

Zax opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it, deciding against it. He didn't want to disturb Cloud's peace and rest with his personal thoughts; not when Cloud was actually being relaxed and smiling. Still, if he didn't speak now, who knew when they'd have such a time to themselves to talk.

"... I'm not going to tell her." The words left Zax, blunt and vague.

Cloud blinked his eyes, trying to get them to open all the way and focus on Zax after hearing such a thing, but his hazy mind wanted to stay as it was. "Hmm? What do you mean?" Zax could have been talking about a number of things, but there was a knot in Cloud's stomach for some odd reason after his friend spoke those words.

"Aeris." Zax quietly answered. "I'm not going to tell her I'm..." He let the sentence peter from his mouth. "It would be too..." He swallowed and sat up more, trying not to disturb Cloud on him but it seemed inevitable to. "She's already mourned me. Accepted that I'm gone. Moved on. It would be unfair to pull her back from all that." Zax lowered his head, looking at the grass. "... I couldn't mess her up like that. You know?" He glanced at Cloud.

Cloud was forced to sit up a little as soon as Zax did, but kept himself sprawled out on top of his friend as best he could since he still found it comfortable. "Well, you won't be able to hide from her. Just like all our other friends. I told you that before. She'll see you at some point." He glanced away after those last few words left his mouth and shrugged a shoulder. "Besides, I'm sure she'll be happy. You never know..." He trailed off.

"You won't be." The words left Zax before he thought to keep them in. "I mean... I care a great deal about Aeris, don't get me wrong. I do. She's a great girl." He sat up better so he could place his hands on Cloud's shoulders. He gently pushed the other away so that he could look him in the face. "But..." That word hung on Zax's lips as he leaned his head a little closer to Cloud's.

Cloud almost stopped breathing for a second at the sudden closeness. His eyes widened only to fall halfway once again as he stared at Zax's lips before he quickly caught himself and looked back up into his friend's eyes. He realized there was nothing but silence between them and managed to break it with a weak voice. "B-But?"

Zax managed to smile just a little, just the slightest perk of the corners of his lips for Cloud, though his heart hammered hard in his chest. ".. You're the one that brought me back." He leaned down, just close enough to touch his lips to Cloud's; such a nervous brush of lips, Zax almost missed.

Cloud's eyes snapped open after just that small bit of contact out of nervous shock more then anything else. It was something that he didn't want to end, but the small kiss wasn't enough for Cloud especially if Zax dared to pull away. So, without warning he reached a shaky hand up to grab onto the other's front, keeping Zax near to press their lips together harder as his own eyes slipped shut.

Zax found himself grinning stupidly against Cloud's lips; he couldn't help it with the giddy feeling inside mixing with his nervousness. He unsurely slipped his arms around Cloud's shoulders. It felt so strange to hold Cloud like that, to keep him just as near. But right; it had been Cloud's heart which had drawn him back from the nothingness of death.

Cloud's hand grew only a little slack since Zax didn't seem to be going anywhere and instead fell to slip around the other's waist. As soon as he felt Zax's grin, Cloud couldn't help his own smile and it was the only thing that caused him to finally pull away from the kiss, locking eyes with his friend as he leaned in a bit more so their foreheads touched. A small disbelief over the moment that just happened was the only thing that left him speechless.

A very shaky laugh left Zax and he grinned wider. "So then," his voice was a quiet but nervous mess, "how long were you waiting to do that, Mister Cloud Strife?" He couldn't help the teasing, his excitement mixed with his anxiousness.

Cloud blinked his eyes at such a question and he finally let out a nervous laugh of his own as his eyes darted away to the side. "Oh, I don't know." A few of his fingers twisted at Zax's shirt idly as he tried his best to calm his voice as well. "Depends on how much time between the here and now we're talking about." He gave a small smirk.

"Can't say. That you'll have to fill in for yourself." Zax smiled his grin. He relented a hand to rub his eye before setting it down. "You have a tendency to hide your pining from those around you."

Cloud looked back at Zax out the corner of his eyes before he turned his attention fully back on his friend. "A long time." The quiet words left Cloud as if they would break the sudden moment that had happened. "Since Ikkuris brought you back to me. To the world." He looked down between them at his one hand. "Even before then. I think that's why...why your death killed me so much inside." The last few words were nearly whispered.

Zax gave a gentle nod against Cloud's head. "I know." He answered just as quietly. There was a myriad of reasons how, and why, but he didn't feel like bringing them up there and then. Instead he gave a sad smile and dipped his head so he could give Cloud's lips a small, lingering kiss.

The sadness that had tried to ease it's way over Cloud was pushed aside just as quickly when he felt Zax's lips on his own again. His eyes slipped shut much like before and instead of letting Zax pull away from the small kiss, Cloud slowly moved his tongue out to trace it over the other's lips in a teasing way. His hand that had been holding onto Zax's shirt, moved up to wrap around his friend's neck.

Zax gave a slight laugh at the lick, not expecting it. "H-hey, since when have you become so forward?" He leaned back just a little, licking hips unconsciously after. "So quiet and so reserved, never expected such forward affections." He teased with toothed grin. "Especially after a first kiss. People might call that improper." He laughed.

Cloud gave a nervous laugh at Zax's words and shrugged a shoulder. He kept his one arm around the other man despite Zax pulling back. "You said you liked seeing the more human side of me. You've seen me laugh, smile and everything else." He leaned forward just enough so their noses touched. "It's not all that improper. Not if I've been waiting a good long while to get an actual kiss from you anyway."

"And here I thought you were the good, sweet boy who waits till at least the first few days before kissing." Zax then gave a catty grin. "And at least after marriage for explicit use of tongue." He pulled Cloud closer so the other would have to crawl onto his lap.

Cloud was easily pulled over, settling himself more comfortably on Zax's lap instead of on the grass he had been sitting on previously. "Well, since you were so kind as to kiss me first there was no real reason for me to be such a sweet boy. Too much temptation." He raised his free arm up to join his other around Zax's neck before he went on. "Besides, between fighting and worrying over other little things, there isn't much time to be choosey over when to use tongue."

Zax laughed at that. "True." His arms slipped down to rest loosely around Cloud's waist. "And although life is short," He placed a small kiss against Cloud's bottom lip smiling after, "there's no need to rush." It was Cloud's chin that got kissed next. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. You've got the rest of our lives to enjoy me." He kissed Cloud's cheek with playful affection. "Promise."

Cloud let out a quiet laugh at the attention. Only around Zax could he loosen up so easily and even more so in such a moment. The words had Cloud's laughter slowly dying away, but still the hint of a smile stayed on his lips as he kept his eyes on Zax. "Yeah, you better promise." He let his fingers trail up and down the others back in lazy motions as he kept speaking. "Because I don't plan on letting you go for nothing or no one."

Zax's eyes sifted half closed, the hands at his back reminded him that this was his moment to be lazy, and relax. It was soothing that small touch. "Possessive." He let his eyes fall shut as he leaned forward to rest against Cloud, his head on the other's chest. "Protective and obsessive." Zax settled himself warmly with a tighter hug around Cloud's waist. "I have to say it's rather flattering."

"Then you should get used to it." Cloud continued to run his fingers up and down Zax's skin, shifting a bit to get more comfortable. "I don't plan to stop being any of those three things any time soon." He kissed the top of his friend's head before he rested his cheek down in the exact spot, relaxing just the same as Zax. "Maybe now I can handle the rest of our company a little better." He thought about his words a little more and shrugged a little after. "Or I can _try_ to."

Zax made a muffled sleepy grunt to prove he wasn't going to be moving from where he was anytime soon. "No, because you're staying right here. A Cloud pillow." He gave an amused chuckle. "Comfy and fluffy, just like your name." Though Cloud was mostly toned muscle, not really that soft at all, Zax found it perfectly comfortable.

Cloud let out a small sound at the sudden words, but he didn't try to protest otherwise. He knew he should have. He felt a small bit of guilt for just sitting around and enjoying himself when they were supposed to be finding Ikkuris, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't remember the last time he actually felt happy. At least in the true sense of the word. All he could do was wrap his arms tighter around Zax and let his friend get as comfortable as he wanted. "You're going to end up lazy if you keep this up." He still couldn't help but tease.

"Mmm, probably." Zax murmured with no real care. He roused enough energy to raise his head to disturb Cloud's so he could kiss the other's throat, nuzzling it after with his nose and lips. "But I'm taking you down with me." He gave a lazy grin.

Cloud shut his eyes at the small kiss and smiled a bit at Zax's words. He pulled back a bit so he could lean his head down and capture his friend's lips with his own, giving him a lingering kiss that was much longer then the few they had shared so far. He pulled back just enough to speak, his words felt against Zax's own lips. "You're not being a very responsible babysitter." He grinned.

"You're right." Zax gave a quick few kisses to Cloud's lips. He tried to sound playfully honest and regretful but he couldn't stop his grinning. "I'm just using you for my own gain. So selfish. Hm... maybe I should take back each kiss. I don't want to corrupt the one person I've sworn to take care of. That would be irresponsible of me."

"Hmm, well, I don't know about that." Cloud couldn't get enough of each kiss. Even though Zax had finally pulled his lips away after the few he had given, Cloud was right back on the other man, giving tiny little presses of lips here and there on Zax's chin and lower between words. "You can't corrupt me if I'm willing. It doesn't work like that."

Zax laughed at the small bombardment of kisses he'd received, it amused him that Cloud could be so light hearted and affectionate. "Then you're right: I'm not a very good babysitter." He captured Cloud's chin in his hand to pull the other's head near again. "I'm quite ashamed. Really." He captured up Cloud's lips again.

Cloud smiled against the kiss as he easily melted against Zax once again. It wasn't long until he was licking at the other's lips much like before, trying to suppress a grin because of his own actions, and nibbling playfully at Zax's bottom lip for a few seconds. All while he kept in the few sounds that wanted to make their way out of his mouth. Instead he only scratched lazily at skin before he finally pulled away from the kiss with a smirk. "I'm not."

Zax grinned slyly with heavily lidded eyes. "Tsk. Already my bad influence is at work. Oh well, the damage is done." He dusted his fingers through the blonde hair. "I accept my fate. I'm a lazy man. But, at least I'm easy to please." He draped his arm over Cloud's shoulder to bury his hand in the blonde hair there, pulling the other's head near again for a far deeper kiss.

Cloud finally let out the small noises he had been trying to keep in, even if they were only muffled against lips. Tongues touched and teased, and Cloud found himself trying to press even closer to Zax, despite already being in the other's lap. It caused another muffled sound to escape him that was easily close to a moan, but he didn't seem to really care all that much what needy sounds left him for the time being.

Zax let out a low sound though it only turned into a chuckle. "Wow, Cloud." He raised his brows, smirking. "That sounded very, well, _needy_." He ran his fingers through blonde spiky hair, letting them trail down to Cloud's cheek. "One would think you've never had a _boyfriend_ before." He kissed Cloud's lips again to make up for the teasing.

Any words Cloud had been about to shout back out of embarrassment were quickly cut off by Zax's mouth and he was easily falling into the kiss once again. Although, barely a hint of red was on his cheeks from the sudden teasing as well as the closeness, but he couldn't hide it very well from Zax considering how near he was to the other. He pulled reluctantly after a few quick seconds, licking his lips before he raised a brow at Zax. "And you have?" He teased right back.

Zax blinked a few times and gave a wry smirk. "No, not a boyfriend." He knitted his hands at the small of Cloud's back, looking quite pleased with himself. "I would have said 'girlfriend', but you don't seem to like those."

Cloud narrowed his eyes at such words, but there was a small smirk on his lips that made it evident he was anything but mad. After a few seconds he finally rolled his eyes as he moved a hand back from around Zax's neck only to push the other's face away with his palm. "You're so funny...really." The sarcasm was obvious.

"H-hey!" Zax exclamation was muffled behind Cloud's hand, and he tugged it away but kept hold of it. "Don't be upset by the truth, dear Cloud." He tried to keep his amusement in. "I'm very understanding about these matters. I can help." He playfully kissed the back of Cloud's fingers.

Cloud could feel his own fingers twitch under each kiss given to them and he had to stop the small noise from leaving his mouth. "Really?" He looked back at Zax, eyeing his friend for a few seconds before his own smile fell back into place on his face. "And how do you intend to help me, dear Zax?" He mocked.

Zax pulled Cloud nearer by his arm. "A few kisses daily should do the trick." A placed a quick kiss on Cloud's lips. "There. See. You're looking better already." He grinned.

Cloud blinked his eyes open and shut a few times as he tried to get a hold of himself after being pulled near for the kiss. He felt his hand that was still around Zax's neck play with a few strands of dark hair idly as he stared at the other's face and soon enough a small smirk was on his face. "Oh, I don't know. I think I might still need a little more help."

Zax gave a short laugh. "How many more?"

"Two, three, maybe five more?" Cloud leaned in so their lips barely touched and allowed his other arm to wrap around Zax's neck much as it had been before he pushed the other away. "Depends on how much help you're willing to give I suppose." He didn't allow Zax much time to respond since he had already closed the rest of the space between them to press his lips to Zax's own.

Zax obliged with no protest, running his hands up and down Cloud's back. He let the kiss linger before breaking it. "That's one more." He pressed a quick kiss to Cloud's lips. "Two." Then another. "Three." Then another two. "Four, five. That's your maximum dosage." He cocked his head to the side. "You should be cured."

"Quite the opposite actually." Cloud let his hands slip back inside Zax's shirt to run down the other's back much like he had done before. "I feel very much addicted. I guess you had the opposite effect." He shrugged a weak shoulder as if all hope were lost and finally let a small grin tug at his lips. "Oh well."

Zax melted across Cloud, quite easily subdued. "I suppose my fool proof method wasn't fool proof after all." Once again he made himself quite comfortably against Cloud, hugging his middle, letting his fingers lazily run up and down the other's back. "I guess I'll just have to live with the repercussions for the rest of my life." He sighed as if it were truly that terrible.

Cloud gave a content sound as he let his eyes slide shut, resting his head on top of Zax's own once again. "Hmm...you'll get used to it I'm sure." His fingers never slowed in their lazy patterns on Zax's skin despite how much he started to relax cuddled so near to the other.

Zax nuzzled his cheek more comfortably against Cloud's chest, trying his best not to disturb his friend's head on his. "Mhm." He murmured, already so at ease that he was drifting off. He was reputable for being able to sleep anywhere, but so comfortable as he was it was far more than easy. Although the tinge of guilt for Aeris kept him from drifting off completely in Cloud's embrace.

Cloud seemed to realize that Zax was far from completely relaxed under the small touches his fingers gave. It wasn't hard for Cloud to tell when something was bothering his friend. Not when he had known Zax for so long despite the time the other had been taken away. With this one opportunity they had been given to let themselves go, Cloud couldn't help but pick up on the fact that Zax wasn't doing just that. "What's wrong?" The question was quiet. All the humor had left his voice.

Zax knew feigning sleep wouldn't work, but he didn't want to admit to the small bit of guilt over his selfish choices. He couldn't tell Cloud that he felt like he was betraying Aeris when the girl didn't know he was alive. It wasn't cheating when the person thought you were dead right?

Zax knew he was a bad liar; his thoughts and heart were always plainly on his sleeve. But he tried to pretend he was sleeping the best he could, hoping nothing would betray that he was indeed wide awake now.

Cloud, none too gently, poked Zax in the back where his fingers had been trailing. He knew the other was only just trying to feign sleep to avoid the question. He could feel the way Zax's breath hitched here and there. It made it obvious the other hadn't dozed off yet. "Zax..." He spoke his friend's name in an accusing tone.

"..Oow." Zax reached behind him to where Cloud poked him. It was obvious he'd been found out. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Cloud raised a brow at those words. He swatted his friend's hand away and kept his own where it was, leaning down a little to kiss at Zax's ear before he spoke up where his lips had touched. "You don't seem very fine."

Zax made a soft sound in his throat at the kiss. "Guess I'm just thinking ahead. After we grab the kid, just... what will happen next?" He shook his head a little. "I can't go back... but at the same time, I can't keep you from everyone. Heh, I know just how much a social butterfly you can be." It was near half of what Zax was worrying about, so it wasn't really a lie.

"Yes, so social that I blend in with the wall most of the time." Cloud smiled a little as he made fun of himself while he started to move his fingers as they had been along Zax's skin once more to make up for the harsh poking. "You can go back. There's no reason for you not to. You shouldn't hide away from everyone, Zax. I'm pretty damn sure you miss the others just as much as they miss you. Besides..." He lifted one hand up to run it through Zax's hair. "Who says you can't go back? Everything will be fine. I thought I was the one that was supposed to worry all the time."

Zax sighed as if the problem was more common than being back from the dead. "If I'm not going to tell Aeris I'm alive, telling the others would be rather counter productive." The fingers through his hair had him relaxing again despite his worries. "It would just be... too much."

A frown came over Cloud's face. "I suppose so..." He trailed off and his hand slowed a little, but never actually stopped. "If you can't tell anyone then what _can_ you do? Would you actually avoid everyone at all costs?" He shook his head a little. "I can't exactly keep you hidden in a closet all the time."

Zax gave a weak shrug. ".. I don't know." He looked down at the grass. "Maybe I just won't go back to Radiant Gardens."

For a second Cloud thought he hadn't heard right, but the way Zax acted made it obvious he had heard everything perfectly clear. "I-I don't understand." Cloud couldn't help his sudden stuttering, but cursed himself for it silently anyway. "Where else would you go?" That was a stupid question and Cloud knew it. There were plenty of other worlds, but Cloud wanted to desperately find some reason to make Zax stay put. Most of all with him.

Zax gave another weak shrug. He really wasn't so sure. And he suddenly wished he hadn't brought it up. It meant complications.

"Zax..." Cloud started out quietly while he rested his head back down on top of his friend's own. He thought back to their earlier conversation and for some reason the sudden happiness he had felt drained out of him, causing him to feel just as empty as he had so many times before. "You said you weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Don't make promises you can't keep..."

Zax flinched at that. He rubbed his face against Cloud's chest. He held the other tighter knowing Cloud was quick to change moods. He always took everything far too personally. "I won't leave you." He quietly spoke up. "I could... take you with me."

Cloud was easily pulled closer with the tight hold, but still Zax's words did nothing to lift his mood. "There's still so much to fight. So much to protect. I can't just go off and leave right after we find this kid." He regretted saying such words as soon as they left his mouth. He wanted nothing more then to stay with Zax, but there was so much responsibility in helping with the current situation they were all in. "Besides, what would I tell the others? Or even if I told them nothing, they would more then likely worry..." He trailed off, not wanting to continue on as his own words only made him even more upset.

Zax let out a sad noise and thudded his forehead against Cloud's chest. He continued to lightly hit his forehead against cloud's chest. With a groan he buried his face against his friend's chest "... Damnit."

Cloud frowned a bit more at Zax's constant need to ram his head against his chest. It wasn't very comfortable to begin with, plus it worried him a bit. "Zax?" He pulled back so he was leaning away from his friend and finally dropped his hands down to place them on either side of Zax's cheeks. With that action he lifted the other up so they were face to face again. "Don't give yourself a headache over it, but still, it's not like you to run away from problems. You can usually handle anything."

Zax slowly shook his head in Cloud's hands. "There's a difference between running from my problems and sparing people the shock of me coming back from the dead and going through the chronic worry of losing me again." He raised his hands to rest on Cloud's. "I want to help you fight whatever you need to, Cloud. Stay with you, look out for you and take care of you, but, I can't go back."

"Then you can't do any of that if you don't plan on coming back..." Cloud spoke the words quietly, so much so that they were barely heard. His hands slipped away from Zax's own to drop back down at his sides and he looked away instead of staring into his friend's eyes. In that moment he found that he just wanted to drop the hurtful subject. It would make things easier and he was so good at just burying things away anyway. It was nothing new to him.

Without so much as another word, Cloud moved away from Zax to get off the other's lap and back to his feet. As soon as he was steady he started to brush off his clothes even though they weren't even dirty. He just needed to keep himself occupied. Finally he ran one hand through his hair while he spoke up once again. His voice still just as quiet. "We need to hurry up and get back..." He still refused to meet Zax's eyes, looking towards the path he had taken to get inside the area.

Zax stared up at Cloud in slight disbelief. He knew Cloud's nonchalance only meant it hurt him worse than Zax expected. He looked down at the grass feeling new guilt wash over him.

"... Cloud." Zax looked back up at the other. "I... I can't tell her." He shook his head. "I just can't. Please understand."

Cloud almost flinched at those words, but kept himself in check. Instead he only narrowed his eyes, but kept them on the path. Aeris was still one of the more important people in Zax's life, and there was nothing Cloud could do to change that. He wasn't going to try either. The most he could do was shrug it off and put his own happiness on the back burner for what Zax thought was right. "Yeah, I understand."

Zax's hands tightened as he half glared at the grass. Cloud's apathy was frustrating and agreeing was more aggravating than having him argue back. "If you did then you'd understand how hard this is for me." He glared harder at the grass. "You were rarely apart of the group, and you always left to do your own thing. Why do you suddenly want to go back now?"

"Because I don't want to deal with this!" Cloud turned around quickly to focus his narrowed eyes on his friend. "I don't want to deal with listening to you say one thing and then doing another all for her! It hurts to be happy and then shot back down to the same damn pit I was in not too long ago!" Cloud's narrowed eyes slowly widened as he realized he had not only shouted at Zax, but he had said more then he really wanted. He knew most of what he felt was already out of the bag and just as quickly he lowered his eyes as he turned his head away from the other. "I don't want to deal with watching you leave again when there's no reason for me to have to..." He spoke up quietly once more.

Zax finally turned his attention back up at Cloud. He stared in shock, but not for the shouting, it was the driving force behind them. ".. You're jealous." He pointed up at Cloud. "You're jealous of Aeris. You think I'm doing all this just for her." He gave the other a disapproving look. "Hey- you're the one that wanted to go into a 'safe' odd job business with me after all this." He waved his hand. "You think all the Heartless are going to go away the longer you fight. No! Even with Leon's fabled 'keyblade master' running around- I come back and there's _still_ Heartless!"

Zax pushed himself up to stand, dusting himself off with a sigh. "We can be realistic... or not." He looked back at Cloud. "But I'd rather not waste a second chance."

Cloud blinked his eyes and was quick to try and defend himself as he turned back around to look at Zax. "I am not jealous!" The way the words were shouted made it obvious they were only spoken in denial and Cloud immediately narrowed his eyes afterwards only to look away again. He kept silent for a few moments thinking over Zax's words. It was true that the Heartless never seemed to really disappear. For a short time after Sora had left things seemed to settle down, but here they were, at it again. Everything was just the same as it had always been.

Cloud let out a frustrated sigh before he turned his attention back on Zax. They had been so content and relaxed earlier. It wasn't such a bad thing compared to all the fighting and searching around they had been doing. In fact, it was a welcomed change. Maybe Cloud was a little sick of fighting, still he couldn't help feeling guilty over such a thought despite the heavy steps he started to take back over to Zax. He stopped just short of his friend and leaned over so his head collided with Zax's shoulder, giving in for the most part. "I don't want it wasted either..."

Zax rested his hand on the back of Cloud's neck, running it up and down. He leaned his own head on his friends, his own fighting energy leaving him just as quickly. "Then let's not waste it." He buried his fingers in Cloud's hair. "... I'll fight, I'll always fight. But there'll always be the chance that either one of us won't make it back to the other if we keep on fighting."

Zax leaned his face close to Cloud's, wanting to be near for such a grim conversation, and reminder. "... It's you who brought me back Cloud. And it's you I want to share this second chance with. So please don't say I'm doing this for anyone else."

Cloud shut his eyes at those last few words, letting them sink in. It was the hand through his hair that had relaxed him finally and after a while he found himself nodding his head to what Zax said. A silent agreement without any words needed. After, Cloud turned his head to face Zax, opening his eyes only a bit as he pressed their lips together, letting go completely.


	21. Chapter 21

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 21

Blackness curled around on the beach that was once considered a hideout. The bit of blackness began to twist and pull until a large portal made itself known on the sand near the water. A large figure stepped out with scythe in hand and wasted no time in scanning the area as the Heartless waited for his accomplice to emerge from the portal as well.

"Where is he...?" Those quiet words were the first few that left Marluxia's mouth as he looked around. It was obvious who the planet had been inhabited by considering the harsh black water that occupied it, and inwardly he cursed for taking Demyx so lightly. It was just one more annoyance in the way. Even though he had sensed such a strong energy he still couldn't see any sign of the Nobody they were after and it had him narrowing his eyes on the few Heartless that were running around.

Larxene peeked over Marluxia's broad shoulder, her sleek claws resting there as she glanced around the beach. "It seems we're late for the party." She slipped over Marluxia's shoulder as light as a small bird taking wing as she flew over to get a closer look for herself.

Larxene tilted her head, her sleek antenna rising to 'taste' the air. They'd been there, she could feel it. But just as quickly as they'd been there they were gone.

Larxene scoffed. "They must have wised up. After they used its gift they must have ran off to hide again." She turned to face Marluxia, tense. "Whatever happened, it was _big_." Her antenna shivered; the residue from whatever happened was near over whelming. It left a familiar taste of bitter static on her tongue.

The smaller Heartless that inhabited the beach had taken to gathering around the two of them and it wasn't something that was helping Marluxia's mood very much after Larxene's words. With a quick swing of his scythe he ran the blade through a few of the creatures that had decided to stay near his feet, watching as the black mist flew up after the strike and feeling satisfied as the rest scurried off.

With the smaller creatures out of the way, Marluxia walked over to his partner and raised a hand to trail it along one sleek antenna, letting fingers linger before he dropped his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Curiosity makes me wonder just what that something big could have been..." He trailed off as his mind ran over a few things. It had only been Axel and Demyx who had taken the fail safe, but not even Zexion's sudden change had produced such light in the last area.

A pleasant shiver was sent down Larxene's spine at the touch and her gaze sifted half way shut. Her antenna slipped back as she raised her hand to touch a claw to her lips in thought. She had a few inclinations to what could have caused such astoundingly bright light; none of which were pleasing. She moved her claws to rest on Marluxia's hand on her shoulder as she glanced up at him.

Then something afar caught Larxene's attention, her antenna jerking in that direction before her head turned. As a Heartless their links to each other were unbound by the darkness, and much to their chagrin it left a window of insight into each of their personal strives and bitterness. It was a curse, but it was also a blessing when it came to finding one another.

Larxene removed her hand from Marluxia's as she pointed to the black entity on the beach, far larger than the smaller twitching Heartless on the beach. "There. Seems they've left some waste behind, Marly."

Marluxia narrowed his eyes at the nickname given to him. "I told you not to call me that." The words were muttered and he otherwise let it slide as he turned his attention to where Larxene had pointed. He stepped away from the other to walk to the twitching form that was huddled up. It didn't seem all that unusual, but the size gave it away as something they should be a little concerned about.

With a tight grip on his weapon, Marluxia leaned over a bit to get a closer look at the huddled form and after a few seconds a slight grin that was everything wicked came over his face while he straightened back up. "Well, Larxene. We've just found an old friend."

A head shot up and sad eyes turned wide to stare at both of the Heartless. It didn't take long for Sora to untangle himself from the position he had closed himself into and quickly jump back away from Marluxia to keep a safer distance between them. Black mist stained the air as it followed his every move until he settled down to keep a close watch on the two despite his fidgety movements.

Larxene crossed her arms girlishly behind her back as she flew over to see for herself. Landing on the point of a toe she walked on the tips of her toes to look down at the twitchy nervous being. Her eyes widened. "Sora." But just as quickly her shock melted into vicious amusement. "How sadistically ironic. The fabled light, the Keyblade Master is now one of _us_." She laughed as she raised her claws, baring them in a shrug. "From riches to rags; how truly sad."

The wide eyed expression on Sora's face fell back to the sad look it had been before at such words. Something about the way Larxene laughed seemed to set him off inside and although the sadness in his eyes stayed, his expression twisted into something hateful and vicious. Sora jumped forward and instead of a keyblade, bare hands were used, reaching out to claw anywhere on the Heartless that he could for such a hateful remark. A raged cry left him at the same time that seemed to echo in a frightening way.

Before Sora's hand could come in contact with Larxene, Marluxia quickly pulled the girl back by the arm and watched as Sora fell easily on all fours only to glare up at them. Marluxia kept narrowed eyes on what had become of the fabled hero as he slowly let go of Larxene's arm. "I don't understand." He took a couple of steps back from Sora, but only to get his thoughts in order. "Why is he here? Why has he given into darkness?" His eyes narrowed further. "Unless..." He trailed off.

Larxene's eyes had gone wide at the near onslaught. She continued to give Sora his space until she felt Marluxia against her side. She rested a claw on Marluxia's chest staying near him as she kept her eyes on Sora.

"Roxas." Larxene's glowing soulless eyes narrowed fiercely. "That bastard Axel! He did it. He must have freed that damn neophyte from inside Sora." Angry static sparked along the zippers that trailed her outfit. "... Then dumped the leftovers behind."

"Seems like his sort of doing." Marluxia lifted a hand, despite Larxene's dangerous static, and rested it on the girl's own to calm her somewhat. "We should have known Axel would be quick when it came to getting Roxas back, but I didn't expect him to get lucky at finding Sora." He continued to keep narrowed eyes on the darkened form of the teenager. "Although, we've all been a bit preoccupied lately. No wonder we didn't notice."

Marluxia stepped away to get closer to Sora once more and without hesitating, he stuck out his scythe. The pointed tip was dangerously close to Sora in a threatening manner. "I do wonder. If we were to so easily get rid of Sora, do you think it would affect Roxas' new soul?" He smirked. "Split apart or not, they're still one in the same, and it's so much fun to cause Axel such misery."

Sora glared at the weapon pointed at him before a low hiss seemed to come from between clenched teeth. Slowly he backed away from the dangerous point, but kept up a defensive stance, while his arms twitched both out of an itch to fight the two Heartless and normal movements.

"Consider it done." Larxene clacked her claws together causing a flit of sparks. She twirled in the air as she flew around Sora to the other side, keeping the new Heartless caught between them. "Poor thing looks in pain, split apart against his will. We should put the poor puppy to sleep." Electricity began to lick across her form, charging within.

Marluxia had watched Larxene's every move, waiting until the other Heartless was settled across. "Agreed." He spoke the word quietly as he lifted his scythe up high. "I'm going to enjoy this bit of revenge. I must admit." With those last few words he brought the blade swinging down towards Sora, to get the first hit in on the twitching Heartless.

Sora had been keeping a close watch on Larxene as soon as she got near, but when Marluxia moved he could feel it. Every muscle in his body tensed and as soon as the blade was only inches from a shoulder Sora jumped up in the air and waited for the blade to right itself again. As soon as it was steady he landed, perched on the tip of the scythe where he sat, cocking his head to the side to watch both Marluxia and Larxene with a crooked grin.

Larxene narrowed her eyes; that smirk rubbing her the wrong way. "I suggest you let go, Marly." She swiped a claw aside and down from the heavens shot a fierce black bolt unto the pest perched rudely on the scythe.

Sora had been paying more attention to Marluxia's sudden slack on the scythe then Larxene's hands, so when the bolt came down it easily met its target. The electricity hit Sora and caused an echoing cry to escape his lips as he fell off the scythe and onto the sand, despite how much it was already close to falling over. His body twitched even more then usual.

Further down the beach a quiet voice could be heard tsking the scene, the sound only grew louder as it grew closer and soon stopped as it became obvious how near the person was. More then one set of footprints stopping nearby in the sand. "It's amusing isn't it, Zexion? We come here to find the fail safe, yet all we get are a bunch of children playing with their broken toy." Glowing eyes narrowed as Vexen surveyed the scene, stopping on the twitching form of Sora as he got only a slight nod from his partner.

Larxene whipped around, baring her jagged claws and then her teeth at the new comers. "I'd bite your tongue, Vexen." She pointed one clawed hand at the icy Heartless. "Unless you want to lose it." Electricity sparkled across her in angry volts. She was more than happy to let it loose on the two new comers.

"Now, now, young Larxene. Keep a cool head about this." Vexen raised his hands in a peace keeping manner. "It's obvious that what we've come to claim isn't here. But," he pointed a finger up in a scholarly manner that begged attention to his next words, "the results, I must say, have proved a most interesting specimen." He pointed his finger at Sora's twitching form. "That I am most intrigued about." He lowered his hand, letting his long bell like sleeves consume them. "Aren't you," Vexen narrowed his eyes with much interest, "Marluxia?"

Marluxia scowled at the sudden intrusion. The question didn't help lift his mood anymore and he found his own eyes narrowing on both Vexen and Zexion despite the latter's silence so far. He held his hand out to the side to give Larxene a hint to keep calm for the moment as he spoke up. "Only for certain reasons. Other then that we couldn't care less about him or either of you."

"Hmm, really?" Zexion finally spoke up after a long while, but kept where he was. His eyes downcast on the sand below. "The Keyblade Master, who has always been one with the light, is suddenly taken in completely by darkness, and you really have no real interest? No care at all?" He gave a slight smirk. "I find that hard to believe. Revenge or not it's still interesting the entire situation."

Vexen tsked. "Now, now Zexion. We can't expect these 'higher ups' to be bothered with grasping anything that requires intelligence for the deeper meanings." He knew he was pushing his luck with the icy smile that curved his lips.

Vexen shrugged easily as he dared to walk closer, knowing it only raised Larxene's hackles. "But if the Keyblade Master means nothing to you, then you'll allow my associate and me to simple remove him from your presence." He smirked more. "He will indeed make a wonderful study."

Marluxia called his scythe back to his hand ignoring the static like charges that still ran through the handle from the powerful jolt that Larxene had given. He pointed the weapon at Vexen and narrowed his eyes. His voice dangerously calm despite the words that came out. "You will do no such thing. Sora is our property."

Zexion lifted his head as soon as he saw the weapon out the corner of his eye. He took his own step forward to stand in front of Vexen. His own face remained emotionless while a few papers begin to circle around him. The sudden draft caused the sand beneath him to move about.

Behind Marluxia, Sora started to move around. The twitches that had been part of the harsh jolt started to fade, and only the usual ones remained as he sat up. His eyes once again scanned out across the beach and narrowed when he noticed two more people had joined. It had a soft whimper escaping him and nothing else.

"Aww. We've upset the puppy." Larxene mock cooed as she floated over to Sora. But instead of doing any kind deed she gave Sora a swift kick in the face; in return for trying to claw her before. Larxene gave a soft giggle. "So much for your 'specimen', Vexen."

Sora skidded back in the sand at the force of the kick as a pained sound left him only to echo on. He lifted a clawed hand to his cheek to rest it on the abused spot as he narrowed his eyes on Larxene. The blackness that surrounded him seemed to move about harshly with his own anger and soon he was leaping forward, intending to put as much of a mark on Larxene as she did to him.

A scythe in the sand stopped Sora right where he was. The sharp metal stuck straight into the beach, blocking the newest Heartless from getting anywhere near Larxene and staying inches away from Sora's nose. "Next time there won't be a warning..." Marluxia spoke just as quietly as he had to Vexen as he looked back at the sudden shaking form that was Sora, before he turned his attention back on Vexen and Zexion with narrowed eyes.

Vexen grit his teeth. "How can you waste such a perfect subject- by beating on it for petty revenge?" He relaxed a little more. "There are far worse torments than death, Marluxia. I assure you." He pointed a claw at Marluxia.

Larxene laughed. "Is that a threat, old man?" She boldly flew to stand directly in front of the living barrage that kept her from Vexen; Zexion. "And do you think that your cute little origami is of any use, Zexion? Complete or not, you're no body guard." She reached out to touch Zexion, just a mere touch on the shoulder to send the high voltage in her body to Zexion.

Before Larxene's fingers could come in contact with his shoulder, Zexion took only one step back as the paper that surrounded him encircled the Heartless' hand up to her elbow. The corner of his lips drew up into a smirk as the electricity which had been moving into that one area of her body was slowly sucked out. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that." The cocky tone was much too clear in his voice.

Larxene took Zexion's words lightly. "We all know your powers are just an illusion." She flared out her sharp fingers, electricity coursing about them only to be drawn in by the paper. "Just a silly magic trick that can't hurt you if you don't really care."

The air around the female Heartless grew dry and static, the calm before the storm of electricity was finally released from her. The intense voltage surged through her slender frame down her hand, led by the conductivity of zippers down her sleeve. It escaped her in wild violent bolts with a flare of hand towards the aggravating illusionist.

The rest of the paper that continued to circle Zexion flew up to hold together in front of him, forming a shield against the strong jolt. Against Larxene's sudden burst of energy it wasn't enough and most of the shock coursed through, hitting Zexion dead on and causing him to skid back in the sand which caused the shield to break instantly.

Marluxia looked on with a bored expression. He turned his attention away from Larxene to look back at Vexen with narrowed eyes. "Child's play, really." He shrugged a shoulder. "It seems you should worry about finding yourself some better help. Or, maybe learn how to fight yourself before you even try fighting us." He pulled his scythe out of the sand to keep it held at his side.

As soon as the blade was pulled away, Sora scrambled away from Marluxia with a startled noise. He jumped back a few feet, but kept down on all fours. His eyes darted back and forth between each one of the Heartless as well as the other on the beach as he still seemed ready to lunge at whoever was the first to come near him.

The fluttering paper that had been Zexion's shield was shredded with but a few gestures of Larxene's claws. The little bits of paper rained in the cool breeze like false snow. Larxene blew a few little pieces from her claws, smiling after.

Vexen took a step back. He glanced at Sora and then at Zexion. "Hmph. Tough talk for traitors." He summoned his shield, a dark, frigid defensive weapon. "All brawns and no tact."

Zexion glared hard at Larxene from his kneeling position in the sand. The sparks of electricity that had managed to hit him still tore through his body which was obvious by the slight shakes he had. One downside to being human compared to Heartless. It wasn't as easy to get over such pain, but he tried his best not to show it as he met Vexen's eyes when the other glanced at him. Just as quick his eyes were back on Larxene. His voice was hoarse as he spoke. "Relying so much on power. It will be the death of you."

Marluxia only shook his head at such words. "Oh, I don't know about that. We seem to be doing quite well so far." He looked at Larxene out the corner of his eyes for only a second. As soon as his attention was off the other Heartless he was quick to bring his scythe around, swinging it in one quick motion at Vexen.

Vexen blocked the attack with his shield, taking several more steps backwards to save himself from worse and fiercer attacks. His attention was caught past Marluxia and Larxene. He narrowed his eyes before he smirked at Marluxia. "It seems someone else has taken to your little toy."

Larxene swiftly turned around and her glowing eyes widened. She stepped back a few until she was at Marluxia's side. She glared. "... It's our old leader's dear little second in command."

Saïx had taken Sora by the scruff of his clothing, plucking him from the ground like a mangy pup from the beach. He held the twitching Heartless at a safe distance to mind the wild fury of scratches Sora wanted to unleash. With ease Saïx caught one of the flailing hands by the wrist and yanked it painfully behind Sora's back in restraint.

"How suiting." Saïx looked over Sora's new form with slight interest. "The key barer is now on the other side, and unable to summon the keyblade as well. How unfortunate." He pulled Sora's arm back further as he finally turned his gaze on his old comrades. "And I'm sure every one of you wants to take your piece of revenge on him now that he's in such a sorry state."

Sora hissed at the treatment he was given. The darkness that surrounded him was growing more and more fierce with each kick and echoed noise he made. With a final pained whimper he started to grow slack, tugging on his bent arm a little before he bowed his head. The only real movements from him were small spasms.

Zexion finally stood up at Saïx's arrival. He tried to keep a calm expression, having been part of Saïx's rage much earlier before he was able to escape. "We're not much into revenge, sad to say, just a little bit of fun, and it's so much easier in a situation like this."

Marluxia had turned around much like Larxene to face Saïx, his scythe back at his side. At Zexion's words he narrowed his eyes and scowled as he gripped his weapon tighter. His attention moved to the new Heartless in Saïx's grip that had become as still as it could. "Revenge or not, what place do you have to preach to us, Saïx? Surely you're not saving him, so obviously your reasoning is right alongside our own considering all that boy has done."

"Keep your enemies closest, Marluxia. And what better than to keep at your side than the very person who _killed_ us." Saïx held Marluxia's cool gaze; it had been Sora who'd taken either of them down, and Larxene. "And it seems none of you will listen unless I dangle a little piece of meat in front of you to snatch at." Saïx glanced at Sora, the faintest of humour tinting the corner of his lips for the second, and then it was gone.

Larxene swept her claws back over her dark hair, brushing back an antenna. "You want us to fetch you the fail safe so you can resurrect our grand leader?" It wasn't all that hard to piece together with one such as Saïx; the moon feline was far easier to read than any pages of Zexion's books. "All in exchange for Sora."

"Precisely." Saïx's tail lashed, curling at the air before it lay still behind him as he watched his old comrades. "You can do whatever sick tortures you want on what's left of him here." He pulled Sora's arm back even more with no mercy, causing the Heartless to yelp his painful whine.

Before Marluxia or Larxene could respond, Zexion was quick to speak with a shake of his head. "Ah, ah, ah. That won't do, Saïx." He stepped forward, standing beside Vexen who he took a quick glance at before looking back at the other Heartless. "You see, you may be able to wrap those two around your finger, but our need for the fail safe is just as strong as yours. Why should we share him?" He gave a slight smirk. "Besides, we want revenge on Axel. Sora would just be a simple play thing. We can always find ways to retrieve him later if need be." The smug look on his face grew. "You are quite easy to pick at, I must say. It wouldn't be too hard..."

Saïx was little moved by Zexion's ploys. Only another yelp left Sora's twitching form as Saïx was near close to breaking the new Heartless' arm clean from its socket. "Loyalty? That is something new for you, Zexion. Especially after you've had your needs granted."

All the same Saïx seemed disinterested. "It doesn't matter to me what you do. Sora is tied to your goals one way or another." His lips peeled back to bare his canines as he spoke more darkly "You could simply be another hurdle in the road. No one here seems to care much for your existence anyway, Zexion."

Those last few words rubbed Zexion the wrong way very easily and his cool expression fell away. His hands clenched at his sides as he tensed up and narrowed his eyes on Saïx. "The same could easily be said of you. I don't seem to remember anyone giving a real good damn about Xemnas' little pet." His lips curled up. "Because isn't that all you really were, Saïx? Just a lackey on a leash..."

As Sora dealt with the pain running through his arm, he listened in on the conversation and didn't really enjoy the back and forth going on. Not when the Heartless that few of the words were aimed at was holding him in such a tight grip. The darkness around his own form swirled and lashed out, but it did no good. His struggles were useless and only caused more pain that had him whimpering.

There was a glint of claws as Larxene took advantage of everyone's distraction. She flew forward and stabbed them into Zexion's side, tearing them out to smack her sleeved arm across his face. She gave a mean laugh. "You have quite the death wish, Zexion." She flared her other hand's claws. "Now I suggest you hold your tongue before I rip it out and hold it for you."

Zexion staggered back as he lifted a hand to hold it to the wound Larxene had given him. Instead of the blackness that had seeped from such a gash had he been Heartless, red poured out between his fingers. He tried to ignore it as he gave Larxene a hateful look, but his expression showed pain despite his one narrowed eye.

Marluxia had watched the vicious attack with mild interest before he shrugged a shoulder as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. He glanced back and forth between Vexen and Zexion before turning his complete attention back on Saïx. "We're supposed to find the fail safe so you can resurrect someone that we were pretty much turning against?" He raised a brow. "It's true we want Sora, but wouldn't it be a bit counter productive for us to help you, all things considered? Despite how sweet revenge might be..."

Saïx's ears slicked back but he remained calm otherwise. "It's your choice." He firmly gripped Sora's arm in his large taloned hand before giving it a hard cruel yank back.

That one yank caused Sora to raise his head as a loud, echoed, cry escaped him. The pull had been more painful then any of the rough treatment he had been given so far and the darkness that had been so violent around him suddenly ceased, becoming only the small mist he was created with.

Marluxia's eyes narrowed, not out of concern, but over the fact Saïx was allowed to cause such pain to Sora instead of himself. It had his annoyance coming back and without so much as a second thought he was soon giving a quick nod in agreement to Saïx's deal. "Fine. We'll do it." His eyes narrowed further and his grip on the scythe became painfully tight. "But, there will be no backstabbing. That's our line of work, so don't even try to turn those tables on us..."

"W-what?" Larxene was taken aback and she stared in disbelief at Marluxia's words. She moved to stand beside Marluxia, reaching out to touch his arm. She glared her illuminating eyes at Saïx, gritting her teeth since Marluxia was giving in to the flimsy demands of the hostage situation.

Vexen walked to Zexion's side, offering him a hand to stand because of his injury. "Well... isn't this a most muse-able situation. The cat is dangling the bait for all you rodents." He snorted. "You would bite wouldn't you, Marluxia? Is your revenge really worth that much to you? When Sora is in such a pathetic state."

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle, Vexen?" Marluxia raised a hand to rest it on Larxene's own, trying to calm the shock his sudden agreement had caused the usual hostile girl. "Certainly your revenge is just as strong as our own, hmm? You'd go through hell and beyond just to get back at Axel. It's not all that hard to feel your hatred." He smirked. "Unless you really didn't mind being burnt to a crisp all that much..."

Vexen sent a most chilling glare Marluxia's way; every rose had its pricks it seemed. Vexen's mouth twisted. "Fine. Be a slave to your own hatred. It suits a wilted pansy such as you." He called up a darkened portal behind him. They had no more need to be there anymore.

Zexion straightened up, dropping his hand which had been covering his wound. The gash was deep and ugly, but he didn't seem to pay it any mind as he continued to look back and forth between the three Heartless whom had made the deal. For the time being he kept his thoughts to himself as he walked over and moved through the portal Vexen had made.

Marluxia only gave a quick glance back at the portal as well as Zexion and Vexen's retreating forms. To him they were nothing but cowards, fleeing the scene when they didn't get exactly what they wanted. Marluxia planned to take advantage of every single thing that the situation offered. Even if it meant making a deal with Saïx. The fail safe would still end up in their hands regardless.

With those thoughts Marluxia's attention went back to the animalistic Heartless as he kept his one hand on Larxene. "Saïx, you can't be very happy with Sora either, hmm? He destroyed you and Xemnas, right? If we're to go looking for the fail safe then how are we to be certain there will be anything left of Sora for us to take our aggression out on?" His eyes moved to the near still form of Sora that was still caught in Saïx's grip.

"Simple. The keyblade will be held on a short leash." Saïx held Sora by arm and shirt with one hand while his other grasped around his neck. Dark illumination curled around and a thick dog collar appeared tight around Sora's neck. "He'll be free, but under my summons. If the Keyblade Master is tampered with in anyway, the collar will tighten until his death." He let go of Sora's arm to hold him out by the collar. "Satisfied?"

Sora hissed and spit as soon as the collar was wrapped around. Darkness met his sudden temper and lashed about, nearly covering Saïx's arm where he had him held. With his good arm, Sora reached up to try and claw at the collar, but it only seemed to tighten which had him letting out even more hateful sounds that echoed around. His eyes darted around to glare at each of the other Heartless.

Marluxia looked on with a bit of interest. The deal seemed to be in their favor for the time being, especially with the extra precautions taken. All they had to do was find the elusive Nobody and everything would work out well enough. Still, he moved his eyes away from Saïx and to Larxene. The girl's usual vicious temper caused him to make sure he got her okay as well. "Well? Are we satisfied?"

Larxene's antenna twitched depicting her frustration but surprise took its place when Marluxia actually asked her. She looked up at Marluxia a moment before she set her gaze on Saïx, distaste still subtly across her expression. "... Yes. We're satisfied." She spoke the words assuredly for Marluxia's best interest.

"Good." Saïx nodded. His ears subtly perked. "And what of you, Riku? Does it please you to see your beloved light has turned to your favorable darkness?"

From the darkened ocean like liquid midnight a hooded figure slipped from its depths to walk forward. Step by step he approached only to walk on water all the way to the pale shore. The water fell from him like forgotten thoughts.  
Under the hood only stark black could be seen save for the peeking features of deathly white lips and chin. Riku gave a seething exhale, cold darkness wisped as his breath.

Sora's struggles ceased and with it the darkness that surrounded him settled down to trailing mist. Clawed hands fell down to his sides as he whipped his head around as best he could to stare at the hooded figure which had come out as if from nowhere. What had once been a hateful and panicked expression on Sora's face, melted into only a blank look, but his glowing eyes seemed to hold the same sadness he was created with.

Marluxia had turned around to take a look at their newest visitor, but he didn't even have to do that to feel the darkness that came off the boy in waves. None of them so far had even an ounce of hatred inside of them that seemed to compare with what Riku was emitting at that very moment. It chilled Marluxia deep down and he took a hesitant step back, bringing Larxene along with him. "Seems you might just have your hands full, Saïx." He tried his best to speak quietly while he started to create a portal nearby.

Riku paid no mind to Marluxia and Larxene's retreat; it wasn't them that his interest laid. His hooded head turned and it was what Saïx held that held him. Although it wasn't true memory that fueled him, the sight of what he knew had been so bright and beautiful now twisted into such a sad pathetic thing, brought a new fierce energy to his darkness.

An empty gloved hand raised, palm up with lax fingers about it. Riku was a true puppet of the darkness yet the darkness was his own puppet. Then suddenly he tightly clasped his hand closed and the forearm and hand that held Sora ruptured into misted black, dissipating into nothingness. Saïx reeled back with a pained surprised roar.

Sora landed easily on all fours on the sand, although his limp didn't go unnoticed. The rough treatment from earlier the cause of such a thing. He ignored the pained sound that came from Saïx and scurried away from the other Heartless as fast as he could before he actually skidded to a stop. With wide, glowing eyes he stared far away at Riku, twitching with each small movement his own body made.

Saïx glowered but made no move to fight back. He grasped what was left of his arm, black wisping and pouring from the wound. "It doesn't matter... the deal is done." He called a portal of his own. Though as he stepped back into it the cloaked figure was there in a breath, Way to Dusk slashing deep across his chest. Had not the portal soon swallowed him up, disappearing into dark mist, he would have most likely then been dead.

Riku stayed where Saïx disappeared, not bothering to chase after the Heartless to where he had run to. It would have been quite easy for him to follow such familiar scents of greed and revenge, but none of that mattered to such a blackened soul.  
He turned to face Sora, looking at him with unseen eyes beneath the darkness of hood. Somewhere in his conscious state he couldn't believe that this twitching creature was what he sought. His hand tightened at the handle of Way to Dusk.

Sora's eyes instantly shot to the keyblade that had suddenly been held so tightly and he backed up a few steps. He eyed it carefully with a tilt of his head, keeping watch on the weapon. Everyone he had been around so far that held dangerous weapons had only wanted to hurt him. It had him extra cautious before he turned sad eyes back on Riku and moved on all fours a few steps forward again. His claws buried into the sand.

Riku lowered his head a little to look at the weapon that kept the creature at bay with shear fear alone. He raised Way to Dusk a little, then relaxed his grip causing it to disappear to where it came. He lowered his arm, and didn't move after, simply watched Sora from under his hood.

Sora seemed to ease up once the weapon was gone, but still he kept a careful watch on Riku. The way the other kept so still had Sora finally relaxing as much as his body was allowed and he finally continued to move forward, blackness trailing along behind him along with his scarf that seemed to meld in with it. As soon as he was only inches from Riku he used careful movements and he sat back on two feet to glance up at the hooded figure, staring up at Riku with that same blank expression as his hands dangled between his legs.

"... Sora." The one name sadly left Riku, a tangle of pained emotions trying to rise above the apathy the darkness left him with.

Sora cocked his head. The darkness may have had a hold of him, but he knew his name. It was a label of which he was stuck with. Not to mention the way the other Heartless had been throwing it about made it more then obvious. The way this being had spoken it was so much different, though. It was in a tone the others hadn't used. It had Sora reaching a clawed hand out to grip tightly to the cloak that the figure wore as an echoed whimper left him.

What could be seen of Riku's expression saddened. He leaned over, unsure why he raised a hand. The vague recollection of a puppy flitted through his mind; offering his hand palm up, not palm down to aggravate, leaning it to be sniffed and accepted. Riku laid his hand out to Sora, not wanting to startle or scare the Heartless.

"... My Sora." Riku's voice broke a little. He wanted so badly to touch the creature, as if kind touch would be enough to mend the damage done.

Sora dropped his hand immediately and leaned back a bit as soon as Riku raised his hand. It was a few moments when he seemed to realize no harm was coming to him. Glowing eyes looked back and forth between Riku and the gloved hand before he slowly leaned forward and raised his clawed hand back up to place it on top of Riku's own, looking up at the hooded figure as he did. His whole body tense.

"I'm sorry." Riku quietly spoke his words, all energy lost to speak louder. He ran his thumb over Sora's hand, as gently as if the other's hand would shatter at the slightest ill touch. Very slowly with grace, so he wouldn't startle or scare, he knelt down on the beach. "... I'm so sorry, Sora." His shoulders sagged as he bowed his head.

Sora tilted his head once again out of curiosity because of the words that came from Riku. As the other knelt down Sora stayed as he was, not backing away much like he had other times before. He continued to keep his hand near Riku's own, but as soon as Riku was close he reached his other hand out. Claws pushed at the hood that hid Riku's face from view, not satisfied until the cloth was completely out of the way. With the task done Sora leaned forward despite his own small spasms, and nosed Riku's cheek.  
Riku blinked behind the blind fold but gave into the little comforts Sora gave. He leaned forward and nuzzled Sora's cheek back just a little. The touch near broke his heart, and his eyes ached with tears that wanted to fall for his dear friend, who he hadn't protected at all.

"... Mickey was right." Riku quietly choked on his words. "I've failed. I've lost you... Sora." He weakly reached out to touch Sora's shoulders, feeling the constant twitch and jerk the small soft body made. "... My light."

Sora didn't even jerk back with the sudden touches given to him. He felt as if he needed to move closer with them and gave a soft sound as he dipped his head down to nuzzle the other's neck. This person that somehow knew his name, and said it with each sad sentence, Sora felt as if he should speak back somehow. As if he owed it to this person that had saved him from earlier pain. Sadly, so far all he had been able to give was weak whimpers and irritated growls, but those other Heartless had been able to speak, why couldn't he?

Sora began to give small noises, muffled by the other's neck as he shifted about. His claws buried deeply in the sand as if what he was trying to do actually caused him physical pain, but it wasn't long before a name tumbled from his lips. One he memorized from when the other Heartless had spoken it. "R...Riku..." It rolled off his tongue and echoed even after he was done speaking.

Riku tried to keep in the new sound of distraught that tried to leave him hearing his name spoken from Sora. He slipped his arms around Sora to weakly hug the twitching Heartless as best as he could. "Y-yes. I'm Riku." It felt like so much before, sitting before the water on the beach with Sora in his arms. Although it had been Sora who tried to bring him back from the darkness then. "Y-your Riku, Sora." He heavily rested his head on Sora's shoulder, he didn't care about the spasms the other gave.

Those words didn't make sense to Sora. When he thought about it as carefully as he could, neither did any of the other words Riku had been speaking, but an urge to stay as close as he could to the other body was still there despite this. "Riku..." He started out slowly much like before and gave a small whimper before he tried again. "Riku...is...mine..." Even when he succeeded in finally speaking the words himself they still didn't make sense to him and he let out another sad noise at his own distress, but curled in closer to Riku anyway.

Riku nodded as he held Sora closer when the Heartless curled near. He ran fingers through Sora's now black hair before he nuzzled a cheek against it, cuddling up the sad creature. "That's right. Your Riku. Your best friend." He gave a shaky exhale but it did little to keep him centered. "... You'll remember soon. You just have to think, let it come to you." Riku shut his eyes behind the blindfold, swallowing thickly. "And I'll stay here with you while you try... I won't ever leave."

"Let it...come to me..." Sora continued to echo Riku's same words as he seemed to take some form of comfort in the other's arms. It was strange to go from being threatened, shocked and yanked around to being held so carefully and protectively. Sora wasn't sure he had ever felt such a way, he wasn't _supposed_ to feel such a way as a Heartless, but Riku just said they were friends. That he should remember things. He wasn't sure if he should trust such words, but so far this person holding him had done nothing but helped him. With that in mind Sora easily shut his eyes to try and think back to anything that would make sense.

Sora remembered waking up. All he had seen and focused on were those two beings that for some reason only made him feel so much sadness as he looked at them before he watched them leave, but what about before then? For some reason his mind wouldn't stretch that far and he was left with a blank space. It had him shifting uncomfortably under Riku as he tried to fill in the empty spots. Pain and sadness, as a Heartless those were the things he was forced to feel most of all, and as he kept his eyes closed tightly and tried to piece memories, those were the two things his mind caught onto first. So many tears shed and so much pain felt, but it wasn't only his own. It was all attached to one name that continuously left his lips.

The dark mist that surrounded Sora grew intense for a small second before the Heartless pulled his head back from Riku to stare at the other boy. Slowly the mist began to lessen as glowing yellow eyes blinked out, fading away only to be replaced by dulled blue that weren't nearly as bright as they normally would be. "Riku..." The echo stayed with the voice, but the curiosity was gone and replaced by sadness as a clawed hand reached up to pull down the blindfold that covered green eyes as darkness still clung to what Sora was forced to become.

Now freed from the black cloth oceanic eyes blinked wetly, now truly seeing the world for all its colours and light; though in this place there was not much of it to be found. But it was the dulled blue of eyes before him that Riku saw first before anything else. And the recognition in them that Riku sought. It had the barest of smiles on Riku's lips; all for Sora.

"Yeah, Sora. It's me." Riku tried to give a playful laugh but it came out more a hollow, sad chuckle. "How could you go and forget me, you air head." He tried to tease but his throat tightened taking away his breath at the aching memory of such perfectly carefree times; of horse play in the sand and all three of their boisterous laughter. Riku ruffled Sora's hair after the words, burying his fingers in it at the back of Sora's head.

Sora easily leaned into the touch and tried to smile at Riku's words, but everything about him felt so torn. All he could manage was that same sad expression he had been giving Riku the entire time, despite now knowing who it was that knelt in front of him. Another low whine escaped him and Sora raised his eyes once more to look straight at his friend, feeling a sense of panic and helplessness. "Riku, I feel so broken apart inside..." His eyes dropped down to stare at one of his own clawed hands that continued to jerk around, and eyes slipped halfway shut in sorrow at what he saw.

Riku's small facade of playful happiness fell away, abhorring guilt washed over him. Before he knew what he was doing he clutched Sora tightly in his arms, hugging him as if he were the last thread that kept him from being swept away into something horrible and unknown; the darkness. Riku buried his face against Sora's shoulder and neck. But no matter how tightly he held his Sora it never stopped the twitches or spasms, nor bring back the shine to his light.

"I didn't get here in time." Riku's usual stoic voice broke in its whisper. "I couldn't save you. I couldn't find you. He took you- Roxas took you away. I tried to love that part of you, but you still left me." He swallowed through a tight throat. "I saw the bright light- I tried... I'm sorry, Sora. I failed. I failed you so badly." He choked on his words.

Something about Riku's words had everything that was left inside of Sora feeling even worse then he already did. He shut his eyes tightly, blocking out the view of the black ocean that his current position in Riku's tight hold gave him and turned his head to the side to rest it on the other's shoulder.

"No." The one word fell from Sora's lips softly. "It's not your fault, Riku." Claws reached up between the tight hold Riku had on him to wedge between them and cling onto the other's cloak. "Roxas was part of me. I should have been able to control him." He faltered. "To control myself." Sora gave a small shake of his head. "I'm sorry he left...no...that I left you." Another small whine left him with each shake that his body made after his echoed words. "You never failed me..."

"We'll fix you. You'll get better." Riku didn't know why the optimism of all times decided to shine in him. Perhaps it was to make up what was left of Sora's lackluster heart. "We'll figure this out, Sora. We will." He nuzzled Sora's neck with dieing hope and desperation.

Sora took comfort in the closeness. He wanted so badly to believe what Riku said, but the emptiness inside him that made him what he was at that moment wouldn't allow him to believe in such a thing. He refused to voice such worries out loud to the other teen and simply kept his mouth shut, keeping safe as he was instead.

Riku hadn't a clue what they were to do next. That hadn't come to him yet. He was at a loss, holding his losses. All he could truly do was keep Sora cuddled near.

"...He's... really gone, isn't he?" Riku finally broke the bit of silence that had come between them with the shaken question.

Sora blinked dull eyes open at the sudden question. A quiet noise left him as he looked out at the ocean once more and he kept silent for a few seconds as he tried to search inside himself for that one piece that seemed to be causing him to feel so empty. There was nothing. No trace of that other part and with a final jerk he shook his head. "Yeah...he is."

Sora pulled back from the tight grip that Riku had on him and stared at the other for a few seconds. The one memory he had of waking up came back in tiny pieces and it caused him to look away just as quickly. "I saw him. I remember. I saw him and I saw Axel." The darkness around him lashed about at his sudden thoughts before he went on. "It hurt to look at them..."

Riku's expression fell. He didn't know what to say to all that. He touched Sora's dark cheek, softly brushing it to let the boy know that some how it was alright. He pressed a small kiss to Sora's forehead, leaning his brow against the other's forehead soon after. "... We'll get you back. All of you. Just... hang on."

For some reason the small kiss sent shivers through Sora's already trembling body. The comforting words that Riku tried to give would usually touch something deep within Sora, making him feel safe, but only the helpless feeling continued to creep across his entire being. He knew that he cared for the other boy, more then anything in the world, but the part of him that felt stronger then that had been stolen away. Taken by his other, leaving him with nothing but the cold empty feeling he had now.

Sora raised his eyes to stare into Riku's own with an expression that was everything guilty. Breath that was once warm and even, now chilled and shaky, ghosted past Riku's lips because of their closeness, but unlike so many times before Sora didn't close the gap between them. "I'm sorry." The words were spoken in a hushed voice. A small apology for everything. For giving in so easily and letting his more unreasonable half take control, but most of all, for not being able to feel for Riku what had brought them so close after so much. It made the bitter pain inside swell even more and the darkness around him lick at the air worse.

Riku could only hold Sora again, hugging him tightly and forgiving him; for even in Sora's darkest hour, to Riku the boy could still cast no sin. "It's alright." He whispered against Sora's dark hair that he nuzzled still with the same affection he had back on their island. He still felt like that helpless child back on the sandy beach, lost in the in between of everything. "I still love you, Sora." He held him tighter. "I'll love... enough for the both of us."


	22. Chapter 22

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 22

It wasn't a strange thing to find a world that was devoid of all life. Such a thing happened very often since the return of all the Heartless. Planets were picked apart until there was nothing and everything was left for dead. Nobody wanted such worlds any longer since they had become so cold and unwelcoming, but for some they were a very good hiding spot away from foes.

The escapees from the beach had freed themselves from the portal they had taken and chosen one of the deserted worlds for their own. It was the safest way to go for the time being and somewhere to lay low while one in the group continued to recover from their weakened state.

There was nothing special about the planet. The chaos and mayhem that the Heartless had caused made the streets dark and the sky an even worse shade of the color. Trash cans were over turned and a car alarm sounded in the distance never to be turned off by a single soul considering the person who owned it had more then likely already fallen prey to the rouge Heartless that had left long ago.

Roxas had instantly been reminded of The World That Never Was, but made sure to keep that to himself.

It was in a small alley that the four had taken to hiding. Ikurx was the only one sound asleep since still completely unconscious from the entire ordeal, and Demyx had taken to siding near him in the small space. During the quiet silence that had come over them Roxas had drifted in and out, staring into space as he sat huddled next to Axel. Unconsciously his hand had kept held over his now beating heart, but still his mind seemed out of it.

"Hey, Roxas." Axel repeated for the fourth time now, his voice rising just above a whisper. He snapped his fingers in front of Roxas' face trying to summon the teen from whence his mind had wandered off to. "Roxas?" Axel waved his hand in front of his friends' vacant stare. "You can't be already broken when I've just fixed you. That's counter productive." He tried to keep the mood light with quiet humour.

Roxas finally blinked his eyes hard. The final snapping of fingers had caught his attention and he turned his head to look at Axel with wide eyes that slowly returned to normal as the shock wore off. "I-I'm fine..." He didn't mean to stutter. He rarely ever stuttered as far as he could remember unless he was completely desperate for something. It only had him staring into space once more as he nearly trailed off with his next words. "Just thinking..."

"About?" Axel wasn't satisfied until his arms were more firmly around Roxas. If the boy's mind was able to wander so easily, Axel half expected Roxas' body to float off as well.

"Myself." Roxas easily fell back into Axel's hold and ignored the blatant dirty look Demyx shot at him because of it. He had started to ignore the Heartless after a while of sitting in the small alley and getting such looks. "I'm just not used to feeling so many things at once. It's so different from being a Nobody, and sharing feelings with Sora can't really compare." He lifted a hand up to stare at his own fingers. "I feel like it's a dream, or like this is all some sick joke and suddenly I'll be gone again..."

Long black fingers smoothed over Roxas' palm, sliding behind to twin fingers with Roxas' own. Axel held the other's hand, running his thumb over Roxas' palm. "It's real. Take your time." Axel rested his chin lightly on Roxas' shoulder, watching their hands. "Tell me what you feel. I want to know." He grinned a little. "I've been waiting a long time to hear it all."

Roxas relaxed a little at the feeling of Axel's hand moving across his own. The Heartless' words helped ease his mind as well and he couldn't help moving his head to the side to lean it against Axel's own. "I feel confused, that's the main thing, but mostly because it's so much to take in." His eyes fell halfway even as he kept them on their hands. "Excitement. Happiness. Guilt. I feel all of those." He turned his hand so he could better squeeze Axel's as he smiled. "Love, I feel that too." The smile fell away and he turned his head a bit so he could better see the other. "But for some reason, under all of that, I feel sad. I don't really know why..."

Axel slowly shook his head against Roxas. "I can't say I know either." He spoke near a whisper now, with Roxas so close. With his other hand he messed with the blonde hair, he enjoyed ruffling the swept up hair that always stuck up despite all laws of gravity. "I missed your bed head, though. Your nose." He didn't let that little feature go without a small playful kiss. "Your big ears." He gave them a gentle tug as he laughed quietly. "That look you get when I pester you, which only makes me pester you even more, and then you always give in." Axel's chuckle fell hushed. "Your hands and the way you usually talk with them, especially when you're passionate about something." Axel held Roxas' hand a little tighter. "And now... I can watch you truly _be_ and _feel_ passionate about something." He glanced at Roxas' face. "Everything."

After the small annoyance of having his ears pulled, Roxas stared at Axel with a bit of a wide eyed expression at each word said. For once he didn't feel trapped or cornered with such sentimental phrases. Instead he felt touched to hear such things spoken to him and it had him looking away from Axel for a few seconds as he turned in the other's hold to completely face the Heartless.

"Stalker." The word was said with obvious affection and afterwards Roxas finally met Axel's gaze with a small smile. "Still, I love you." The words still felt so good to say and the smile on Roxas' face grew only a little as he raised his free hand to trace one of the small tattoos that still clung to Axel's face before he leaned in to press his lips to the Heartless' own.

Axel couldn't have grinned more had he tried. He parted from Roxas' lips with a chuckle, just for the moment to speak. "I only stalk you because I love you." He pressed another kiss to Roxas' lips, enjoying the luxury that it was Roxas' very own lips he could taste. "And I think I love you more each time I hear those three words come from your mouth. Cheesy, yes, I know. But very appropriate."

"You two aren't the only ones in this alley; maybe you should both try and realize that." Demyx spoke up with a short clipped tone from across the huddled forms that Axel and Roxas had become. In the darkness of the alley the most that could really be seen of him were his eyes, but small shifts of movement made it obvious he was still paying attention to what was going on as he stared right at the two.

Demyx had easily cut off any reply Roxas was about to give Axel and it had him moving his head around to look in the direction of the other's eyes. Heart or not, Roxas was still Roxas, which meant his temper and snarky attitude were still there buried deep down, and decided to pop up at that very moment. "You don't _have_ to watch." His eyes narrowed.

Axel gave the quietest of nervous laughs; he'd forgotten Demyx was in the alley way with them in all honesty. He felt awkward and the flicker of guilt from before decided to remind him again of what he'd done to win Roxas his heart. He decided it was best to steer the conversation else where.

"Hey, is that kid waking up anytime soon, Demyx? Or does he still have the personality of a door stop?" Axel flashed Demyx one of his grins, knowing he was being absolutely tactless.

Demyx narrowed his eyes a little at Axel, but in the end he let out a frustrated sigh and turned his attention on the prone figure beside him. "I don't know. He hasn't really moved an inch." After his words, Demyx reached a hand out and poked the Nobody's shoulder as lightly as he could before he moved onto tapping at Ikurx's cheek, anything to try and rouse him from the deep sleep that had hold of him.

Axel's grin fell away when Ikurx didn't respond to any of the pokes or taps. "Is this... normal?" He looked at Demyx. "This is normal, right? He'll wake up and be able to do it again won't he?"

Demyx didn't meet Axel's gaze, keeping his own worried eyes on Ikurx instead. "I don't know. How am I supposed to know? I mean, he wasn't asleep for this long when we got to the beach. At least I don't think." Demyx was starting to panic and when he panicked, he rambled. "He woke up at some point." The Heartless chewed at his lip as if that would solve all of his problems before he turned his eyes back on Axel and Roxas, forgetting his earlier anger.

Demyx's rambling had Roxas feeling much more worried then the Heartless himself. If Ikurx didn't wake up then that meant Axel couldn't get his chance. It was something he didn't want to think about and he quickly turned his eyes away from Demyx's own to look back at Axel as he tightened their clasped hands. He felt scared in that instant, and found that it wasn't a feeling that he was enjoying.

Axel could taste the fear coming off of Roxas. He didn't think anything of the situation before since Roxas was nothing more than a carrying case for a dormant heart that wasn't his own. The fear, the rush of such intense new emotions, it was almost over whelming. It was that second sense that drew all Heartless for their first nature; find and corrupt all hearts. And when it dumbed down to it, Axel was what he was down to his core; a Heartless.

Axel gave a dazed blink as he tried to keep himself in focus. Against better judgment he held Roxas closer, trying to calm that fear in the teen that was driving his senses crazy.

"Well..." Axel started, slowly, drawing out his first word. "That could have been because, Demyx, he was punched unconscious. He didn't use his power. None of us has seen him use it. Not up close." He let out a sigh to center himself. "Aaaand none of us can heal because we're Heartless. Grand." He clunked his head back against the alley wall. He stared up at the hellish sky. "... We should find ourselves an abandoned room and hide out more comfortably. We might find a potion or two for the living speed bump."

Demyx frowned a little at Axel's nicknames for the unconscious Nobody at his side before he turned his attention down to Ikurx himself. "You think it's safe? I mean to start moving around. We've been pretty safe here in this small space. Do you really think we should chance getting up and moving around to find a safer spot on this world?"

Roxas had calmed somewhat when Axel pulled him near, but still he refused to let go of the other's hand no matter what. The worries Demyx voiced had his eyes narrowing as they moved along the alley to look down towards the street it led out onto. It had been quiet so far except for small noises that were bound to happen in such a desolate area. It had Roxas letting out a small sigh as he turned his attention back on the others. "I think we should be fine. We seem to be the only ones here right now. This place is pretty empty. We shouldn't be in any danger. There haven't even been any Heartless around so far." He took a quick glance at Axel, trying his best not to smirk. "Present company excluded."

Axel gave a wry laugh. "So witty." He glanced to the pair of glowing concerned eyes across from them. "Sorry, Demy, you're out-voted. Besides, if there are any minor Heartless out there we can control them. I've done it for whole armies of Heartless." He flashed Demyx a rather sadistic sort of grin. "How do you think I took care of our dear friend Lexaeus?" Then just as quick the vindictive look was gone and he was helping Roxas up to stand.

Demyx rolled his eyes which was an odd thing to see in such a dark area. "Yeah, well, you are a very underhanded person." The words were mumbled under his breath, but still loud enough for the other Heartless to catch. Demyx didn't care and only focused on picking Ikurx up in his arms before he stood up as well.

Roxas ignored Demyx's attitude while he gratefully took Axel's help. The woozy feeling from earlier was gone and he was able to stand on legs that were steady, finally taking his hand away from Axel's to walk on his own for once.

Since he had been the one to come to the conclusion that they were okay, Roxas was more then willing to walk away from the others first. He grinned a little at his bold actions, and just felt much like himself again since it was his body he was using to even walk with. "This place isn't so bad, you know? It's nice." He knew he was crazy for saying such a thing as he walked further down the alley, but the nostalgia was there and he couldn't help it, despite the entire world being a hideout for them.

"I thought you liked homey towns with grumpy, easily jealous best friends." Axel chuckled his amusement. "Hayner won't be too happy to hear you've made a home in such a desolate town." He tapped his temple. "And here I thought you never liked our old town that never was." He hurried to walk up beside Roxas, knowing the boy would be startled that Axel knew what he was thinking. "Omniscient, heartless thing. I can feel your heart." He grinned. "You wear it on your sleeve for me." He tapped Roxas' chest as he teased.

Roxas instantly looked down at Axel's hand with a startled expression before wide eyes blinked up at Axel himself. For a few seconds all he could do was stare at his friend at having been so easily caught, but slowly a small grin tugged at his lips and he shrugged a shoulder. "They both have their memories, just like both of them were my home at some point in my twisted form of a life." He gave a thoughtful sound and cocked his head to the side. "Besides, in the end I don't have a real reason to hate a place like this because someone really did miss me."

"Well, I never liked it and I still to this day never will." Demyx spoke up, cutting off their small moment, as he came to stand beside the two. He looked around the empty street that was ahead of them and shifted the dead weight in his arms. He almost expected something to pop out at them at any moment and it had him extremely cautious; more so then usual. "I miss my beach..." He almost whined the words.

Axel shrugged out his hands; it would have been a sympathetically helpless gesture had he not been grinning like a cat toying with a fallen bird. "Yes. So sad. Now it's the property of our old friends. Who knows what sort of horrific things they're doing to such a serene and perfect place." He shook his head.

Axel stopped in his steps when they finally stood out in the expanse of a grand cross road. Towering shadows of awesome skyscrapers loomed above like emptied soulless giants. The lighted windows of surrounding buildings starring down like unblinking eyes all around. Axel felt his unneeded breath sucked from inside him. It left him feeling small, insignificant in the grand scheme; nostalgia from a Nobody that no longer was.

"... It's exactly like that place." Axel murmured breathlessly, raising a hand to run nervously through his hair.

Roxas took a few steps out as well and couldn't keep his eyes off of every building. The darkness around and familiar surroundings sent chills up and down Roxas' spine, but still he continued to walk forward. "At least it isn't raining..." He couldn't help giving the small bit of insight to the bit of difference between the worlds. Of course, it wouldn't surprise him if a sudden down pour happened to come along at that very moment in time as he stopped in the middle of the street.

Demyx gave a small pout at that. "Hey, I happen to like the rain." It was the only good thing that came out of their long forgotten world in his opinion. "There's nothing wrong with it." He glanced around and seemed to remember where they were. "Just, not around here..." He nearly shivered.

"... I hate the rain." Axel muttered, turning from the sight of skyscrapers as he rubbed his bare arms. "Xemnas was a crazy bastard." It felt taboo to say their ex-leader's name. Then just as quickly he turned to face the others. "We need to get out of the open quickly. Some place with a bed for sleeping beauty, and edibles for the human." He smirked as he fingered out Roxas with a point.

Roxas turned his attention away from the buildings to look back at Axel. "Watch it. Soon enough you'll be human too and you won't be able to pick on me for being needy about such things." He gave the other a small grin before he turned his eyes back to what was around.

"Well, there are skyscrapers and such. There has to be some useful things inside of them, maybe even some smaller buildings further down that we could use. Maybe we could just hide away in one of them." Demyx took a few hesitant steps forward. "I guess it is a lot better then that alley."

Roxas didn't need anymore encouragement then that. Never one to be too careful, he hurried down the street without really waiting for the others. There were buildings already near and it was those that Roxas pressed his face against to look inside, only to leave alone and move ahead. Each one he looked at was too run down to actually be of any use to them.

Axel watched Roxas run down the street, not following after just yet. "Still as impetuous as a human as he was a Nobody." He commented off handedly. "Hey... Demyx." He glanced at the empty buildings beside them, the street lights spreading pools of cold light on the concrete, flickering ever so often. "The Heartless are divided among all of us, right? Pretty much. We're the main reason why the Heartless have started plundering worlds again. And... I don't know about you, but I've had my fair share of world conquest and damnation." Axel finally looked over at Demyx. "Who do you think would take over a world and remodel it in the image of The World That Never Was?" His expression went blank with his own revelation.

Demyx had moved out of the street and closer to a nearby building to be out of the light. He found it much safer not to be out in the open as Axel said and to be as close to the welcoming darkness as he could get. The sudden questions caught him off guard and he found himself shifting Ikurx in his arms out of nervousness more then feeling uncomfortable. "I-I don't really know, Axel. Or, at least I don't really think that I want to think about such a thing..." He blinked his eyes and looked away. "Or something."

"It's a pretty easy guess." Axel spoke up quietly as he walked over to stand beside Demyx. "...And I hope I'm wrong." He stepped further into the shadows as well, even though it would do him no good if he was indeed right.

-

Sneakers crunched along broken glass as Roxas stepped into one of the abandoned buildings that were much further down the street. He had continued to wander off, knowing he could take care of himself, and figuring the others weren't far behind. Blue eyes searched around the darkened room he had found himself in. Even the missing door of the building didn't provide any sort of light, but the blame for that easily rested on the darkness outside.

Despite the minor flaws, Roxas found that the building wasn't all that bad. It seemed as if it could be a good hideout. At least for the bit of time the four of them were looking to stay for. If he stepped further in he was sure he would more then likely even find a bed. He felt satisfied at being the one to find a place and hurried out the doorway to tell the others in a rush, skidding to a stop in the street. "Hey, guys..." His shout trailed off as quick as it started on his lips when he saw no one. Neither Axel nor Demyx seemed to have caught up like he thought and it had him scowling. "They're so slow..." Eyes narrowed in annoyance.

A cool wind blew as Roxas waited, ruffling his hair and sending some paper trash scurrying down the street. A newspaper caught on a dilapidated bus station bend and rustled as it fluttered in the breeze. Otherwise it was quiet. There was no distant sound of the other Heartless' voices, nor sight of their approach. There was nothing keeping Roxas company but the lone beat of his heart.

Roxas couldn't help the tap of a foot as his impatience got worse, but over time the overall quiet around him was unsettling. He wasn't the type to be scared of anything, but earlier events and a new heart had changed much about him and wouldn't allow him his usual strong attitude much like before. His eyes darted around, looking to the building he had come out of before they turned back down the street again. Finally he gave a short shaky laugh, amused in a way at his own worries. "I'm being stupid. Demyx is probably just whining again." He pulled at the band on his wrist. "Just holding Axel up..." His words trailed off.

"Heh. Roxas."

Roxas gave a start at hearing his own name, jerking around with a pounding in his heart to see. But he didn't have a chance to glance at a face before a hard, sharp, unkind weapon slammed with deathly force into him.

A pained sound came from Roxas that rarely ever left him. Blood licked at the air as he skidded back with the force he was hit. The red trail came from the deep gash that was now part of his body near his shirt. It was easily ignored as instinct told him to immediately call out both keyblades. It was an immediate reaction to any and all threats. Black flames melted into vicious blades which were held tightly at his sides while he caught his balance and stared across at who had been the one to harm him.

"So, the Nobody can now bleed." Saïx stepped forward with his claymore in hand. "It seems all assumptions are true. The selfish number thirteen has a heart. Ironic most would say." His tail lashed as he bore his gaze down at the small teen.

 _Run!_ A small voice urged Roxas. It was so small and pleading, it was hard to tell if it was outside, or in; but it tugged like a conscience on Roxas' heart. _Roxas, run!_

Roxas nearly faltered in his defensive stance at the tiny voice. Something about it tugged at him in a way nothing else did. He felt true fear when he saw Saïx step forward, and unlike any other time he suddenly had no real urge to fight back. His heart was pounding and his emotions were a mess. That voice was something that kept him from doing what his irrational side always commanded.

Roxas kept both blades tightly held. With a quick move upwards and a steady swipe down, he allowed the blades to drag the ground to bring up a thick wall of black fire that stretched between buildings. It would allow him cover for a quick escape, but only for a moment. Even as he turned and started to run he still kept his blades with him. He didn't know where he was running, but he knew he had to get away.

Saïx's feline ears pinned down at the sight of the fire. "... Seems the little Nobody has learned a few new tricks." He took a decisive step back in balance. He raised his claymore in one hand and smashed it down, smashing the ground below. Massive chunks of concrete and wind was thrown forward, smothering a hole in the wall of fire. It was enough, and Saïx leaped through it to give chase.

 _Turn right. At the next block._ That small voice spoke again. _It's a narrow street. He's very big, you'll have the advantage._

Even though Roxas knew he should question the sudden commands he was hearing, he also knew that the current moment was not a good time. So, he listened to what he was told instead of worrying about it. As soon as he got to the next block he made a sharp right. Each keyblade sparked the ground as they were forced to drag with his quick turn. He hated running, it felt so cowardly, but for some reason he didn't want to face up to what was chasing him.

The street was narrow as was told. Fire escapes trailed down the sides of the grimy brick buildings. All were black, rusted and rickety.

Saïx skidded to a stop on all fours at the entrance of the small street, his nails digging straight into concrete, tearing into it with traction. He slunk into the narrow street, unlike his frantic prey that ran as quick as he was physically able. It made no difference to Saïx, the shadows casted seemed to meld with him in almost perfect camouflage had it not been for the glowing markings that contoured his inky feline form.

With the hint of a malicious smirk across his lips Saïx stood and let out a viciously loud roar that pierced the small area. The very ground began to shake under foot. Then from the windows, smashing out glass and debris, Heartless flew forth, pouring into the narrow street.

Roxas came to a halt at the sudden shake that moved under his feet. He ducked down at the shattering glass, but had no time to recover from the small shards that had fallen on his skin as he heard the familiar sound of scratching and crawling. Roxas shot his eyes over to each broken window and his eyes narrowed on what he saw. Fear or not, he refused to be taken down by creatures he had so easily picked off in the past.

Bringing up both keyblades, Roxas steadied himself in the small space. As soon as the Heartless made their descent into the street he was on them in an instant. Flames moved through the air as Roxas swung around one keyblade at a time to swipe it through the creatures that had been called forth. The small area not allowing for much freedom of movement, but he didn't care.

The Heartless that attacked were far crueler than their smaller kind. As feline and violent as the one that called them. Though they all fell to Roxas' keyblades, it did little to stop the rest of the onslaught. Many crawled up the walls, bouncing off them to leap onto Roxas, using the small area to their advantage of being in a swarm.

 _Up!_ The words tugged at Roxas' heart for ascension. _Onto the roofs._

The quick words gained Roxas' attention under his sudden need to battle, but at the moment the few Heartless that had decided to pile on him kept him away from following the command he heard. Aggravation was setting in and it started to become stronger the more Heartless that came. With a fierce swipe of his keyblades, and a raged cry, black flames circled around Roxas as he twirled the twin weapons around, fighting off each of the Heartless on top of him and watching them burn in the deadly fire.

Before the rest of the creatures could come near Roxas was up in an instant, jumping quickly onto the nearest fire escape and using it as leverage to hop up the wall. He stepped up as quick as he could and made it in quick leaps to the roof, but didn't dare rest.

Down in the narrow street the Heartless followed suit, leaping onto the fire escapes. One fire escape broke loose on its rusty bolts, sending the Heartless on it tumbling down with the fire escape into the swarm below.  
A few other Heartless climbed the walls with claws alone, scrambling up over the lip of the wall to chase after Roxas.

 _Run!_ The word was a desperate beat in Roxas' heart.

Roxas swung one of his blades out to cut through the Heartless which had been lucky enough to climb all the way up the wall. He didn't even watch the blackened mist trail into the air. Instead he ran off as fast as he could on the small roof, jumping without hesitation as soon as he hit the edge to land on the next roof. It was a harsh landing, but Roxas regained his footing on the gravel that lay on the roof to continue his sprint.

More Heartless had found their way onto the roof, clawing at the roof to break into a dead run after Roxas. They leaped across the gap not too long after Roxas, the landing far easier on them as they bounded soon after when they did.

More began to add to the trailing few. And then behind them Saïx climbed up out of the narrow street to stand, fierce glowing eyes watching the chase. He let loose another ground shaking roar. Beneath Roxas the shattering of more glass could be heard as Heartless burst forth from inside the buildings, clawing up walls to follow the herd that was growing closer and closer after him.

Roxas didn't need to hear the roar or feel the shake to know there were more of the vicious creatures tailing him. It had his new heart pumping even faster with a rush of adrenaline and fear. "Axel...where are you...?" He couldn't help the desperate plea that fell from his lips at that very moment for the Heartless that had been by his side through everything so far. Yet at that moment there was nothing but a voice that he couldn't place moving him forward.

As another edge was growing closer, Roxas crossed both blades in front of himself. The closer the end of the building came he started to bring the blades down in sync with each other, bringing up a large tunnel of flames in his wake to leave near the edge for the Heartless as he jumped over to the next building.

 _That far building, the factory, run as fast as you can to it, Roxas!_ That little voice spoke again, so tiny and small like hope. _Into the alley way beside it._

Roxas' eyes darted over to each building he could see and spotted the large one that had been pointed out. Just like every time before he listened to that voice that had been able to help so far and continued to run along the rooftops. His body was slowly protesting his efforts as no longer being a Nobody he didn't have as much energy as he used to. It caused him to leave only a few trails of fire in his wake as precaution, knowing that his last trick wouldn't last too long.

With one final leap Roxas jumped off the roof nearest to the factory and fell onto the cement. A pained noise left him because of his earlier injury and the fact his feet hadn't broken his fall. Quickly he got up, remembering the warnings, and made his way to the factory. As soon as his eyes spotted the alley he ran to it and squeezed inside, kneeling over to catch his breath while he kept an ear out for the foes that chased him.

A hand grasped Roxas' wrist. "You don't have time to rest." That voice, the same voice that tugged so vividly at his heart. This time it spoke aloud, whispering urgency as they pulled him forward. They pulled Roxas through the tight alley, disappearing into the shadows, ducking and stepping over pipes as they hurried along.

Down several sharp turns the other lead Roxas, not stopping until they squeezed through a small dilapidated opening of a building. It was musty, cramped, filled with several wooden crates it could only be assumed they'd ended up in some sort of storage.

The hand lessened its tight hold on Roxas' wrist, but it never let go. Too small to be Axel's and the one who owned it was too short to be either of the Heartless. "... If we keep still and quiet, they won't find us here." The voice was feminine, so out of place amidst all the chaos Roxas had found himself in. Unexpected. Familiar.

Roxas had been too shocked to protest the sudden tugging, especially since it had only meant safety. It was when he was allowed to stop that he tried to catch his breath again while his voice finally found him. "What...?" He trailed off as he looked up from the hand that held his own, up to the body it belonged to. Blue eyes widened in shock and the keyblades that had been held so tightly dropped to the ground to vanish instantly.

Slender arms threw themselves around Roxas' neck as the girl clung to Roxas tightly. "R-Roxas." She quietly spoke, her voice almost whimpered. "I don't know how- but I'm so glad I found you. It was so horrible. I-" She felt something against her chest, a soft beat that only quickened when she'd held him. She let a hand trail down to rest over Roxas' chest; his heart. Roxas had a heart. "... Roxas." He wasn't a Nobody anymore.

It had been the sudden clinging of arms that had snapped Roxas out of his shock and when the girl pulled away his mind caught up better with the situation. "Naminé..." The name fell from his lips and even after he said it Roxas still couldn't believe it. He had seen so much through Sora's eyes. To see Naminé in front of him was something he hadn't expected at all and caused a tug at the heart he now owned.

Without really thinking about it, Roxas pushed the girl's hand away. He wasn't used to anyone pressing so close to the beating pulse under his chest yet. Only he and Axel had done so, and he wasn't sure if he actually wanted anyone else to feel it. "You're okay?" He couldn't help the curious question. It was the only thing he could think about.

Naminé gave a small weak nod. "Yes. I am but..." She took a step away from Roxas, gathering her hands in front of herself, her gaze casting down. "You saw what happened." She quietly finished. She bowed her head a little more. "Her... our heart... it was so full of pain. Vexen took advantage of it, and lead you, Sora, right to her knowing what would happen." Naminé paused, looking up at Roxas though there was little light to see much of anything. "It was after... I came to be again." Her expression saddened.

Roxas frowned at the reminder of a memory he for some reason wanted to bury. Possibly because it was Sora's and he just wanted to forget everything that had to do with what used to be his other half. For some reason he wasn't all that certain that was entirely it.

"Sora isn't part of me anymore." Roxas felt the need to speak up after Naminé's little slip up. He didn't want to be associated with the being he had split apart from. "Anything that happened to him doesn't really play a part in my life anymore, Naminé." Still, after those words he felt as if he should quickly take them back, but kept his mouth shut, looking away from the girl. "I'm trying to start over, but so far I'm not having much luck." He continued on.

Naminé stared at Roxas a moment, though soon she turned her head to look away as well. She slipped her arms around herself, though as a Nobody she could only remember how to feel cold and hurt. She didn't speak up after being corrected or Roxas' announcement of independence of identity. Some how she knew everything had already been said, the tears shed, the battles lost and won over it. So she offered silence, hanging her head again.

Roxas turned his eyes slowly back on Naminé and a frown came to his face. He had always had a strong bond with the girl in front of him only because of their connection as Nobodies. She was the one person aside from Axel that had tried to set everything straight for him so long ago. Still, as he looked at Naminé there was a feeling that had his vision blurring for a second as the memory from that horrid fight came back. A quick stab through the chest and it had been the end of a life.

Roxas shook his head to clear his sudden thoughts. He knew he had spaced out and with a frustrated noise he raised a hand to rub at his temples. "Damnit..." The word was hushed as he walked away from Naminé to go sit on one of the small crates in the room.

"... You aren't used to feeling." Naminé glanced at Roxas. "Marluxia always told me we weren't meant to feel, or exist. Yet... here we are again. And here you are with a heart and emotions." She turned her gaze to look forward, though at nothing. "You accomplished what Xemnas and the Organization always wanted." She quietly finished.

Roxas had taken to staring at his hands. A habit he was slowly picking up just to make sure he really wouldn't disappear at any given moment. "It wasn't easy." The words were an understatement. Everything that Roxas had gone through to take what he wanted had been much less then easy. There was no real word. "I never thought it would happen. It's a rush and I'm still getting used to it." He bent his fingers a few times before he raised one hand to place it over his heart. "You can't always trust everything people tell you. What I went through is proof enough of that."

"... Xemnas hurt a lot of people to get what he wanted." Naminé quietly spoke back.

"You think I don't know that?" Roxas spoke back rather harshly without any real intent to. "I was Xemnas' little prized possession for a good while until I left. Then the one thing he decides is best for me is to try and force me back, despite the fact I couldn't remember a damn thing." His voice was rising. Anger and hurt were taking a toll on him. "And let's not forget that he thinks the best way to do this is to use my best friend to take this entire plan into action!" Roxas' eyes were narrowed by the time he was done and he quickly looked away from Naminé afterwards.

Everything inside of Roxas hurt. He couldn't believe how much betrayal and anger his own memories had caused in that one instant. He knew he was just as guilty as Xemnas himself. He was the one that left. He had turned his back on everything, but still, the hurt was there of having to remember why he went through it all in the first place. All because of who he was. "Good riddance to him..." The harsh words left his mouth with no real remorse.

Naminé waited a moment before she spoke up. Her words were soft, as gentle as she could make them. "The heart is an amazing thing. It can do so many things without any real conscious effort." She twined her own fingers together. "And even those born without an actual beating heart, I believe they'll still always have one." She fell silent a second before continuing. "I'm sorry you had to go through so much, Roxas. I'm sorry everything didn't turn out so well in the end for you; with Sora." Her voice petered before she quietly added, "I'm sorry you hate Sora so much."

Something about those words caused Roxas to flinch. His hand had fallen away from his chest long ago during his anger and with such words both of his hands suddenly clenched tightly at his sides. It was true that over time he had a strong dislike for Sora. That other part had only caused him to feel so trapped. But suddenly, he felt like he needed to question a lot of things. "You've never disliked Kairi?" The name felt so strange coming from his own mouth. "You've never wanted to be as free from her as I am from Sora now?"

Naminé gave it some thought. "I'll admit it was nice existing as I was, and I never had much of a chance to try things while Marluxia had me... But I always knew an important part of me, the part that mattered most, was missing. Just like when I met Kairi I knew she was missing a part of her that mattered as well." She walked from where she stood to stand beside Roxas; she wanted to see his face as she spoke. "We couldn't go on without each other. I had done such horrible things, changing Sora's memories and then making others forget him while..." Naminé let her hands fall at her sides. "I wanted you to know who you were, what you were, before DiZ made you go back. I wanted you to regain your own memories of Organization XIII, of your best friend Axel, of everything you'd done in your search to find out who you were... before Sora regained his own memories that I re-arranged." Naminé glanced away in sadness. "But DiZ wouldn't let me... So... I feel I'm the reason you hate Sora so much." Naminé looked back at Roxas' face. "I'm sorry. I always thought Kairi was my better half. But it seems neither of us are what I thought we were. I am so sorry, Roxas."

Roxas quickly looked up at Naminé and frowned at her apology. "No, Naminé." He stood up from the crate to face her, but didn't touch her. He only kept his eyes on the girl's face as he tried to explain his own reasoning. Anything to make her take the blame off herself. "You're not the reason at all. Things just changed. I'm sure that you could see what went on too, right? Everything that happened on that island. You knew Kairi's pain, which meant you knew what was going on."

Roxas finally took a step away from Naminé to walk a few feet behind the girl, keeping his back to her. "It wasn't that bad at first, you know? Be Sora's stronger half, live within him and try to be as normal as such a thing allows, but they were always so close. Riku and Sora. After a while, I don't know. I just..." He trailed off and looked down at his sneakers. "This fight, it allowed me to wake up. Axel _helped_ me wake up and take control. Now I don't have to deal with any of it anymore. I don't have to feel trapped like I did and I don't have to care about someone that I never did in the first place." He finally turned back around to look at Naminé. "Riku was the one that defeated me and took me away, Naminé. It's him I resent...for everything. He's the reason. You have nothing to be sorry about."

Naminé watched Roxas a moment, her eyes filled with sorrow and worry despite not truly being able to feel. They were just echoes of Kairi's emotions in the end. But soon her gaze fell to the floor. "... Is what Riku did so much different than what Axel did?"

Roxas' gaze narrowed at such a question. It stung in a way that he didn't like and had he not been trying to control his temper he was sure he would have threatened Naminé at that very moment for saying such a thing. "You don't know anything." Roxas turned his eyes away to look at the same floor that suddenly had Naminé so interested. "Axel has done nothing but try to help me. Forced or not, he was always there. He was always trying to bring me back." Roxas shook his head. "For Riku it was all about Sora. I was forced to do everything he did, to change everything I was, all because of Sora. To Riku I'm just a flaw. To Axel I'm just Roxas and that's all I ever wanted."

"Maybe you don't know as much as you think." Naminé quietly voiced. "Or maybe you just don't care to. You already know what you want. And it seems like you've gotten it. Maybe it's time you learned to care about others with that new heart now." She blinked surprised to see red dripping on the floor. "Y-you're bleeding."

The sudden observation cut off any other angered words that Roxas was about to speak back to Naminé. His eyes turned down to the gash that was still just as deep and nasty the moment he had gotten it, but the red that had spread across had found it's way into his shirt as well. "Yeah, I guess I am..." He wasn't used to such a thing and instead of paying attention to the pain he was shocked at the red color coming from him.

With shaking fingers, Roxas moved a hand up to touch the wound and hissed at the contact. He pulled back instantly, but red coated his fingers and he lifted them up to observe. "Saïx caught me by surprise, all the running, trying to get away, this is the first time I've actually noticed it."

Naminé stepped away to hurry to a wooden crate. "We have to find something to fix that. Maybe one of these boxes has a spare potion in them." She grabbed the wood trying to yank the top, but the lid seemed to be nailed down. She yanked harder, the brittle wooden board snapped and she fell back on the floor with a startled yelp. She covered her mouth as soon as the sound left her. "... We have to be quiet." She'd removed her hand to whisper.

Roxas watched with a bit of amusement as he tried his best to get rid of the sticky blood that was drying on his fingers. "Yeah, because we've done such a good job of that so far." He couldn't help being sarcastic. He made his way over to where the crate sat and something Naminé said caught his attention. "Potions..." He gave a frustrated sound as he pried the rest of the wood apart. "Damnit, I almost forgot all about what I was even doing away from the others in the first place. If we find some I need to take them back. I can't hide here forever. That Nobody needs to wake up fast. Especially if Saïx is lurking around."

Naminé stood up, dusting herself off. "Nobody? Who's Nobody?" She walked over to help Roxas go through the contents of the crate.

Roxas stopped shuffling through unwanted junk long enough to think over the question. "I don't know." He glanced up at Naminé with a puzzled expression. "He's no one we've seen before and I've never heard his name either." He looked back down, but his hands kept still. "But, he's the one that split Sora and I apart." After he was finished speaking, Roxas continued to move his hands around until finally they hit glass. He had to push around a few things before he was able to lift up exactly what he had been looking for. "Finally, some luck. Hopefully there's some more."

"He-he split you two apart?" Naminé chewed her lip before she went to another crate to try and pry it open. "He must be from a strong somebody. But... I was only able to manipulate Sora's memories because Kairi is so close to his heart. You, or Sora, you must know him some how. Splitting a heart isn't that simple." She gave a small grunt as she managed to get the lid off without falling. After setting the lid down she dug through that crate too.

"I don't see how..." Roxas stared at the glass bottle he held in his hand as he thought over Naminé's words. The memory of his first meeting with Ikurx came back and his eyes quickly narrowed. "He got on my nerves." With that one simple phrase Roxas popped the top and tried to drink the potion in one quick swallow. It didn't work out as planned and he was forced to stop for a second. Even with just the small amount the wound stopped its heavy bleeding and the horrible gash started to get only a little smaller.

Roxas hesitated again as he kept his eyes on what remained in the bottle. "He..." Roxas stopped as if he wasn't sure whether to go on. It was only the fact that Naminé was one of those rare people he could trust which had him pushing on. "He had a keyblade. I saw it before everything happened." With those last words he drank the rest of the potion to silence himself.

Naminé dropped the piece of machinery she'd been siphoning through. "A keyblade?" She stared into the crate before she stepped away from it. "Sora. Mickey. Riku. Kairi. You. Now another?" Naminé slowly dusted her hands off. "Soon everyone will be wielding a keyblade it seems." She went to work opening another crate. "I wonder if I or Kairi know who they were."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. As Axel said, right now he's pretty much a doorstop." Roxas looked back and forth between the machinery that Naminé dropped and back at the girl. The empty bottle he held was discarded before he walked over to start helping with the task that she had stopped with because of shock. "I can only use the keyblades because of Sora." He searched through the crate, moving through old factory parts. "There's gotta be something to this other Nobody that has him able to use a keyblade as well, but something that would cause such an amount of light to come from him also." He frowned when his search in the crate came up empty. "Its how he's found so easily."

Naminé brushed her hair from her face as she glanced at Roxas. "Does Axel know who he is?"

Roxas blinked his eyes at the question. It wasn't something he had actually thought about. "I-I don't know." He frowned as he stepped away from the crate to look away at the floor. Axel had been the one that had led him to the beach. He had told him there was something that would fix everything. Axel seemed to know a lot lately that Roxas didn't. It had one memory coming back to him of Demyx's hateful words before he was split apart.

 _'That's right. You wouldn't know about it. Or, about him I guess...For good reason. Oh well...'_

Roxas couldn't get the words out of his head. They were unsettling and made Naminé's question seem like something he should have questioned himself long ago. Especially with all of the other's that seemed to want the Nobody as well. "Maybe..."

Naminé peeked up from the crate. She tilted her head as she watched Roxas' expression. "You sound worried."

Roxas looked back to Naminé with wide eyes at having been caught so easily. He suddenly realized that he needed to learn how to control these sudden emotions he was feeling. They gave him away more then his anger usually did. "Well, the other Organization members, they're after the Nobody too. It just makes me wonder about things." He looked back down with narrowed eyes. "Like, how long could they have known about him?" His voice lowered. "Maybe they even know more then me..." His thoughts moved back to Axel, but he didn't really want to believe his friend was keeping anything from him, so he stopped the train of thought before it could start.

A potion bottle was put in front of Roxas' face. "I've never heard of any other Nobody but you and me. But if it's bothering you it couldn't hurt to ask him." Naminé tried to smile just a little for Roxas. "I know how close you are with Axel. I don't think he would keep secrets to hurt you."

Roxas blinked his eyes at the sudden block of his view and slowly lifted a hand to take the offered bottle. Naminé's words had a small smile showing itself on Roxas' face as he gave a quick nod. "Yeah, you're right. I'm probably just being really paranoid anyway." He gripped the bottle tightly as he turned his gaze up above. "I need to get back. Saïx or not, I can't stay here. I'm supposed to be hiding out with the others and I need to tell them what happened."

Naminé touched Roxas' cheek, kind and brief. "Good luck."

Roxas kept his eyes on Naminé for a few seconds after the contact. He still couldn't shake that feeling he had when he first saw her again, but ignored it easily. Instead he gave the girl a small nod of his head as he pocketed the bottle. As soon as his hands were free both keyblades were there to occupy them once again. Without a word Roxas turned away from Naminé to make his way down the same path they had taken to find the two Heartless that had yet to find him.


	23. Chapter 23

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 23

The pavement beneath feet shook as that familiar ferial roar echoed within the abandoned streets. Though the call was far away the sound reached far, and windows burst their panes as Heartless poured forth unto the streets on impulse. The feline Heartless bounded across the street, their claws clacking across the concrete as they sprinted towards the orientation of the roar.

For the most the Heartless ignored what they had previously chased as Roxas entered into the street beside the large old factory. A few stopped to cock their heads looking up at Roxas, staring at him with their blank illuminated eyes. It was only because of the heart beating in Roxas' chest that caused them to linger. But capturing the teen's heart wasn't their current purpose so they soon continued their run.

The sounds of raging fire could be heard, the shouts of the fire starter soon following. The battle could easily be heard despite how far away it was. Saïx's voice was soon to follow, loud, violent. There was the sound of something being thrown and smashing into a building, the smoke of fire and debris could be seen floating into the sky where Roxas stood.

And soon after the crash, the battle went silent.

Fear clung tightly to Roxas' heart as he listened to the now quiet streets and watched the bit of smoke that continued to trail up. He couldn't stand the silence, knowing what exactly it was that suddenly went on. He had been gone far too long it seemed.

With hurried steps, Roxas started to run towards the source of where the sounds of the fight had come from. His eyes kept on the smoke as he ran through the streets, ducking in alleys, and hoping across roofs. Any way to get to the scene quicker. The few Heartless that still lingered ahead of him were unlucky enough to meet the end of his blades as soon as he passed by them unexpected. He wasn't in the mood to deal with inconveniences.

With a final jump over a small dumpster Roxas skidded to a stop near a more darkened corner of the city. His eyes moved away from the smoke that had began to weaken, to the very source of it all. His heart pounded in his chest as he held both blades at ready and tried to keep focused, but the worry had a strong grip on him. "Axel?"

"Afraid not." Saïx's voice spoke loud and true. The Heartless stepped out into the open, down the street towards Roxas at a casual pace. His claymore was tightly held in one hand. "Amusing how his Heartless will end the same way his Nobody did." He gave the smallest of gestures to the smashed gaping hole in the side of the building where Axel had assumedly been smashed into. Instantly the millions upon millions of Heartless that had followed swarmed in to destroy what would remain of Axel's Heartless. "Sacrificing his life for you." Saïx tilted his head with cruel amusement. "Oh what guilt that new heart of yours must feel now."

Roxas whipped his head around to look at the creatures that continued to make their way towards the large hole. Saïx's words had his eyes widening as he couldn't help but stare. "No..." That one whispered word fell from his lips before his attention immediately snapped back to the Heartless in front of him. His gaze turned to one of pure hatred and the grip on his blades tightened. "You bastard!" He shouted loudly as he raised his blades and brought them down in a fierce strike towards the ground. Flames licked at the air and soon began to travel straight for Saïx himself as Roxas looked on with murderous intent.

Saïx didn't bother to swipe out such a powerful attack; instead he leapt over it, landing hard on the ground. He continued to walk towards Roxas, ignoring the small flames still on the ground he treaded. "Thirteen does seem to be an unlucky number." The corner of his lips upturned, hinging upwards to bare just a hint of the sharp teeth underneath. "For you. For Axel." He readied the claymore in his large hand. "But... if you tell me where the fail safe is, I'll think about letting what's left of your _boyfriend_ go." His smirk only grew. "Hurry now, they're tearing him alive. And his new sacrifice would go in vain if you were to die here and now, when you've just gotten a heart."

Roxas narrowed his eyes further. He hated the threats thrown at him. They caused him to hesitate and actually think about shouting out exactly where Ikurx was, but he couldn't do that. He'd be throwing away everything they had worked so hard to get up to this point. He ignored the pounding in his head that told him to forget everything and just give in, keeping silent instead. He raised both keyblades before he ran at Saïx, swinging down the vicious blades as soon as he was near the Heartless.

Saïx didn't bother to avoid the attacks; instead he let each keyblade hit him. When Roxas was close enough he swiped out his hand to clutch the teen's throat. He grasped it tightly, using the pain of wounds to give strength to the hold about Roxas' neck.

The Heartless pulled Roxas up from his feet by his neck, drawing him near. "Then you can die as well." Saïx kept his choke hold on Roxas, raising him higher as his other hand with the claymore.

The tight hold had Roxas instantly letting go of both blades, causing them to clatter to the hard ground and vanish. As soon as his hands were free they flew to Saïx's own to try and pry the Heartless off of him, but the grip continued to tighten and Roxas could see his vision blurring around the edges. One small glance at the claymore caused what little strength he had to be used to try and pry harder, only to kick his feet around in the process.

The claymore swung towards Roxas' body, but the hit didn't make it. The enormous weapon faltered in the air as Saïx stiffened, going rigid with a grunt. The weapon fell from his hands, clattering loud and heavy on the street.

"Don't..." The words were hissed, like seething coal on skin, behind Saïx's long feline ear. "you dare..." The chakram point buried inside Saïx was plunged deeper with a low growl. "touch him..."

Saïx narrowed his glowing eyes on Roxas, sneering at the teen, but he had no energy to hold him so he let him fall from his grasp.

The fire user behind Saïx stepped back with careful slinking step, a self satisfied grin stretching across his bloodied lips. And with a simple snap of fingers the chakram buried deep in Saïx's back burst violently into black flames.

Roxas held up an arm to cover his face from the heat that the sudden burst of fire gave off. With quick movements he scooted backwards before he was able to actually get on his feet. His breath was heavy after the choke hold given to him, but the only thing on his mind was the evidence that Axel really was okay. As soon as his hand lowered he looked across at the Heartless as the intense fire still burned, and let a small smirk come over his face despite the dire situation. "Just as flashy as ever." He teased out of complete relief to see the other.

"Hey, baby." Axel waved his raised hand. "Didn't see you there." He flinched at a shot of pain and it was then his legs decided they didn't want to hold him up anymore, and he fell to one knee, one arm hugging his middle.

Roxas' amused expression was wiped clean off his face just as quick as it came. The relief he felt was gone and panic swept over him again as he ran the few short steps there were to fall to his knees by Axel's side. Saïx's words from earlier were still buried deep in his mind and he did in fact feel guilty. In some way he felt responsible for this and words were soon pouring from his mouth before he could stop them. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stay gone for so long. I was going to tell you that I saw him, but I had to hideout for a while and...I...I just..." He trailed off with stuttered words before he reached his hands out towards Axel. "Are you okay?" His last words were shaky.

Axel stared at Roxas; his mind shut down and did a double take. He'd never seen Roxas so concerned, so worried in all the time he'd known him. It was strange to see what was normally such a cold, apathetic person speaking with such a frantic stutter.

Axel's hand ruffled through Roxas' hair, he wouldn't have such desperation crossing Roxas' face. "It's alright. No need to- Roxas, you're all red." He lifted up the teen's shirt not waiting for an answer. But what should have caused such intensive bleeding was nothing more than a minor scratch now. "Hey- since when do humans heal so fast?"

Roxas had to actually stop and think about what he was being asked since the attention had suddenly been shifted to him. He remembered the how and why and was soon able to clear things up for Axel with no real problem. "Earlier, when I first ran into Saïx, he caught me by surprise and I got a nasty gash from it, but I found a potion that helped me heal." His last words caused Roxas' to stop for a second as he remembered something. He started searching through his pocket only to pull out the glass bottle. "I was also able to find an extra one to bring back..." He stared at the state Axel was in and trailed off without saying exactly who he had brought it back for.

Axel patted Roxas' hip and flashed him a grin. "Nice one." His attention darted across the street where the swarming Heartless were now braving the fire. They leaped through, shaking off the singes and cinders that clung to them. They scratched at the ground and stared with a maliciousness that couldn't be seen on their faces.

"Heh." Axel thudded his head against Roxas' front tiredly. "It seems our old buddy Saïx is more trouble than he's worth." He shook his head. "Bet that bastard has survived and crawled off some where to lick his wounds clean." He straightened, raising a hand to swiftly swing it aside. Several chakram burst forth from the fire and crashed into the oncoming Heartless explosively. That bought them a little time.

With a grunt Axel forced himself to stand, although it wasn't all to steady. "When you take a hit from Saïx you stay down..." He muttered to himself as he rubbed his head, wiping away smears of black blood.

"Well, we seemed to have broken that theory pretty well." Roxas stood up as well. Step by step he walked over to where the chakrams had landed amidst the chaos and knelt down to pick up the chained weapon, noticing how warm they still were while in his grasp. As he stood up straight he twirled the weapon on both hands, using his fingers, knowing they would only be dead toys while he held them. He looked back at Axel with a curious expression. "Where are Demyx and Ikurx?" He almost stuttered on the second name and frowned at the realization, hoping Axel wouldn't notice.

Axel shook his head. "Dunno. They ran off to hide when Saïx attacked. I don't know where." He was a little amused to see Roxas pick up his weapon, but then something caught his eye. He narrowed his eyes to look past Roxas, into the flames. His eyes widened. "Roxas! Look out!"

Axel threw out his arms to intensify the fire, spreading its wild flames to try and incinerate the large, strong Heartless that leaped forward. But it did no good, Saïx burst forth from the black fury, bringing down his claymore with awesome force down upon Roxas.

Twin blades met the force of the claymore as the two chakrams that Roxas once held clattered back down to the ground. The warning Axel gave had given Roxas enough time to summon the keyblades in a rush of panic and turn to meet Saïx weapon to weapon. The force in which the Heartless was driving down was too much though for the smaller of the two, and Roxas found himself bending down as his arms shook to keep the stronger of the two away.

Finally, Roxas was the one to give in and rolled out from under the claymore as he pulled his keyblades away before the weapon could come down completely. He dodged to the side and as soon as he was out of harms way he swung both blades out at Saïx to try and catch the other off guard.

The claymore smashed heavy into the ground, the street beneath it nothing more than rubble. The keyblades hit their mark against Saïx's dark skin, but he didn't recoil from the hit, ignoring the black that poured from new and old wounds. Something in the Heartless clicked on, like primal, a switch deep inside. Above, the heavy clouds parted, sifting aside to reveal the crescent of the peeking moon. This was what he was waiting for.

"R-Roxas!" Axel staggered forward. "Roxas get out of there! He's going into Berserk!"

Saïx's dark hair bristled as he threw back his head to growl, baring his teeth. He swung his claymore into Roxas in retaliation for the hits the teen had previously made. The illuminated marks along the Heartless' body grew brighter, blazing along with his glowing eyes. More markings spread across his dark hide, spreading down his legs and arms, and up all the way to his small feline muzzle. The illumination followed down from his hands into and along his claymore, following down the moon and star-ed end.

Roxas hadn't been able to dodge the attack as easily as last time. The force of the swing had been too much for him to block and the wind was easily knocked out of him as he was swung back from the heavy weapon. He let out a hiss of pain as he looked up from where he had landed near a lamp post and his eyes nearly widened at the sight of Saïx. The grip he had on his blades tightened from their slack hold and he quickly stood up again.

Saïx dragged the jagged ends of his weapon across the street, tearing through the concrete as if it were nothing. He dashed the weapon around him, clashing aside the flaming chakram that flew at him, Axel's last ditch efforts to help Roxas. The fiery explosions phased nothing upon Saïx and hindered no action.

Saïx bore his teeth towards Roxas, looming over him; he was going to end this traitor. He swept his claymore towards the teen and then brought it down in one massive strike. But the tackle of a body threw his aim off, scathing instead of killing. Axel summoned a new chakram to plunge into Saïx's weapon armed. Saïx growled loudly lashing his free hand to dig his claws into Axel's shoulders to rip the other Heartless off.

Roxas flinched at the large gash that Saïx's thrown off aim caused on his arm, but he knew he was lucky enough for it to only be a scratch and nothing more. His eyes moved to the two Heartless and the panic from before started to settle in when he saw Saïx's claws digging into Axel. His own instincts to fight started to kick in and soon he was running towards the two, but just as quickly he stopped and nearly tripped at such an abrupt action. It was Axel's movements which had him remaining completely still.

Axel stared unwavering into Saïx's hatefully fierce eyes. He splayed out his hands causing all of his chakram, wherever they may be, to burst into flames. A few buildings burst violently into flames, the fire spreading on Axel's command, surrounding with intense heat.

Saïx let out a loud roar of pain but didn't dare let up his hold on Axel. The fire swept over, fueled by shadow, the very flesh of a Heartless. It spread throughout Saïx's body, down his arms and onto the fire starter himself, Axel. But Axel didn't hesitate; he summoned the fire higher, nearer, more seething. And it was going to get worse still, but only one thing kept Axel from unleashing the true destructiveness of the flames upon them.

"Run!" Axel glanced at Roxas. He glared at the boy. "Get the hell out of here!"

Roxas looked on in shock while the intensity of the flames had him backing up bit by bit. The fierce attack had his memory blind siding him with thoughts of something he hadn't been able to stop before and it had his new heart beating wildly. The only thing to snap him out of it was Axel's shouts and the glare he was given he equally matched with the fire user. "Idiot!" Roxas shouted back as he continued to back up. "You better not die!" His vision blurred, but he blamed the wetness on the heat as he kept his gaze on Axel for a few more seconds before he turned and ran from the street.

"So you'd die again for that traitor." Saïx buried his claws deeper into Axel's pale flesh. His other hand came to join his other, grasping so tight that if Axel had any actual bones they'd have broken like twigs underneath his strong grip. But still Axel didn't scream, nor falter. "Pathetic. I won't fall so easily to such pitiful tactics."

"Heh. You're only upset because there's no one to cry for you when you're gone." Axel shrugged out his lanky arms, his control over the fire heightening. Although Roxas had left he could still feel the boy's heart, he could feel each beat, and each desperate beat worried for him as Roxas ran further.  
Maybe he wasn't going to be human again, or share that simple life with Roxas in that world that was only real to them. Maybe he wasn't going to know what it was like to go to school with Roxas, fall asleep on his notebook in class, or give Roxas an embarrassing kiss in public just to make Hayner huff jealousy. So he'd never share another moment with Roxas' cherished friends in that small nook where they all hung out, eat sea salt ice cream and tease Roxas while he promptly kept the boy hugged tightly in his lanky arms.  
But that didn't mean that he didn't ever have a heart, and that it wasn't shared with Roxas for that brief moment; at least he was able to love him, and be loved back. Once.

"Good bye." Axel's once placid smile turned vindictive. With a flare of hands he gave into the flame.

The explosion was violent, shaking what felt like the entire world. What wasn't incinerated with liquid fire was shattered and blown away. Glass was thrown dangerously from windows with the rush of shockwave, sending mortar and debris.

The large shockwave had thrown Roxas off balance and knocked him off his feet into a car that was over turned in the street. The keyblades had long ago vanished and as he ignored the rush of pain that the sudden slam into metal caused, he raised both hands up to shield himself from the falling debris and glass. It did little good, but it was all he had.

It still wasn't the least bit safe to move, but after a few seconds Roxas moved away from the car and turned his attention towards the direction he had run from. The sight nearly had his new heart stopping. The wetness that had blurred his vision before started to run down his cheeks, but he had no excuse for it this time around. "Axel..." The Heartless' name was whispered, but slowly found its way into a desperate shout. "AXEL!" The name echoed and bounced off empty buildings while glass still fell and the city still rocked. Roxas could feel his hands clenching and twitching at his sides, but his body remained frozen until he collapsed to his knees.

Never in all his life had Roxas ever felt so broken before, but as he stared at the wreckage that he had left behind and felt the aftermath of what he knew Axel had done all he could do was feel what his body never allowed in the past. His head spun and his hands were the next to fall to the concrete just so fingers could scratch desperately, despite the marks it would leave on skin. "Idiot..." The word meant only as endearment for the fire user was the last hushed thing Roxas spoke as he let the tears take over him in the darkened street.

-

Far on the other side of the desolate city the shockwave had continued to travel. It wasn't nearly as strong, but it could still be felt by the Heartless that protected the unconscious Nobody between two skyscrapers. Glass fell and pipes shook, few falling from the buildings they held together. Through it all Demyx held Ikurx close, keeping himself between the teen and the debris that rained down.

When all was still Demyx was careful to place Ikurx aside away from what had landed on the ground in the small alley. He needed to check things out and got to his feet when his hands were free to walk out into the open. He wasn't at all surprised to see smoke in the distance. There had been so many emotions running rampant before the world had shaken that Demyx himself nearly felt sick inside. His wide soulless eyes narrowed as he slowly backed up into the alley wall, keeping his eyes on the smoke. "Damnit, Axel..."

"...He's gone." The small voice from the prone Nobody spoke up. Demyx could feel the weak sorrowful gaze of the other on him. "... Isn't he?" A question more than a statement, perhaps that's what made it all the more pitiful.

Demyx whipped his head around to look over at the teenager. He hadn't expected the other to speak at all, but the words he heard had his eyes narrowing even further. "I..." Demyx started out in a shaky voice, but couldn't finish at all. He didn't want to answer. It would only make what happened real. Instead he looked away with a sad gaze, back to the smoke that continued to linger in the darkened sky.

"... Mister Axel." Ikurx's soft voice broke and he shut his eyes tightly. He weakly curled into himself, curling against the dirty wall he leaned against. His eyes ached, hot, but no tears would ever come for the Heartless, no matter how much he wanted them to come. Ikurx rubbed one of his eyes with the back of his hands, sniffling even though there was no need. With glossy eyes he looked to the thick smoke that Demyx watched. He then looked at Demyx and his eyes ached worse for tears. It was unfair not being able to cry, it felt like he was bastardizing the memory of the one Demyx had given his life reason for.

"I shouldn't have run away..." Demyx spoke up weakly after a few long moments of silence. His voice was cracked, but it couldn't be helped. "I should have gone with him. I could have helped." That was a lie. Just like every other time before he would have been useless and just in the way, but still he couldn't help thinking that maybe things would have been different even if he was the one looking after Ikurx. "He'd be okay..." Sad eyes moved back to Ikurx as if the Nobody would have all the answers.

Ikurx's pale brows furrowed sadly as he looked at Demyx's expression. Then with what little strength he had, Ikurx clumsily pushed himself to stand, using the embedded pipe inside the wall to help pull him up. With unsteady legs he walked over to Demyx, though each step became weaker and weaker, until Ikurx couldn't stand it anymore and he ran the last few steps towards Demyx. He fell into Demyx, clinging his hug around him. "I'm sorry." Ikurx choked pitifully on his whispered words. He hugged the other more though not for his own desperate comfort but for Demyx's.

Demyx had been shocked at first by the sudden clinging embrace, but it wasn't long before he gave into it and clung right back to the teenager. The apology just made him feel worse, but nothing could be done about the grief he felt and nothing could stop it. So he took what comfort was given to him.

It was after a while of keeping close to Ikurx that Demyx started to feel a horrible sadness that wasn't his own. It weighed him down and that sickness that he felt earlier came back worse. He held on tightly to the Nobody near him while he looked outside the alley to see what was coming so close to cause such a feeling. What he saw had his eyes widening before they fell halfway once again. "How'd you find us?" The question was asked softly.

Red rimmed eyes stared right back at those of the Heartless as Roxas stopped in his tracks only a few feet from the alley. The gash on his arm still bled and poured down, but he didn't seem to notice it, while the tips of his fingers had seen better days. "Your eyes give you away, stupid." The harsh words were low and didn't have very much of a bite to them. After they were spoken Roxas continued to walk towards the new hideout, not even giving the two a second glance.

Ikurx watched Roxas and felt the pit of his stomach sink into something far worse than nothingness. He saw that what he'd done for Roxas had succeeded; Roxas had a heart and now- it was breaking.

There was nothing that Ikurx could say or do that wouldn't have been any help. Not when he couldn't do much more than cling to Demyx to barely comfort his woes. Ikurx would have liked to have done the same for Roxas, but he doubted such comforts would be received well by the other. So Ikurx just gave a soft sad sound and half buried his face against Demyx's chest.

Demyx narrowed his eyes on Roxas because of the words said. Even though Ikurx was trying to comfort him it did little good to push away the pain that was brewing inside of him. He saw the wound on Roxas which made it clear he had been in battle as well. With a gentle push, he moved Ikurx away from him and walked over to Roxas to stand over the teenager with narrowed eyes. "Why didn't you help him? Why did you just let him die?" The words were nearly spat.

Roxas kept his head bowed low during and after the questions, but his hands could be seen clenching tightly. He kept his back against the wall as close as he could and after a few seconds he spoke. His voice tense and even. "Get away from me..."

Ikurx visibly flinched. He followed the wall to where the two stood. He placed a hand on Demyx's shoulder. He doubted Roxas would do something so coldly as to what Demyx accused him of. Roxas wouldn't abandon Axel when he now could care so much for him. "Please don't fight." Ikurx weakly protested.

Demyx shrugged off Ikurx's hand and continued to press on despite the Nobody's attempt at getting him to calm down. "You did it before! You walked away before and just left him! What's it matter to you what the hell happens?! You got what you want!" The anger and pain were driving him on to keep pushing at the boy in front of him. "Traitor."

It was that same word that Saïx had spat at him which caused the keyblades to instantly come to life in Roxas' hands in that moment. He lifted his head and although the blades kept still at his sides the threat was there for the Heartless in front of him. "Shut up..." He narrowed wet eyes at Demyx after the short response and could feel his hands shaking. He gave it no notice though and tried to keep whatever cool he had left.

Demyx quickly stepped back into the wall opposite Roxas as the blades came to life. He wanted no part in the teen's weapon and gave the other a nervous glance at the harsh words spoken. It was only then that he finally kept quiet, but it was still obvious that he had meant every word of what he said.

Ikurx leaned heavily against the wall. His legs were failing him but he tried hard to stay standing and conscious. "Please..." He rested his head with a clunk against the wall. "Let's not fight. That won't help." He spoke more quietly. "...There's no one to blame."

Those words instantly caught Roxas' attention and his anger continued to stay. "That's the stupidest thing I've heard." He turned his gaze on Ikurx and kept his blades at his side. Even if he didn't need them he just wanted to keep them near. They had been a gift from the person he had just lost. "Saïx is to blame. He took Axel away..." Roxas nearly choked on his words. It didn't seem like a thing that should have been said so soon. He looked away again and back down to the ground beneath his feet. "I told him not to die. He never listens..."

Ikurx had never heard more sad and upsetting words before. He hung his head and loosely hugged himself. "... I'm sorry, Roxas." His words were barely that of a whisper.

Roxas blinked his eyes at the small apology. Something in his mind started to click as he began to remember a few things spoken on the beach. With wide eyes he looked back up at Ikurx before he took a few steps away from the wall to stand in front of the Nobody, barely inches away from his personal space despite their height difference. "Bring him back." He spoke the command in a harsh tone. "Nobodies. Heartless. You can do it all. So bring him back. Do it..." The last few words were desperate as he tightened his hold on the blades.

Demyx quickly looked up with wide eyes at what Roxas was asking. He looked back and forth between the two teenagers and nearly moved forward to pull Roxas back, but stopped himself. He remembered Zexion. The illusionist was human. He had been the light that had taken them to Ikurx. So, maybe it would work this time too. But, Ikurx was still recovering. "Roxas, he's still weak. He did a lot trying to help you..." The words were sad, but true. "And, we don't know if Saïx is really..." He trailed off, not wanting to think if Axel's sacrifice was in vain.

Ikurx stared wearily down at Roxas. Roxas' constant impatience would have been aggravating had the situation not been so sad, nor had Ikurx felt so bad for the other. Ikurx shook his head tiredly. "Demyx is right... it's not safe here. And... I can barely stand."

Roxas' hands shook while his eyes narrowed. The wetness that had been blurring his vision before fell once again and he took a few steps back only to let out a frustrated sound and swing both keyblades at a nearby dumpster. The blades made a loud sound as they hit metal on metal, creating a large dent in the side of the trash bin. The flames that licked at the air ignited what was inside in the aftermath and with that one action Roxas stared entranced. Slowly he fell to the ground before he huddled in on himself, pulling the blades to shut himself in with, crossed at the knees.

Demyx watched the entire scene with wide eyes. He had never seen Roxas so torn and the teen's emotions were tearing him up inside as well. With a shaky hand he lifted his fingers to summon nearby water from a broken pipe imbedded in one of the buildings. The black liquid came forward and shot towards the flames, putting them out to erase all their pain. Smoke the only thing in their wake.

Ikurx slid down the wall, falling down ungracefully to sit, slumped. He curled up his legs and buried his face in his hands. But it did little good to shut out the distraught imagery in front of him, nor the stink of burnt and now damp garbage. His eyes hurt again and a strange empty jealousy came that Roxas could cry over his pain where he could not.

He relented one hand to clutch the star charm that hung from his shirt collar. Ikurx wanted to help, more than anything he wanted to bring Axel back to stand whole with them all again; for Demyx's sake, even Roxas'. But bringing him back now would be dangerous. He might not have the strength to come back from wherever it was he went, and he didn't want to risk possibly hurting Axel's heart.

Slowly an arm wrapped itself around Ikurx's shoulders as Demyx slid down the wall next to the teen and settled himself beside the Nobody. He had moved over during the other's distraught state and decided to comfort Ikurx as the other seemed to be in such deep thought. For the moment if nothing else, they could comfort each other while the small body across from them sought his own form of lonely comfort.


	24. Chapter 24

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 24

Ikurx couldn't recall falling asleep. But as his eyes drew open and the blurry disorientation of unconsciousness cleared him, he soon realized he had. Though he found he was always forced unconscious by unnatural circumstances, this was a first he'd noted he'd fallen asleep on his own.  
Though waking, from natural or forced unconsciousness, Ikurx never felt the true refreshment that rest gave. He felt no better or no worse than when he had been awake. Although this time Ikurx did indeed feel stronger than he had, he could still feel the heavy disquietude that hung in their alley like a stagnant pool, growing murkier and murkier.

Ikurx realized he'd fallen asleep on Demyx, rather comfortably and secure. They all must have slipped away into sleep to run away from the horrible truth.

Very carefully and slowly Ikurx pulled himself from Demyx's hold, slipping away as best he could not to disturb the Heartless' sleep; he didn't know Heartless _could_ sleep. But if he as a Nobody could, he supposed it only made sense the other half could as well.

Now free of Demyx, Ikurx rubbed an eye to clear his vision to get a better look around, more specifically for the most tortured of them all; Roxas. He wanted to check up on the other teen. Though he wasn't sure why, there was just a part of him that felt a need to watch out for him; despite the fact that Roxas was no longer a Nobody, their one shared commonality. He felt guilty like Demyx, but he knew just as well as the water Heartless that he would have been of no use in battle either.

The one spot that the now human teenager occupied by the dented dumpster had been vacated. It seemed while the other two had rested, Roxas had taken it upon himself to find his own solitude away. Even though there was quiet it was obvious that it wasn't enough for Roxas in the state of mind he was in. There was no shock of blonde hair in the small alley, or bright blue eyes that signaled he was in the hideout at all.

A frustrated cry could be heard coming from outside the alley and out on the street it led to. Angry metal hit the bricks of the darkened skyscrapers one at a time. The broken teenager that Ikurx was searching for had found his own way to deal with the pain in the form of angry strikes with blades, watching familiar flames dance in the air with every blow. It was comfort and anguish all in one, but Roxas just couldn't stop doing it.

Ikurx stepped into the streets, stopping to watch such a sad violent catharsis play out. He grasped his keychain with one hand, fiddling with it nervously. "R-Roxas..?" He wondered if his quiet voice would be heard beneath Roxas' own angry voice and swings.

The last two swings Roxas took landed with a sharp noise against the bricks and stayed there, nearly imbedded into the building. Flames danced around him from previous hits and some still intense from the new swings he just took. He breathed heavy and kept narrowed eyes on the marks he had made in the stone instead of looking at Ikurx. "What?" His voice was sharp.

"I came to... see how you were." Ikurx chewed his lip glancing at the viciously marred wall before he walked closer to Roxas. He wasn't sure what to say next. Nothing else seemed appropriate to say. So he stood there and fiddled with his star charm.

"I'm fine." It was an obvious lie, but Roxas didn't care. He pulled both the blades from the wall and twirled them in his hands before allowing them to keep still. The flames that one small action made was a welcoming thing for him and something he just wanted to never end. His eyes kept on the wall for a few seconds until finally he turned his gaze to Ikurx.

"Considering what's happened I'm surprised to hear you say that." Ikurx loosely hugged himself, rubbing his arms; this world was so cold and hateful. "... Even if it is a lie." He frowned a little.

"What do you want me to say?" Roxas narrowed his eyes on the Nobody before he turned his gaze away again. "That I'm sad? That I'm hurting inside so bad it feels like everything I am is tearing apart and nothing will ever fix it?" He scowled. "It's pretty obvious how I feel, isn't it? I was so damn happy. I could actually feel for him. For us. Now it's been taken away and all I feel are these torn up emotions that I can't get a hold of. I feel so much sorrow that it feels like I'm about to break." He took another swing at the wall, leaving another large gash in the stone.

Ikurx watched sadly. He hugged himself more tightly. "In all honesty, yes. That's a start. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to hear." He glanced up at the sky; it was so hard to tell what time of day it was when it always felt like night. "Roxas... can I ask you something?"

Roxas pulled his blade away once more. He glanced over at Ikurx and noticed that the other teen had turned his eyes away. With that Roxas looked back at the wall and shrugged a shoulder, giving in for just the moment. "Sure, whatever."

"Why," Ikurx swallowed before he continued speaking, "Why did you push everyone away but him? You... you always seem to push everyone away... but Axel." It felt almost taboo to be saying the Heartless' name now that he was gone.

Roxas blinked and tightened his grip on the keyblades when Ikurx spoke the Heartless' name. "Because..." Roxas started out slowly. "When I was in the Organization no one seemed to want to get close to me. I was just their tool. Just the one piece Xemnas needed. None of that mattered to Axel, though. He was the one that tried to make an effort to talk to me. He did stupid things to annoy me, or get any reaction out of me. He was my friend and he was the one that tried to get me back."

Roxas lifted both blades up and looked over them as his eyes slipped halfway shut. "There's only been one other person that's helped me, but still, I don't feel like I can trust them half as much as I did Axel. No one else can get as close to me as he did. Never." Roxas shook his head and looked back over at Ikurx as he lowered the blades. "That's why."

"You two were very close." Ikurx quietly spoke. He turned his gaze to look where the smoke still trailed. Though the attack had long been, fires still burned in the far off area of the city; all that remained of Roxas' dear friend.

"I know you don't like me much, but can I confide in you?" Ikurx meekly looked to Roxas again. "I know you're not a Nobody anymore but... I need someone to talk to."

Roxas stared at Ikurx with eyes that were still just as hollow as they had been when he found Demyx and Ikurx in the alley some time ago. For a long time he kept his gaze on the Nobody until he let go of the two keyblades only to have them vanish into the unknown that kept them hidden until needed again. "I suppose." With those few words Roxas walked over to the abused wall and leaned his back against it, only to slide down and curl his knees up.

"I know it's a horrible thing to ask, now of all times but," Ikurx let his voice trail before he spoke up again. "What's it like to feel something when you've never felt before?" He walked over and crouched a few feet in front of Roxas, giving him his space. "I see love, tears, anger, sadness, fear, everywhere I go. But I've never felt them myself. You were a Nobody. But now you're human. No change on the outside, just in. All the other people chasing me want that, both the good and the bad." Ikurx hugged his knees. "... Is what you're feeling now worth being able to feel?"

Roxas looked away after the question to focus further down the street. He tried to ignore the flames that still burned in the distance, but there was no possible way to do it, so instead he focused on them as he answered. "I actually thought about that, but I came to the conclusion that yeah, it's all worth it." He shook his head. "I knew that feeling nothing when Axel died before was wrong, but I couldn't cry. Sora couldn't cry." He turned his attention back down to his knees. "Now that I can feel all these emotions as my own it's worth it. He knew I cared about him. It hurts, yeah, but it's better then being emotionless to it all."

Roxas lifted his head back up so his eyes met Ikurx's own. "After feeling nothing for so long it's so much different; especially now. It's like a wall has been knocked down inside of me and I have so many things pushing at me at once." He lifted a hand to wipe at teary eyes. "I don't know how to stop it. I can't just shrug everything off like I used to."

Ikurx nodded slowly. He watched each of Roxas' simple actions, ones that his own self could only imitate. He pointed to his own eye. "What's it like to...-to cry?" It was an absurd thing to ask and had he been anyone else asking, given the situation, it probably would have been extremely insulting.

Roxas pulled his hand away at the question and looked down at his scratched up, dirty fingers. The wetness on the tips and on his palms had him narrowing his gaze before he tried his best to answer. "It's strange. It doesn't hurt, but I've been doing it a lot because I _feel_ hurt. It actually feels good to let it out to tell the truth."

Ikurx gave a weak smile. "It sounds nice to be able to let your sadness out. To show others you're hurting inside. Compassion. Humanity. I can understand why you and everyone else seek it." He looked at Roxas' hand, the dirt smeared in tears and blood. "I almost envy the other half; the Heartless. Even though they feel nothing but constant bitterness, and loneliness... at least they _can_ feel." Ikurx looked up at Roxas' face. "You're not alone in your grief, y'know." He spoke the words quietly. "There was someone else who cared for Axel, like you, too."

Roxas dropped his hand back down as his head shot up. He stared at Ikurx with narrowed eyes at such a statement and he couldn't tell whether to be annoyed or shocked. "What?" It was the only word that would leave him for the time being, just to make sure he heard right.

"And I think you should lighten up on him." Ikurx laid his cheek down on his own arm, glancing away for the moment. "... Since Axel never cared back the same way he cared for you. He's never had anyone. But he still did everything he could for him, even though he knew he was never going to get anything in return." Ikurx huddled in on himself. "He tried his best, but Axel loved you too much to let you go. So... now he has to find new reasons for being whole." Ikurx raised his oceanic eyes onto Roxas, meeting the other's gaze straight on. Even though the Nobody shouldn't have felt anything he still gave Roxas a small sad smile. "... Please be kinder to Mister Demyx. He doesn't have anyone... not like you have."

Roxas blinked and his broken heart nearly stopped. All this time he thought Demyx had been cruel to him only because of how the rest of the Heartless saw him as a traitor. Just the same as always. It was no real shock to him and he had met the Heartless back with his own attitude, word for word. Even in the Organization he never paid much attention to the more cowardly member, not caring much for him. It shocked him to find Axel was the reasoning for such an attitude. "Axel is...?" He couldn't finish the question and once again his eyes narrowed and he looked down. Still, he couldn't help speaking up in a biting tone even though he knew Ikurx was probably right. "Excuse me if I feel a little jealous right now."

Ikurx gave the smallest of chuckles; the mood needed a little lightening. "You're excused." Even if Roxas was perhaps being sarcastic, Ikurx excused the new emotions all the same. Even after the little bit of amusement left Ikurx, his voice remained soft. "I... just thought you should know."

"All of the Organization members think of me as a traitor. You heard Demyx." Roxas looked back up into the other's eyes with a blank expression. "I left and they resent me for it. They all died trying to go after Sora whom I was a part of at the time." Roxas leaned his head back against the wall and got a view of the dents left on the surface. "I don't think Demyx will warm up to me as easily as you hope."

Ikurx managed a small cheeky grin. "But by saying that it means you're now willing to warm up to him." He wagged a finger. "You said it, it can't be unsaid." He let go of his legs so he could sit down on the concrete. "Even still, you two may never see eye to eye, understandable, but at least there'll be less of a rift between you two in this team." He paused and scratched a hand through his hair. "Er- providing there is a 'team'." He gave another small chuckle.

"There is no team." Roxas said the statement bluntly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He didn't share Ikurx's enthusiasm. "We were waiting for you to wake up so you could help Axel. Then, the both of us were going to go back to Twilight Town. That would be the end of story. Nothing else. There was no team in that." His eyes started to tear up again at the memory, but he ignored it. "Everything is so broken now. Ruined..."

Ikurx shook his head. "No, you're wrong. There is. We are a team. Demyx protected me while I was unconscious and I helped you because Demyx wanted to give his turn to Axel and Axel then gave it to you." He gave the other a more determined look. "And if that isn't team work, then you're right, there is no team. But I'm willing to help, but I need your cooperation." His expression softened. "I'm sorry it hurts. But if you want to bring Axel back you can't shut yourself off from everyone and everything. You're not the only one suffering." He stuck out his hand, offering nothing more than consensus. "Future dreams don't have to end."

Roxas dropped his head and landed his gaze on Ikurx's outstretched hand. Most of the things that the Nobody said were true and Roxas knew it, but he was still too stubborn to admit such a thing out loud. Even with being human now. He looked back and forth from the other's eyes to the teen's hand and slowly reached out to place his own in it, not even bothering to wipe off the dirt and such that clung to it. "I want him back. More then anything else..."

Ikurx nodded, smiling for Roxas since he gave in; for Axel's sake. "I'll do what I can as soon as I can."

Roxas took his hand back and placed it on top of his knee once more. "I wish soon could be now." He spoke the words quietly, letting go and giving into the turmoil of emotions causing so much grief inside of him. His eyes moved back to the furthest part of the city where everything was finally settling down. "It felt so good to be held, to be loved and love back, I miss it so much already and I never even thought such a thing would be possible..."

Ikurx had to admire Roxas' aspirations; a Nobody that went from unfeeling to loving absolute. He looked down at the star keychain, raising his hand to fiddle with it. "You said you knew Axel in the Organization. That he was the only one that tried to get to know you, doing silly things to get your attention. What sort of stupid things did he do?" He gave a slight interested smile. "I mean... I'd like to hear some of the things you two did. I'm sure he's done some really crazy things just to get your attention."

The question actually had the hint of a smile forming on Roxas' face. It couldn't be helped. "Too many to count. There was one time, not long after I had joined up with the Organization that I just started to get used to the place. I guess I fell asleep, but when I woke up everyone was giving me strange looks when I walked down the halls. Larxene, lovely person she was, pointed out that I had something on my face. So, I checked and it turned out Axel had decided to draw on my face in permanent marker." He tried to scowl, but still the smile stayed. "Left his name on my forehead and the stuff wouldn't come off for days."

Roxas relaxed a little at the memories and tried to think of something else as he kept his gaze on the buildings. "There was another thing that was quite annoying. He would always come into my room to bug me and usually I ignored him. Of course, this one time he was really persistent and kept annoying me about some trick he had just learned and wanted to show me, while I just wanted to have some actual peace. It all ended with my room caught on fire after we both realized his little trick didn't work out as planned, and him running away from the scene of the crime." Roxas shook his head and buried his face in his knees.

Ikurx actually laughed. "Aw. I hope he put the fire out. Or- someone did." He laughed into a hand. "But I can definitely picture him writing 'Axel was here' on your forehead." He chuckled and leaned forward interested to hear more. "Anything else? Really memorable I mean. That stands out for you."

Roxas lifted his head only to look up at the darkened sky. "Yeah, but it's nothing crazy or silly like most of the things he did. Although, at the time, the way I was, it was still annoying." His eyes slipped halfway shut. "The moon that we had in the city, the one that held all of the hearts, sometimes I'd just sit and stare at it on top of the huge tower in the middle of the city. It was those times Axel would come out and sit with me, bitching about how he hated the rain and didn't know why I always came out there. I'd just tell him to leave if he didn't like it. He would just shut up and sit beside me, looking at the same thing that had me so captivated."

Roxas dropped his head back down to look at Ikurx. His smile turned sad as he continued on. "I didn't know anything at the time. Nothing at all about what was really going on in the Organization and I felt so confused, but during those times on that tower I actually felt okay; wanted. If Axel saw me pouting too much while I looked at the moon, he'd just run his fingers through my hair and tell me to quit scowling." His smile turned into a frown. "I knew I would miss those moments most when I left, but I couldn't turn back no matter what."

"A moon full of hearts." Ikurx looked up at the sky, but of course there was no moon to be seen in their sky. "It all sounds so nice; it's too bad you had to leave it. Though... the Organization, maybe it was for the better." He shook his head. Suddenly he perked as he recalled something. "You mentioned a Twilight Town. What is it you plan to do there?"

"Live normal lives." Those words sounded familiar coming from Roxas and he knew why, but refused to think about it. "I have some friends back there that I miss, and Axel and I planned to go to school once we got settled in. Just, try to be as normal as possible. Get used to things. No worries over being Nobodies or Heartless; nothing like that." The small smile came back as he rested his head on his arms. "It was a place to call home."

Ikurx suddenly cocked his head to the side. "You have friends? I mean- aside from Mister Axel?" He blinked several times before smiling nervously. "Weird, when you said you push everyone else but Axel away." He pursed his lips. "Picturing you and Mister Axel in plain, old, regular school is kind of... strange. Normal lives." He quietly echoed the last sentence. "Seems that's what everyone wants. Most normal people would call their lives boring. What's so appealing about being normal? Mowing the lawn. Washing dishes. Doing taxes. Studying. Walking the dog. Vacuuming. Unplugging the toilet. Burning dinner. Dusting. Is that all really very exciting?" Ikurx stared at Roxas curiously.

Roxas stared at Ikurx with a blank face. "Well, when you put it that way, no." He shook his head and looked away once more while he shrugged a shoulder. "You have to think about it in a different way. The small things that are worth looking forward to. I want to be able to hang out with my friends. To laze around and eat ice cream while Axel holds me close on the couch in our hang out. To sit at lunch at school and joke around about everything and nothing."

Roxas glanced back at Ikurx with a somewhat serious expression on his face as he held up a hand. "Sora, Kairi and Riku." With each name said a finger fell down. "They had their freedom and their normal lives on Destiny Islands." He moved his other hand up and much like before a finger fell down with each name said. "Hayner, Pence, Olette, Axel and me. I want us all to have that same kind of peace and normalcy in Twilight Town. Just like I wanted before, except this time I'll remember." His hands fell and his eyes met Ikurx's once again.

Ikurx gave a brief smile before he meekly raised his own hand. He pointed at a finger. "Mister Demyx. He wants to start a band once he's whole again." The finger fell and Ikurx pointed to the next one over. "Me. He's letting me join the band, maybe. ... I guess I don't really have any place of my own to go after everyone has used me up." He looked to his other hand, raising it. He counted off those fingers as well. "Mister Cloud and Mister Zax. I don't know what's happened to them. Larxene attacked us... and... the last I saw them before Vexen took me away, was Mister Cloud under Larxene's control." He dropped his hands and shook his head, hanging it. "... It doesn't matter where I go, or who I'm with, bad things happen around me. I may have good intentions, but I'm bad luck. I don't think I could live a normal life like you could, Roxas. I don't have that chance."

"Cloud..." Roxas echoed the name quietly. "I remember him from when I was still part of Sora. Really quiet guy. Weird too." He blinked his eyes, realizing he had drifted away from the conversation and let out a sigh. "Well, you could always search for your Somebody. That is, if you want to instead of staying with Demyx. I remember the urge to search for Sora, needing answers because of the keyblades." He stared at Ikurx for a few seconds before he cocked his head to the side, wiggling his fingers a little in thought as well. "You've never wondered about it? Who your other is?"

Ikurx watched Roxas' fingers, giving it some thought. "... I thought I was just a normal person when I woke up, but when Vexen explained." His voice petered and he shivered at the vile memory of needles in his skin. He rubbed his arms and huddled closer to himself. "I guess I've wondered. But... I think I'm more afraid of meeting him. I guess I envy that he has the heart and I don't but... I don't know. I don't want to cease to exist. Die." He cringed. "But at the same time... I know what I feel isn't real emotion. It's fake, even though it seems very real. And, it just doesn't feel right to lie to myself and others like that."

"I thought that too. That I was normal." Roxas looked away from Ikurx to stare down at one hand while he used the other to play with tape that was starting to become worn out on his fingers. "I suppose we all think that when we first wake up. Then things are explained to us and we have to either accept it or not. I was never told the whole story, just left in the dark." He continued to pick at his fingers while he looked back up. "Even if your emotions are fake, they're still your own. Heart or not."

Roxas dropped both hands so he could fall to hands and knees and lean forward. With a few movements he got closer to Ikurx, staring straight into the other teen's eyes with a stern expression on his own face. Not caring that much about personal space. "To be with the other half, confined in that space with nothing of your own, it's torture. Even if you find him you have to choose whether you want to be you or not. You won't cease to exist. You won't die. But, you won't be you." His eyes narrowed further. "You'll just be him."

Ikurx straightened, holding his breath from the words and just how close Roxas had gotten. "I'll... -I won't be me. But... won't I be who I should be?" He frowned his apprehension. "B-but If I did go," He faltered, "Mister Demyx will be all alone." But his eyes went half closed as sad realization donned on him. "But if I stay... I'll continue to bring danger to those I'm around." He closed his eyes with a flinch; Mister Axel. "I don't want anything to happen to Demyx... Maybe it doesn't matter what things I do in return, me being me isn't...-it doesn't seem worth it, Roxas." Ikurx opened his eyes to look so sadly at Roxas.

Roxas blinked his eyes at Ikurx's sudden look and averted his own eyes as he backed away again into the wall. "Whether you're part of the light or part of the darkness, as a Nobody you're doomed to always bring nothing but danger. It's a curse I suppose, but it can't really be helped. That's what happens when you're just a shell of your former self." His eyes found the wound on his arm and he stared at the scabbed mess it had become. "Still, I think we deserve our own lives. Some more then others." He raised his eyes to look at Ikurx once again while he shook his head. "Most of the Organization obviously don't deserve it. But you, Axel, Demyx. Even Naminé. You four deserve it. I guess."

Ikurx was taken aback. "Thanks, Roxas." He smiled for the other before curiosity came over him. "Nohm-mee-neh? Who's he?"

Roxas held up a finger. "No, not he. She." He dropped his hand back down and managed a small smirk despite his earlier grief. "Naminé is a Nobody as well. When I lost my memories, aside from Axel, she was the one that tried to help me regain them and told me who I was." He let out a heavy sigh. "Because we were both Nobodies we had a strong connection, but it was more then that I suppose. It was because much like I was Sora's Nobody, Naminé was Kairi's own. When everything came to an end Naminé joined with Kairi and they were part of each other just like Sora and I were."

Roxas glanced back down the street as if he just realized something, but stayed perfectly still against the wall. "I saw her here. In this city. She was the one that helped me escape Saïx, before I ran into Axel. I had to leave her to find you all, but I wonder what happened to her."

"Maybe she went back to Kairi." Ikurx suggested simply, and he went back to rubbing his bare arms.

Roxas quickly looked back at Ikurx. His expression became blank as he stared at the Nobody before he looked down at his sneakers. "That's impossible." He spoke the words quietly, almost too softly to hear. "Kairi is dead." He kicked at a tiny rock that was near his foot. "Naminé was able to escape." Roxas shrugged a shoulder. "I saw all of it happen from behind Sora's eyes. Riku did it. He was controlled by the darkness and did it with no real remorse. Yet Kairi was their friend." He gave a slow blink.

Ikurx slowly shook his head, his eyes growing wider and wider. "Sora loves Riku. Why would Riku do that?" His voice had become so tiny. Horrible little icy shivers captured down his spine. An unnatural feeling settled in his stomach and kept there, churning round the emptiness where his heart should have been.

"Kairi." Ikurx weakly grasped his upper arms as he stared forward at nothing. "Maybe... I could help her too. Kairi and Naminé."

Roxas only shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know about that. Since it's your power, you would know it better then I would." He finally lifted his eyes again, but the sadness that had been in his expression once before was back again. "I just know that Kairi was dealing with a lot of hurt. That's what Naminé told me and that's what I gathered from before she died. Riku came to help Sora after being taken in by the darkness, yet, he wasn't himself." Roxas shook his head and stared back down at his feet. "It's just hard to explain, but I guess it's because I don't care enough for him to give a damn anyway."

"Sora. Riku. Kairi." Ikurx said each name slowly in remorse. He'd only met Sora, but to know one of his friends was dead and to hear that the one he loved killed was horrific, but as Ikurx fell deeper into that sad emotion it tore away like gossamer paper, landing him in a pit of emotional nothing. So quickly Ikurx brought his attention else where. "I'd like to help you ... and _him_ \- A-Axel." He raised his head to look at Roxas. "Right now."

Roxas' head snapped up and he stared at Ikurx with wide eyes. He wasn't sure he heard right, but the look on the Nobody's face told him that he had, and Roxas soon found himself leaning forward once more on hands and knees. "Now?" He echoed the word quietly; afraid that someone might hear. "You'll bring him back? You're able to now?"

A sudden thought came to Roxas and just as quick as hope had taken hold of him, a feeling of dread followed. It had his eyes nearly slipping closed as he moved back only a bit. "But, you said it yourself. It's not safe here. You're willing to risk that? To have the other's come after you again? After all of us?" Roxas couldn't believe he even brought it up, wanting nothing more then to have Axel back, but still, he was afraid of what the end results would bring and something happening to Axel all over again.

"We haven't heard anything from Saïx since... I- I think Mister Axel took care of him." Ikurx shifted onto his knees. "I feel well enough. Whatever sleep I had helped. And it takes less energy to help Mister Axel than it did you." He fiddled with his charm. "I may fall unconscious... but if all of you run away, they won't chase after you and hurt you." He swallowed, his voice falling quieter. "It's me they're after right now, not you."

Roxas narrowed his eyes on Ikurx. He knew what the other was saying, but for some reason he was hesitating on agreeing with such a thing. His eyes moved from the charm Ikurx toyed with and back to the other teen's eyes as the silence continued to stretch on between them. Finally, a heavy sigh escaped Roxas as he gave in while moving back against the wall again. "Fine, but this only means Demyx is going to have something else to blame me for." He muttered the last bit under his breath, but the relief was obvious on his face.

Ikurx let his eyes fall shut. "... You'll say goodbye to him for me, right?" He looked back at Roxas briefly before he pushed himself up to stand. He glanced back at the alley way that he'd left Demyx in. He'd miss the Heartless terribly, even if he couldn't feel it.

Roxas glanced back at the alley as well and frowned a little. "Hmm, yeah, sure. I'll say goodbye for you." He looked back at Ikurx before he moved to stand as well, sliding up against the abused wall as he did. He kept his back against it as well as the tips of his fingers. "It's the least I could do I suppose. For all you've done and all you're going to do." He gave the other the hint of a smile.

Ikurx pulled his charm off his collar, and he couldn't find it in himself to share that small smile Roxas gave him. He called up his angelic blade, the summoning rather bright in such a dismal area. Ikurx stared at the key to helping others retrieve the dearest parts of themselves, and yet he still felt at a loss himself. But he knew it was a piece that would never be found or filled for his own.

Ikurx's other hand fell to his throat since there was no longer a keychain to fiddle with there. "... Tell me... something endearing about him." He swallowed, but his throat still felt too tight to speak louder than a whisper. "Tell me why you... why you love him."

Roxas' eyes fell halfway and focused on the keyblade that was in Ikurx's possession. "He's always there for me no matter what. I could be a complete jerk to him, push him away, or actually want him as close as possible and he's there. He tries so hard for me and does everything and anything to protect me and keep me safe. He's so persistent and cares so much and that's why I love him." With a blink Roxas raised his eyes back up to Ikurx. "I always will..."

Ikurx twirled his blade in his hand. He took a step back and swung the blade in front of him. He swung the blade the other way and paused. He gripped the handle of his weapon harder. Ikurx faltered. "I..." He looked at the angelic blade, anywhere but at Roxas. "... I ... I can't do it." He lowered the weapon at his side.

The tips of Roxas' fingers scrapped unkindly against the bricks behind him as he stared at Ikurx with narrowed eyes. "Can't...?" The word was whispered and before even Roxas himself knew what he was doing, he had launched himself forward to grip Ikurx tightly by his shoulders. He shook the Nobody back and forth for a few seconds while his voice was frantic. "What do you mean you can't?!"

Ikurx squeaked with a flinch, grasping Roxas' arm with his free hand. "I- I can't. I just- I just can't." His voice shook. He shut his eyes; he couldn't bring himself to look at Roxas.

Roxas yanked both his hands back, not wanting to be touched suddenly. "That doesn't make any sense." He stepped back until he was touching the wall again. His eyes narrowed on Ikurx. "You just said you would be able to. You said yourself that you were feeling well enough to bring him back." His voice lowered. "It doesn't make any sense. I love him, why won't you bring him back?" He glared at Ikurx as his vision started to blur again. He refused to let the tears be shown this time around though, and turned his eyes away quickly to look down at the ground.

"I-... I don't know I..." Ikurx stammered in slight panic.

It was then that Demyx came to step near Roxas. Though he came to stand too near to Roxas in his state of mind, and of all things the Heartless reached over to run his fingers through Roxas' hair. "Maybe," the word was drawn out in a tired yet cocky fashion, "because I'm not dead." And it was those words that told Roxas it wasn't Demyx at all. "I have to say I liked that whole reminiscing bit. Had I known you liked it when I set your room on fire, I wouldn't have felt so bad."

Roxas' breath caught in his throat at that voice and those words. His head shot up and his eyes locked with Ikurx's own once again before he quickly moved up a hand to grab onto the wrist of the hand which had ran through his hair. In a second he turned around to face the Heartless that was behind him and who he saw almost had his heart stopping. "A-Axel...?" The tears were free to fall. Roxas didn't care about hiding them or stopping them. Just as quick as he turned around he fell forward to cling tightly to the person he thought he had lost, letting go of his hand in the process if only to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Axel fell hard against the wall, he didn't have the strength to stand on his own power let alone support the weight of two. But that didn't stop him from embracing Roxas just as tight. "You said not to die. And since when have I never done the impossible for you." He leaned over to keep the boy properly captured in his arms. He gave a small hiss of pain. "And man, do you look as bad as I feel." But the Heartless was very haggard himself.

Roxas pulled back a little despite Axel's hold on him and looked up at the other with a worried gaze. He kept silent and moved his arms as he rose up a little to place his hands on Axel's face, leaning up the last little bit to place a quick, yet, lingering kiss on the other's lips. As soon as he pulled back Roxas let a small smile come over his face as he rested his forehead as best he could against the Heartless' own and shook his head from side to side. "You don't look any better. Damn impulsive, cocky, bastard." He let out a small laugh after his words and gave a wet sniff before he went on. "I still have that potion with me. Can you use it?"

Axel gave a brief laugh. "So you _did_ find a potion after all. You little brat, you're more trouble than you're worth." He kissed Roxas' lips, grinning after. "You know that right?" He gently wiped the tears from one of Roxas' cheeks with his thumb, the humour left his face. "I never thought I'd see you cry for me." He leaned down to run his tongue up Roxas' cheek to affectionately lick the other tears away. He nuzzled Roxas' wet cheek after. "Or care so insanely." He held Roxas around the shoulders as he softly grinned against the teen's cheek. "And I do mean _insanely_."

Roxas moved his arms around Axel's neck to keep the other near while he shut his eyes. "So I've been flying off the handle a little bit. It can't really be helped. At least I was taking my anger out on objects and not people around me." The amused expression left his face and he held Axel tighter, trying to be as careful as possible despite his need to keep the other close. "You should start getting used to it, though. I wanted this heart so I could feel for you and even though this entire situation was one of the worst, at least I was able to feel something. At least I didn't just stop caring."

Axel would have been lying as a Heartless to say he didn't enjoy the cocktail of anguish and guilt that Roxas' new heart had made just for him. But that smaller, more sincere part of his heart that drove him on for Roxas hated it. The darkness knew Roxas deserved it. Though Axel only said the things either of them wanted to hear. "I'm sorry I put you through that. ...Again." Either way it felt good to be grasped so tightly by Roxas, clung and held so close; even if it jostled his injuries.

Axel felt himself slipping down the wall, so he sat down before he fell down; although he seemed to fall with his best efforts. He pulled Roxas with him, keeping the boy on his lap. He nuzzled Roxas' chest and the warm palpitation underneath that he knew beat only for him. He didn't mind the blood or the dirt that coated Roxas' clothing now. "I love your heart." Axel's lanky arms tightened around the teen. "I love seeing you complete. Seeing you smile, laugh, pout, grouch, having true feeling behind all of it." He pressed his cheek closer to Roxas' chest, nuzzling his nose and brow there. "... I couldn't die and break your heart, now that you finally have one."

"You scared me well enough into thinking you had." Roxas rested his head on top of Axel's own, allowing the Heartless to stay as close as he wanted and enjoying the moment himself as well. "I'm sorry that you even had to do something like that again; something so dangerous. If I could have gotten back to you quick enough and told you I had seen him, maybe the entire fight could have been avoided." He shook his head as best he could from where it was rested. "I didn't even want to leave you behind to do it, but you didn't leave me much of a choice..."

Axel disturbed Roxas' head on his own. "Well," he clasped the X zipper between his fingers as he glanced up at the other, "let's just say," he tugged the zipper down, a slight smirk tugging on his lips, "you just owe me one." He tried to shrug nonchalant. "Or two." He pushed Roxas' shirt aside, smoothing a hand over bare skin. "For now I just want to hear that beautiful heart... that we've fought so hard for." Axel placed a small kiss on Roxas' chest before he rested his head there, nuzzling his ear over Roxas' heart.

Roxas gave a small smile as he rested his head back down once Axel was settled. "We both look horrible and all you're worried about is listening to my heart. You should be more focused on yourself right now. Especially since you're hurt." Although it was more then obvious Roxas didn't mind the attention by how much closer he tried to cling to the Heartless, but the worry was still in his tone.

The smile fell away from his face as Roxas nuzzled his nose against Axel's hair while his voice fell quieter. The high he had felt from getting the other back slowly fell away as everything about the situation came back to haunt him. "I love you." He suddenly felt like he couldn't say it enough. "I love you so much and I'm so damn glad that you're okay. I've never felt so broken or so scared." His voice fell even lower as if afraid to go on while at the same time it shook a little. "Y-You're my everything."

Axel was startled to hear those few words; they were powerful words in their meaning. He shouldn't have been so surprised, there wasn't anything or anyone else keeping Roxas anchored to this world. But still it was so over whelming to hear those words leave someone he'd always known as such a withheld individual. But there hadn't been any heart to drive those emotions he'd wanted. Now that Axel had this, he didn't know what to think.

Axel cuddled up closer against Roxas' bare front, staying near that warm beat. "That heart of yours, it has you saying some pretty crazy things." He quietly made light of Roxas' words. He slipped his hands under Roxas' shirt, rubbing hands against bare skin. "I ... -you too Roxas." He gave up humour and just held the other possessively. "Every word. You have no idea, Roxas. So much."

Roxas let out a small sigh and allowed his eyes to close once more. "I think I have a pretty good idea. You do so much; go so far, all for me. I feel like I'd be willing to do the same for you." It was the truth, but Roxas doubted he would have been able to say such a thing without a heart, and in a way, he hated himself for that. After those last few words he kept quiet and just enjoyed the feeling of being held and touched by the one he had thought he lost.

Away from the two united the long forgotten Nobody had left them to their own; which was fine with Ikurx. He had started walking back to the alley way on shaky legs. Everything weighed heavily on him but he wasn't ready to feel relieved just yet.

Ikurx stumbled into the alley and crashed painfully on his knees onto dirty concrete. He crawled the rest of the way towards Demyx, and then threw his arms around the Heartless.

The Heartless jerked with the sudden weight against him and near glowing eyes snapped open to look down at Ikurx. Demyx had been on alert the entire time, only keeping his eyes closed as a small precaution after how Roxas had found them. He had heard small snippets of conversations and felt rushes of emotions, most, if not all from the new human in their group. Still, he refused to move from the alley, but Ikurx's sudden need to cling had him concerned in a way. "Ikurx?" He raised a hand to move it on top of the Nobody's head.

Ikurx made small noises, his voice too hard to find. "He's alive." He started out quietly, echoing his words almost in a mantra. "Axel is alive. He's alive, Demyx." He squeezed his eyes shut as he continued to cling. "He's okay." He whimpered his relief. He didn't have to abandon Demyx.

Demyx could feel his eyes widening and almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, but in a way it made sense. Everything he had felt coming off of Roxas had changed drastically. The teen still didn't seem to know how to control his new emotions all that well. "Alive..." He echoed that one word and turned his eyes out towards the street the alley led onto. He really was afraid to believe it and quickly turned his attention down to Ikurx. "But you're okay. You couldn't have..."

The Nobody shook his head quickly. "It wasn't me. He-he wasn't-." Ikurx's voice petered; he didn't want to say 'killed'. "He's alright. I was wrong. He's okay. He's alive." He rambled.

Those words were enough to take all the pain that Demyx had been feeling away. He wanted nothing more then to leave the alley at that moment to seek out the other Heartless and cling to him as tight as he could despite how much of a jerk he had been prior. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he knew Roxas was more then likely already doing that same thing. So instead, he clung to the Nobody next to him, feeling so much relief for the moment it over powered that small bit of jealousy.


	25. Chapter 25

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 25

The sun was setting low on another distant world, one that had been untouched at least somewhat by the Heartless. It was on such a world that one search was still in progress as tired feet treaded dirt and rocks, but never once stopped. Rounded ears perked at every sound, listening for even the faintest noise that may give a hint as to the whereabouts of two missing friends, but not once had anything that had been heard helped at all.

It had been so long since Mickey had last stopped to sit down, determined to keep looking over every world that was at least searchable or even safe to walk on. It had been even longer since Riku had taken Sora away and Mickey knew not to dwell on it too much, knowing it was the safest decision for the time being. His only thoughts were those of finding out what happened to Donald and Goofy and filling them in on everything that he already knew.

With drooping ears, Mickey just wondered how far away from everyone he really was while he continued to walk.

The shadows were soundless as they appeared behind-

"M-Mickey!" Riku's voice was desperate as he ran towards the mouse. He fell to his knees, grasping the mouse's jacket. "You have to help. Please help Sora." He gave Mickey a shake.

Mickey nearly jumped a foot in the air at the sudden shout. Even all the training in the world hadn't prepared him for such a desperate shout and the grab at his jacket instantly had him turning around to stare with wide eyes at the teenager that clung so tightly. "Riku?" He tried to steady himself after being shaken. "What do you mean? What's wrong with Sora? What happened?"

Apprehension crossed Riku's face, guilt, tinged with self loathing at such failures; all of which he knew Mickey had rightly predicted. Riku raised a hand, and in one graceful motion he pointed behind him to the company he'd brought with him.

Mickey narrowed his eyes in worry as he kept his eyes on Riku. Slowly his gaze lifted and followed the hand that the teen had used to point and immediately his eyes fell on the dark, twitching figure that had taken to the only bit of shade that the sudden sunset had provided. "Oh no..." The hushed words left Mickey in disbelief. "No, no, no."

Feeling all attention on him, Sora quickly raised his eyes to meet Mickey's own. The look on the King's face caused the sad expression that had become a permanent thing on Sora's own face to become worse. He kept on all fours and scooted back a bit in the dark shade, feeling too scared in that moment to come out. Just as quickly as he had met Mickey's gaze he looked away, back down at the ground beneath him.

Mickey took in a large breath of air. There was no mistaking those eyes despite how dulled out they had seemed. But, the darkness that hugged so tightly to a person that was once so in tuned with the light had Mickey's mind completely baffled. "How...?" It was all he knew to ask as he turned his eyes back to Riku.

Riku bowed his head heavily, his hair a silver veil but it did little good to hide his shame. He had told Mickey he'd keep Sora safe. "...R-Roxas."

Mickey flinched at that one name. He remembered what he had been told about Sora's Nobody. How little by little Roxas had been gaining control, but had it really come to this? He was afraid of it being true. Still, the state Sora was in could only be explained from such a thing.

Mickey narrowed his eyes once more and leaned down only to grab onto Riku's shoulders to pull the distraught teenager back up. He looked up at the other, trying his best to shake Riku from the despair it was obvious he was feeling so that he could get a better explanation. Anything to tell him what exactly went on between the two halves. "Riku, explain things to me. What happened between Sora and Roxas?"

"R-Roxas took him over... he left. I don't know where." Riku couldn't look at Mickey, his heart felt too heavy. "You felt it. That light. Some how- Roxas... he left Sora. He's out. And it's hurt Sora." Riku gripped Mickey's shoulders. "I failed... I- couldn't protect him. I should have stopped Roxas."

Riku sunk lower on the small mouse, Riku just didn't have the energy anymore. "I messed up. You were right, Mickey. The darkness... I gave in. I give up." He buried his face in a gloved hand. "... I want to stop hurting Sora."

Mickey shook his head at those last few words. "No, Riku..." He let out a sad sigh. "You can't blame yourself for any of this. Sora needs you just as much as you need Sora." He looked back at the small figure that was huddled so closely in the dark shade. "We knew there would be risks. I just never thought they would be as bad as this. I never thought Sora would become a Heartless ever again..."

Sora glanced up at the sound of his name. He locked onto Mickey's gaze, but immediately looked away after a few seconds. His eyes traveled over and stayed glued to Riku's back, watching the other teen as his body seemed to tremble. It had a soft whimper escaping Sora's own lips, feeling Riku's pain.

"No. You don't get it. You haven't seen what I've done!" Riku suddenly sat up, glaring at Mickey through his hair. But just as quickly as his anger came it went and he hung his head again. "Please... please, Mickey, help us." He lowered himself onto his hands on the ground, bowing as low as he could, straight down into the dirt, for his plea. "Please. I'll do anything. Anything it takes."

"Riku..." Mickey spoke his friend's name softly at seeing the other bow so deeply. It was a rare sight. A few words caught his attention though, and before he could actually agree to the help that was so desperately needed he felt there were still some questions that needed answering.

Mickey lowered himself to his own knees and placed his hands on Riku's shoulders once again. "You said that I haven't seen what you've done. Riku, I've traveled with you for so long. I've seen you make mistakes and I've seen you fix those mistakes. What is it that you've done that I haven't seen?" He narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip, urging the other to raise his head. "Tell me."

Riku sunk lower to the ground, his forehead resting in the dust. Mickey, his dearest and closest friend, after Sora, though they hadn't known each other all that long he trusted the mouse with his life. The mouse needed to know, deserved to. Mickey was the only one out of them all who still had a clear head, who would have the best decision; judgment.

"K-Kairi..." The girl's name left Riku's lips in a shivering breath. "I k-killed her." All energy drained from his body. "Her darkness finally took her, so I killed her before she could kill Sora." He buried his fingers in the dirt, dragging them as his hands tightened into fists.

Mickey's hands slipped away from Riku to fall limp at his own sides. He didn't want to believe what he had been told, but Riku wouldn't dare lie about such a horrific thing. It wasn't in the boy's nature, darkness or not. With wide eyes Mickey moved back despite the dirt and rocks under him and took in shaky breaths. "R-Riku..." The other's name almost didn't make it past his lips. "Kairi was...she was..." Mickey didn't know what he wanted to say. The shock was too much and in the end he nearly choked on his voice. "Riku...how could you..."

"... It was very easy." The words were simple as they left Riku's bowed form. "... I gave up everything... to the darkness... And I stabbed her Heartless from behind." His hands began to shake but otherwise his voice was unwavering. "... And even though Kairi's Heartless had hurt Sora, he still begged me not to hurt her." An airy sound left Riku. "... But I did... I went up to her unconscious body and stabbed her through the chest."

And unseen by King Mickey a slow smile curled the corner of Riku's lips. He continued in quiet monotone. "... And I laughed, and laughed."

Sora flinched and suddenly felt very cold all over. His eyes fell halfway as they kept on Riku's form while he heard a few of the words spoken. It was hurtful and had another small sound leaving him before he moved. Little by little he made his way out of the small area he had kept for his own and didn't stop until he was only a few feet behind Riku. One hand rose to touch Riku's back and his own dulled eyes watched the mist that trailed from it as he spoke quietly. "Riku..."

Mickey watched with wide eyes. After hearing what Riku had said, and in such a tone of voice, he wasn't sure whether to grab Sora and pull him away from the unstable teenager or let him stay to keep Riku calm. It was unreal what he had heard. No matter the circumstances he couldn't believe Riku would ever do such a thing to his own friend. "T-That's terrible." He couldn't help the words and ignored the sad look he got from Sora in response to them. "She was your friend, Riku. Did you not think of that at all?"

"Yes." Riku answered as casually as if Mickey had asked him a common question. "But I hated her _more_." He hissed the last word.

Sora snatched his hand back at such words as if he had been burned. A pained expression came over his face as he pulled his knees up to cling to them tightly. His gaze finally fell away from Riku to fall to the dirt and rocks, but still he kept closed in on himself.

Mickey watched Sora's movements after such harsh words. The darkness had a hold of both teenagers, but Riku's own condition was effecting what had become of Sora; a true Heartless. With sad eyes Mickey looked back at Riku while he finally tried to stand on shaky legs. "I don't believe that, Riku. She was just as much your friend as she was Sora's. You both tried to help her in some way so long ago, but you were tortured." His expression hardened. "You've let the darkness become your master. I thought you were stronger then this, Riku."

"... I thought I was a lot of things too." Riku shook his head, he could taste the dust on his tongue, but he didn't care. "But I've failed in all my attempts; as a friend, and- whatever I am to Sora. It doesn't matter anymore. I'll do whatever it takes." He crawled on hands and knees, across the dirt and rocks to grasp Mickey's shoes. "I'll let Sora go... -if it means you can heal him. I don't deserve him. P-please, damnit!" He dug his nails into the grip on the mouse's shoes despite the thick gloves he wore.

With everything he had just been told there was a part of Mickey that wanted so badly to agree with Riku on that last little bit and it was that part of him that spoke up above everything else. "If you would kill one of your friends so easily with no real thought to it, then no, you don't deserve him." The words were harsh, but Mickey felt them to be the truth. "The light you need is the most important thing, but you should never forget your friends either."

Mickey shook his head after those sad words and allowed his eyes to close. "I wish everything could be as easy as just healing Sora, but with Roxas gone there would be more to it then that. Sora needs Roxas to be whole, but you said yourself that he's gone." He opened his eyes and looked towards the Heartless. "And it's more then obvious they've been separated just by looking at him."

Riku's breath quickened, stirring up the dust beneath his face. "Roxas left Sora before. He was fine then. Why now- why is he not okay now!?" He grasped Mickey's ankle. He hunched over the ground, clawing at the dirt with his other hand. Nothing worked; nothing they tried to do went right. "This is your fight! You brought us back- and you have nothing to offer to compensate for Sora's loss!?" He spat the words angrily as he grasped tightly onto Mickey's clothes.

Without really thinking about it Mickey reached out to grab Riku's wrist, pulling the teen's grip off of his clothing. After what he had been told he wouldn't take as kindly to the other's anger as he had before. It was unsettling and had him on edge. "If I were you I'd be careful not to lose my temper as easily as you usually like to, Riku. You aren't the only one suffering because of it right now." He let go of Riku's wrist and gestured towards the Heartless behind the teen.

Dulled eyes had shut tightly long ago against the rush of emotions pinning Sora's entire being down. Every feeling that was negative surged inside of him and it had the usual darkness that surrounded him growing more intense. Claws scrapped at dirt, but even when he felt eyes on him once more, Sora only dug harder.

Slowly Riku pushed himself up on arms; just enough to glance back at Sora. He swallowed hard, ignoring the grit of dirt that got in his mouth. He wanted to turn and capture Sora up in his arms again, and cling to him just as desperately as they'd done on the beach. But it wouldn't have done them any good, and Mickey would have disapproved all the same.

Riku lowered his head again, staring blankly at the ground. "... I'm sorry, Sora." So many apologies, those two words were becoming so meaningless from over use.

"You know why Sora wasn't as deeply affected by Roxas' separation before as he is now?" Mickey's voice cut through Riku's quiet apology and Sora's sad noises. Before the older of the two could answer he went on, lowering his head only slightly. "It's because Sora willingly gave himself up to save Kairi. Roxas was created from Sora's sacrifice and Sora was saved from the realm of dark without needing Roxas at all. Sora gave his heart. It was his choice."

Mickey turned his eyes back on the twitching figure that had once been their hero. "This obviously wasn't Sora's choice at all and because of that it's affected him much differently then it did in the past. This time he needs Roxas more then ever." He looked back down at Riku and the narrowed gaze he had given the other slowly fell away. It was replaced by one of regret. "But I don't believe that half will be as willing to join back with Sora as he was before even if we were to find him."

Riku's glove squeaked as he tightened his fists. "... It's not fair." He clawed at the ground. "I love Sora. And Kairi hated me for it." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I love Sora. And Roxas despises me for it." He slammed his fist into the ground. "Kairi nearly kills Sora. And I give up everything to save him. And I-" Riku slammed his fist into the ground again, and again and again. A choked noise left him as he smashed his hand one final time into the ground, his fist gone numb though it still shook with the tension. "- It's a lie when they say 'love conquers all'. A lie! Friendship, caring, love- none of it saved us!" His choked sob twisted into a sad laugh. "No matter what I do, Roxas will always hate me. A part of Sora will always hate me." He laughed harder.

Mickey let out a heavy sigh. "Roxas had a free will of his own for a very long time. While he was free from Sora he developed his own memories and his own thoughts. Even though he went back to Sora, it wasn't entirely of his own free will. So many hands had a part in it and now that Axel is alive once more Roxas is more determined then ever to get the freedom he had back." Mickey shook his head. "And I'm sorry to say it Riku, but you're one of those people that took that freedom away from him."

Sora had opened his eyes during Riku's angry shouts despite the pain still brewing inside of him. It was the last few things that the older teen said which hurt Sora the most, along with Mickey's own words. As carefully as he could despite his small spasms, Sora crawled closer only to stop beside Riku. A clawed hand reached out to place itself on top of Riku's tightened fist that had slammed away at dirt. "I'm sorry..." The sad apology was for everything. The heavy weight of guilt fell on his shoulders suddenly.

Riku's fist relaxed under Sora's. Riku was so tired of taking the blame. No decision he made was right. He was never a good leader, not in silly games back when they were children and not now when it truly counted. He was born to follow, conscious of it or not; Maleficent, the darkness, King Mickey, Sora.

Riku slumped. "... What do I do? What do we have to do?"

Mickey relaxed a little more then he had been and turned his eyes up to the darkening sky in thought. "You said there was a sudden light. That's how you found Sora I'm assuming. You must have also found him in the state he was in already. This meant that Roxas had already split apart from him. Something caused the split. We just need to figure out what." He turned his eyes back on Sora. "The two of them shouldn't have been able to split apart at all. Even with Roxas gaining control it wouldn't have been enough. We need to find both the cause that split them and Roxas." His eyes narrowed once more. "Whatever it was that broke them apart might be able to give us a clue as to how to force them back together."

"... Even if Roxas is returned, he'll fight Sora inside. And this will start all over again." Riku weakly shook his head. "I won't go through this again, Mickey. It won't solve anything forcing their amalgamation."

Mickey only shook his head in response to Riku's worries. "Sora told me what happened, remember? All of this started after the battle the two of you had against Axel. It was the first time Roxas made his presence known which makes it clear that Axel is behind most of this." His voice fell lower. "If Axel is taken down then Roxas will have no reason to stay in this world and keep apart from Sora. He will have no reason to fight against his other half so desperately." Mickey turned his attention back on Riku. "He might even learn to accept you Riku, and give into the fact that he's just the other half."

"... Kill what's left of the one he loves." Riku stated quite bluntly. He raised his red rimmed eyes up to look at Mickey.

Those words had Sora blinking in a dazed way. He remembered feeling the hurt while he looked at Axel and Roxas and for some reason he still couldn't shake it. It haunted him and stayed in the back of his mind. His hand tightened a little around Riku's own as he turned his own gaze on Mickey as well.

Mickey flinched at both gazes locked onto him. They were both so desperate for answers when it could have all been avoided had he just let the two teenagers stay back on their small island. "It's harsh, but..." Mickey started out quietly as he tried to keep his own gaze steady. "We have to remember that Axel is a Heartless. He has to be taken out just like the rest. Especially if it brings Roxas back to Sora."

"... I'm sure Axel and Roxas would say the same thing about us." Riku looked down at the hand that tightened around his. "Just a problem to be eliminated. I think you're also forgetting you're talking to two Heartless right now." Riku looked at the ground. "But if killing Axel is what it takes to bring Roxas back, and fix Sora, I'll do it without question. Roxas doesn't care about Sora, or I, I won't bother to care for him either." Riku bowed his head. "Anything to redeem Sora." If a dark and blood splattered path was the way to the light, then it was a path Riku was willing to walk.

Mickey walked the few steps forward that he had moved away from Riku. When he was close enough he knelt down to be completely eye level with the teen and placed his hand on the other's shoulder. "In the end, some way some how, you'll both be redeemed Riku. Don't think for a second that all hope is gone for you." He looked down at the dirt between them and to Sora's clawed hand tightened so desperately around Riku's own. "I just wish we actually knew where Axel and Roxas were."

A quiet sound left Sora at those words. He leaned forward, burying his face against Riku's shoulder afraid to actually speak, but knowing that whatever he knew would need to be said. "I saw them..." His voice echoed quietly among them. "A portal. They took it to escape." His eyes darted back and forth between Mickey and Riku. "I don't know where, I'm sorry, but I do remember they weren't alone..." He let out another small sound and buried his face further.

Riku turned his attention onto Sora, his eyes narrowing on the Heartless who pressed near. "Who?" Whoever they were, accomplices, lackeys, or friends, they weren't going to last long in his wake.

Sora shook his head before he raised it only a little to look into Riku's eyes. "I-I don't know, Riku..." He frowned at the fact he wasn't being any real help and his body gave a small spasm at his own turmoil. "I think they were a Heartless. I'm pretty sure, but, there was another that I don't really remember all that much about." He lowered his gaze.

Mickey sighed and shook his head as he tried his best to smile for Sora's sake. If only to help ease the other's sudden stress. "Its okay, Sora. It does help to know we won't be surprised if we find others aiding Axel." The smile fell away and he looked back down. "Still, it makes me worry. I didn't think any of the Heartless were aligning themselves with Axel, and about that other that Sora spoke of, I wonder if they might be one of the Heartless as well..." He trailed off.

"It won't matter. They'll all be dead soon." Riku pulled himself away from Sora, slipping his hand free of the other's tight grip. He brushed away the dirt and dust from the black clothing that clung to him. "...And so, I should get started on that." Riku stood, all previous torment wiped as clean from his expression as the dirt that had been on him. A new cold apathy replaced all that had been on Riku's face.

Sora's head snapped up to watch every move Riku made. The sudden look on his friend's face caused Sora to wish for the contact back that Riku had pulled away from. Anything to make that sudden look leave. With one hand he reached out desperately to cling tightly to the cloak that was part of Riku, wishing that he never had to let go among all the bitter pain he felt inside.

Mickey stayed as he was on the ground and watched both boys for a few seconds. Riku's words had him worried. He knew the teen would do anything to help Sora, but this was much more dangerous then just trying to get revenge. They didn't even know the exact circumstances. "Riku, don't do this on your own. Who knows what could happen. It's not only Axel you'll be fighting. We have no clue who the other Heartless are and it could be a disadvantage." He hesitated for a second before going on. "And sadly, I fear that Roxas might try to fight you as well."

Riku drew his fingers over his eyes and soon dark mist trailed round to form his blind fold. His hand lowered to a tightened fist at his side. "This is nothing new, Mickey." He 'glanced' down. "And Sora is in no condition to fight." He tilted his head upward, cocking it to the side as he 'looked' at Mickey. "Besides... you all would only get in the way."

Sora quickly took his hand back at those words. He stared up at Riku with that same sad expression before he slowly lowered his head, shaking it from side to side before he went as still as his body allowed.

"That's not true, Riku." Mickey stood and took only a step towards his friend. "We fought alongside each other before, especially you and Sora. For you to say either of us would be in the way, that's just something even you have to realize as a lie." His ears lowered along with his tone of voice. "The darkness is just as strong as the light. You know this as well as anyone. Sora may be going through the harshest times of his life right now, but he's not at all weak and I'm sure just as determined as you are to save him, he's willing to do the exact same for you."

Mickey took another few cautious steps towards Riku and stopped to look directly up at the teen, staring at blinded eyes. "You came here wanting my help and asking me for guidance. Please trust me like you once did before, Riku."

Riku stared at Mickey, the cold expression chiseled on his face. It was hard to say if the mouse's words got through to him. He then lowered his head to look down at Sora. He wanted to know what Sora wanted.

Sora slowly blinked his eyes and turned his gaze back up towards Riku. He had heard each word Mickey said, but didn't expect Riku to actually turn his attention on him, since throughout most of the conversation he had been in the background only listening, barely offering anything. He kept his eyes on the dark blindfold before he dropped his gaze to the other's hand, reaching his own clawed one out to grab at Riku's and hold on tightly. "I won't let you go alone." He whispered the words, but still they carried on. "I want to help. I want to fight as best I can alongside you." With a loose hold he tried his best to link their fingers, but the small twitches his hand made, made it nearly impossible and had him letting out a small whimper. "I want to help us be happy again..."

As subtle as it was Riku's cold facade cracked. He leaned down and with firm careful movements he linked their fingers together like Sora had tried. He squeezed the twitching hand that held his. But Riku didn't stop there. With his free hand he took Sora's other arm and pulled him up to stand, slipping his arm around the other's middle keeping Sora upright with his own body.

The sudden movement had caused Sora to let out a startled noise. Dull eyes blinked wide open, but he didn't protest at all at being held so close, although, his legs did shake. His new form wasn't able to stand upright like he used to. He clung tightly to Riku with his free hand and turned his head up to glance at the taller teen. He tried his best to give a small smile, but failed and only managed to bite at the corner of his lip before he spoke in quiet confusion. "Riku?"

"... We'll dance together." Riku rested his head down on Sora's. "Like I promised. I haven't forgotten." He dusted his fingers through Sora's dark hair. "And we'll dance whatever embarrassing dance you want." He shut his eyes behind the blind fold. ".. You remember too? Right?"

"Remember..." Sora echoed the one word quietly before he slowly nodded his head beneath Riku's own. "I remember, Riku. You promised me..." The words weren't nearly as excited or joyful as they once had been when spoken about the few times before. Sora wanted to feel all those things, remembering tiny bits and pieces on the beach and back home, but he wasn't allowed to feel that happiness anymore and it made the pain inside grow worse.

Riku's expression fell, what little hope had been lit there was snuffed out. The tone in Sora's voice, all that life that had kept either of them going, it was all gone. And apathy once more replaced itself on Riku's face. He placed a brief platonic kiss on Sora's cheek. After he then lowered Sora back down onto the ground. "... Someday."

Sora moved one hand up to touch his cheek while he still refused to let go of the tight hold he had on Riku's hand with his other. The closeness that he had lost with Riku had the sad expression coming back to his face, but still he moved on, giving a desperate little noise for only the taller boy to hear. "Please don't go alone, Riku." He dropped his one hand to wrap it tightly around the hold he had with his other around Riku's hand. "I don't want you to go alone." His voice fell quieter while the darkness around him licked at the air. "We're supposed to stick together..."

Riku's fingers twitched sandwiched between Sora's. He was forced to crouch down. He lowered his head, his hair falling down in a silver mess over his face. "... Sora." His head fell lower to rest on Sora's top hand on his. "... If you think that's best."

Sora lifted his head to stare with wide eyes at the top of Riku's head. All the previous sadness that had been permanent in his expression vanished in an instant, but was only replaced by a calm, yet blank one as he stared at Riku. Slowly, he pulled his hands free and crawled closer, pushing Riku back a little so the older teen lifted his head. In a quick second he was soon clinging to Riku with arms wrapped around the other's neck. All he could feel was pain, sadness, despair, but for this one instant he wanted to hold on as tightly as he could to his friend for having the chance to stay by his side.

Riku blinked behind the blind fold, but soon he was slipping his arms around Sora, hugging him loosely. He rested his chin on Sora's shoulder. "... I wish I could say we'll be alright. But... I don't want to continue to lie to you."

A hand rested itself on the shoulder that Sora wasn't occupying of Riku's. "The two of you have gone through so many obstacles together." Mickey spoke up quietly among the sudden peace that had fallen over the two boys. "As long as you continue to keep some amount of hope and never, ever, abandon it then you really will be alright. You'll both get through this." He dropped his hand. "I've always had faith in you. Both of you..."

"Then we'll do this together. We'll figure it out together." Riku finally held Sora tighter, hugging him closer. "Together we'll fix this." He nuzzled his cheek against Sora's head. He murmured near Sora's ear for only the boy to hear, "... I've always believed in you Sora. Please believe in me, just a little longer."

Sora gave a small little noise against Riku's shoulder while he tightened his clinging embrace. "I believe in you, Riku." The words were hushed and only for the other's ears much like Riku had spoken only for him. "I do..." Clawed fingers buried themselves in silver hair while Sora shut his eyes tightly; wanting to keep as near as possible even though he couldn't feel what it was he wanted to.

Riku squeezed Sora back in return. He rested his head down, subdued for the most by the clawed fingers in his hair. "We'll be able to fix this." he quietly spoke.

Mickey gave a relieved sigh at the turn of events before a small smile came over his face. Things may have seemed down, but for the most part at least Riku was willing to have some help instead of going it alone. It was a small step in the right direction. Still, there was one hurdle that they had to overcome and it had that smile falling away as quick as it had come. "We still have no idea where they went off to." Mickey bowed his head after the realization. "They could be on any world."

"We'll follow the light." Riku firmly spoke up. "Where ever that light happens, the Organization is sure to follow. And that's where we'll find Axel and Roxas."

Riku paused and in one motion he pulled down the blind fold to look at Mickey. "So... I guess... you know about Sora and I." He glanced away. "It's not hard to see why and what kept us from helping sooner." Riku didn't know why he was telling Mickey about personal business, but he felt the mouse had a right to know what dictated his heart so fiercely. "I... I only hope you can understand... and forgive me."

Mickey glanced back up, nodding as he gave a sad smile for his friend. "I did wonder why my first letter was ignored and worried a little, but I thought that with everything that happened you all just needed some peace. You, Sora, Kairi. You three were back home safe. I wanted to let you all have that peace. I'm only sorry that I had to tear you both away from something more then just normalcy. That I tore you away from each other."

Mickey shrugged a shoulder after those words before he continued. "I understand why the two of you did what you did. Why _you've_ done what you've done. The two of you have always been so involved with each other's lives, one always searching out the other, I don't blame either of you for anything, thus, you have nothing to ask for forgiveness for, Riku." He looked away from his friend. "I'm the one that should be asking for such a thing since it's come to all of this."

Riku shook his head, while in his right mind he didn't blame Mickey. He smoothed a hand through Sora's bouncy hair, pleased to know that whatever comfort he was giving his friend was calming the small twitches.

"No matter how I seem to change... I'll still be me in my heart. And that part could never hate my friends." Riku looked at Sora and gently nosed his cheek. "As long as we're together we'll fix this." He softly spoke the words more for Sora.

Sora pulled back a little after the gentle nudge and soft words, and stared into Riku's eyes since they were once more free of the blindfold. He gave a small nod before he opened his mouth to speak, a somewhat content expression on his face. "We always do...somehow..." They were the only positive words he had spoken in a long while, but it was a welcomed change from everything negative.

Riku wished he could smile for Sora, but he didn't have any smiles left inside. Without Sora's light, it was hard to be strong for the both of them. Still he weakly nuzzled Sora's cheek. "We do, don't we? And this time it'll be no different."


	26. Chapter 26

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 26

Two more planets later and the search had come out empty, although Cloud and Zax had come to a quick realization; one Buster sword between them wasn't doing them much good. Although Zax was one of the best hand to hand fighters that Cloud had come to know, it didn't feel right to him to keep Zax's old weapon for himself.  
Without much say Cloud plotted a course for the one place that they had least wanted to go: Radiant Garden. Going to their home world would thoroughly mean complications but there they could get supplies and rest up. But more importantly he could pick up a spare sword for himself, and return the Buster Sword to its rightful owner. Goofy and Donald were more than happy to agree to Cloud's idea to re-visit Radiant Gardens; old friends to visit and check up on, and Leon always had helpful information about anything current.

Of course there was just one problem: Zax Fair.

And that problem just got up, stumbling into the cockpit, woken up from the landing of the gummi ship. Zax gave a long, wide yawn, thudding against the bouncy wall of the ship, crossing his arms although his head still drooped along with his eyelids. "So, Captain. What lovely planet are we visiting today?"

Cloud glanced back at Zax out the corner of his eyes while his fingers drummed on the controls for the ship. He opened his mouth to answer, and then just as quickly closed it shut. He had no idea how to tell his friend where they were, but he would have to if they wanted to avoid certain circumstances later on.

With a heavy sigh Cloud turned his eyes back on the controls and stopped his nervous drumming. "I'll give you a hint." He spoke up in a hesitant voice. "It starts with an R, and you're going to drop kick me the moment you figure it out." He blinked. "Wait that was more then one hint."

"'R' huh?" Zax clicked his tongue, his mind not completely awake. His head drooped more, his eyes gone shut. "As long as it has some place to eat I could care less what letter it starts with." He started to fall asleep again against the wall and ended up nearly falling over.

Goofy glanced at Donald, scratching his head under his hat. "Now why would Zax want to go and do something like that?" He shrugged. "I thought his friends were on Radiant Garden too, Cloud."

Zax smacked his lips together and scowled. "... My mouth tastes like ass." He clunked his head on the wall again, it seemed like he hadn't heard Goofy. Then his eyes snapped open and he looked at Cloud. "Wait- what!?"

Cloud slapped a hand over his face and groaned. Slowly his hand slid down and he quickly turned his attention on both animals with narrowed eyes, but didn't say anything. He only let out an irritated noise before he looked back at the controls. "We were running low on supplies and we need some rest anyway. Our safest bet is to just stay here for at least a night."

"There's a millions, bajillions of planets out there, Cloud!" Zax pointed upward. "All of them have shops and inns to sleep at! All of them are just as equal candidates to stop and get supplies. There's no reason why we had to stop here of all places." Zax scowled. "Did our previous chat just- go completely over your head?"

Donald looked back and forth between the two friends with a curious expression on his face. "Chat? What chat?" He crossed his arms, annoyed that the two of them were being left out of something. "What's so bad about this place?"

Cloud ignored him and only glanced back at Zax. "Those millions and bajillions of planets, as you so roughly estimated, don't have the weaponry that I plan to bring along with me if we're to continue on with this little search." He finally stood up from the seat, feeling more then a few aches from how long he had been seated. "Especially if I plan to give you back your sword."

Zax raised both of his hands. "You can keep the sword. I don't want the sword. So we don't need to be here."

Goofy looked from one to the other. "Did, uh, we miss something?" His brows furrowed. "I'm so confused."

Donald shook his head while he rested back in his seat. "You and me both." He grumbled.

Cloud shut his eyes for a second in annoyance before he finally turned his attention on the other two occupying the ship. "You didn't miss anything, don't worry about it." After those quick words he looked back at Zax and tried not to have a temper with his friend. "I don't care what you say; you can't continue to fight like you have been. So, you're getting it back. It'll just make it easier on the both of us if you didn't argue about this with me."

Zax crossed his arms. "I'm a damn good fighter with or without a sword." He glared his disapproval and nervously leaned back against the wall again. "We don't need to be here, Cloud."

"It just doesn't feel right to me, okay, Zax?" Cloud narrowed his eyes a little after he spoke the words. He tried his best not to pout, as Zax had said he caught him doing multiple times, and settled on just trying to glare at his friend. "I kept it to remember you. You're here with me now, there's no need for me to have it. I want to give it back to you, okay? Just let me do this." He gave a frustrated sigh. "You don't even have to talk to anyone. I know how much you don't want to be here."

"Fine! Fine." Zax raised his hands to the air in surrender. "You go gallivanting around our world. Go have fun with our old friends and comrades. Party all night and day. I'll just sit right here in the ship and wait." He pushed off the wall to storm towards the door. "Just try not to forget me while you're having all that fun, being Mister Sociable. So stubborn."

"Yeah, because everything you just said sounds so much like me." Cloud sighed once more as soon as he realized how sarcastic his own words sounded and more harsh then he had meant them. He hurried after Zax, but didn't try to stop him, only tailing behind. "Look, it's only a quick stop. I promise. Just to pick up a few things, a spare sword I have lying about and maybe get some rest. We don't even have to do that. We could rest in the ship if need be." He trailed off for a few seconds hesitant to go on. "Donald and Goofy kind of want to check in with Leon though, and I told them it would be okay." He waved a hand around to stall anything Zax would say. "But, I swear it will be quick and painless on my part." His next words were mumbled. "I hope."

Zax stopped. "Leon?" He whipped around and walked past Cloud a few steps. "You two, forward march!" He waited until either of the animals were lined up in front of him. "Goofy. Donald." He pointed to each. "You can't mention me at all to anyone here. Got it?"

Goofy tilted his head curiously. "Hmm, why' sat, Zax? Is this like- a secret mission?"

Zax blinked and scratched a hand through his hair. "Yeah, sure, a secret mission. I'm under cover." He wiggled fingers. "And you can't blow my cover. So, no talking about me at all. Alright, soldiers!"

Both Goofy and Donald saluted.

Zax seemed pleased and turned around to face Cloud. Then just as quickly his satisfaction wilted along with him. "I'm doomed, aren't I?" He rested forehead in his palm.

Cloud had looked back and forth between Zax and the two animals as they talked, wondering to himself why they never listened to him that well. It was Zax's sudden attention which brought him out of his annoyance and back to reality again. "Hmm, well, no I wouldn't say that." He tried his best to smile, but it came out more nervous then anything. "As long as you stay hidden then you have nothing to worry about."

"And let you go wander around on the world by yourself." Zax dragged his fingers through his hair giving a sarcastic shrug. "Lovely. I won't worry at all." He straightened up and crossed his arms, soon hiking a thumb towards the animals. "Can they keep a secret?"

"Sure we can!" Goofy spoke up with a wide smile. "Like how the King starches his ears." He made a gesture with his fingers to shape the signature round ears atop his head. "To keep them perfectly round." He grinned and put his hands on his hips, puffing his chest up proudly. "No one will ever know that secret! I'll be taking that to the grave."

Donald straightened in a tense way and slowly turned his head to stare at his partner. "Goofy..." He spoke the other's name in an annoyed way before he gave an angered shout and jumped up to slap his hand over the other's mouth. "It doesn't count taking it to the grave if you actually tell people something like that! Don't you have any common sense?!"

Cloud could feel his entire body slumping in defeat. He ignored the two animals, but still the pounding headache was trying to make its way through. "They could probably use some work." He mumbled quietly to his friend.

Zax nodded. "Right. So." He gave a blank smile. "We're leaving right now then." He turned about face and marched towards the gummi ship controls.

Cloud's head shot up at those words. He continued to ignore Donald and Goofy who were still bickering and followed after Zax. "Zax, wait a second." He knew that wouldn't be enough to get his friend to listen, so as soon as he caught up to Zax he grabbed his arm and turned him around to face him, keeping narrowed eyes on the other for as long as he could. "If you can't trust them, can't you at least trust me? You know me, Zax. You know I wouldn't say anything. At least give _me_ some credit."

"I am. I do trust you. Believe me." Zax gave a disapproving look and pointed towards the loud mouthed animals. "It's _them_ I don't trust to keep their mouth's shut." He frowned. "With them around our cheerful friend Leon, the cat is pretty much out of the bag."

Cloud dropped his hand and shook his head. "I'll make sure they don't say anything. Don't worry about it, Zax. I'll just give them enough time to talk to Leon about some quick things and that's, that. Just some time to check up. They probably just want to talk about Sora anyway. I won't let you slip into the conversation." He shrugged a shoulder. "As soon as that's over we're out of here."

Zax was hesitant. He glanced at Donald and Goofy who seemed to have straightened things out between them and they stood patiently waiting for Cloud. "You promise? There and back. And you promise that you won't let Tifa side track you." He gave a weak grin. "She'll stalk you if you're not careful. She has a Cloudar, I'm sure of it."

"There and back." Cloud nodded his head, but tried not to groan to a few of the things Zax said. "If I run into Tifa I'll just tell her I'm busy. Hopefully she'll understand for once. Or maybe I can try to avoid her." He shook his head. "Probably not. At any rate, I promise everything we have to do will be quick as possible, okay?"

Zax gave a surrendering sigh. "You know I'm going to worry while you're out there on your own." He rested his hands on Cloud's shoulders while he slumped forward. "I know it's safer now, but, y'know." He lifted his head and smiled weakly. "I'm going to be going stir crazy in here. So, you better hurry."

Cloud gave a small smile at having finally won in the end and nodded his head. "Yeah, I know how you hate to sit still for more then a couple of minutes." He moved a hand up to place it on one of Zax's own, giving it a quick squeeze before he removed himself from the other's grip and turned to look at Donald and Goofy. "Alright, guys. Let's get going."

"Finally!" Donald shook his head after that one aggravated word. He moved away from Goofy and walked over to the small door which would let them out of the ship. In one quick jump, Donald leaped up to press the button on the wall which would open the door and watched as it moved aside for them, tapping a foot as he waited.

Goofy watched as Zax sighed and walked off to the back of the ship, possibly to go get more sleep. He tapped his chin as he gave something some thought. "Now what secret special mission do you think Zax is on? Especially since we can't be say'n Zax's name." So far Goofy was failing at keeping Zax's name under wraps.

Cloud rubbed his temples as he walked away from the controls and towards the door. "He just needs to stay undercover you two. It's as simple as that." He glanced at them both as he walked by them. "By the way, Goofy, keeping someone a secret means not saying their name at all. Especially as many times as you just said it." With those last few words he walked off of the ship to leave the small hanger they had landed in.

Donald nudged his partner in the side roughly. "Yeah, you heard Cloud. It doesn't work if you actually say Zax's name." He blinked as if just realizing he had said it and slapped his hands over his mouth for a few seconds. Just as quick he narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Oh forget it, just come on." With those words he followed after Cloud without waiting for Goofy.

The dog rubbed his side. "R-right! No saying Z- I mean what's-his-name's name." He quickly hurried after the other two.

With each step out of the ship, Cloud could feel his stomach drop a little more to be back at Radiant Garden with a huge secret to keep. It was a little too late to turn back though, because in just a few more paces they were outside the hanger and in the sunlight which actually took Cloud a few moments to get used to after being cramped in a ship for a long while.

In a bright flash that had Cloud jumping back out of instinct, the town's defense system switched on for only a moment to check if they were a threat, then quieted itself and disappeared back into the stones of the floor. It had a few people in the small part of the district they were standing in turning their heads, but going right back to their lives just as quick as if nothing happened. Cloud let out an annoyed sigh. "I always hated that damn thing..."

"I always found it very useful when fight'n the Heartless and Nobodies here." Goofy chuckled. "Made our job a lil easier." He lifted a hand to shade his eyes from the bright sun. "Wow. Things have sure come a long way since we've been here. Everything's all fixed up, and bustle'n with life again." He smiled. "At least things here haven't changed with the re-appearance of the Organization."

"We just have to make sure it stays that way." Donald spoke up as he looked around as well. "Although, I guess Leon and the others are doing a pretty good job of it on their own."

"Yeah, guess so." Cloud easily agreed. "Of course we should probably stop off and talk to him first, and he's probably with the others. Lovely." He rolled his eyes and continued walking, knowing the other two would follow along. His eyes darted along the small walkways every now and then, hoping that he didn't bump into anyone he didn't want to at the moment and actually having some decent luck for once.

It was after a while that the three of them ended up at the familiar house that was always occupied by at least one person that had helped in the entire fight. It was that house that Cloud hesitated in front of, not really wanting to, but finally lifting a hand to knock. He didn't at all feel like just barging in. Especially when he had left Radiant Garden in the first place. "This is going to be fun."

The door flew open, a spunky teenage girl answering. She stared up at Cloud, staring as if she weren't seeing right. "C-cloud?" She stood up on her tip toes to peer up at the man. "Cloud! Cloud Strife!" She leaned back on her heels, turning to cup a hand around her mouth to shout inside the house. "Hey guys, you'll never guess who's here! It's CLOUD!"

"Yuffie!" Cloud shouted the girl's name in annoyance. He quickly wrapped an arm around her from behind so he could move a hand over her mouth to quiet her shouts. "I don't need you to announce me to the entire house. In fact, I'm pretty sure the entire town heard you with the way you're going on."

It was a lost cause though, as several footsteps were heard coming into the front room of the house to see just what exactly the young girl had been going on about. Especially if what they heard was correct. Silence reigned over the room for a few seconds as eyes took in the fact that it really was Cloud standing in the door way with Donald and Goofy at his side, and Yuffie in a near choke hold.

After a while it was Leon that broke the silence, raising a brow at what he saw in front of them. "So, you came back. And here we all thought you went off to go brood somewhere."

Cloud forgot all about his hold on Yuffie and only narrowed his eyes on Leon. "Yeah, I feel very welcome. It's great to see you too, Leon." He finally let go of the girl after his words, remembering he had his hand over her mouth and dropped his hands back down by his sides.

Yuffie coughed a few times, wiping her mouth as she made a face. "You're just as warm and fuzzy as I remember you." She patted Cloud on the chest hard; revenge for the hold on her mouth. "We thought you forgot all about us, going off on your own little adventures- leaving us behind, and outta the fun." The girl gave a dramatic sigh as she shrugged out her hands. "You never call, you never write."

"CLOUD!" Leon was rudely shoved out of the way as a woman with long hair tied back pushed herself to the door. When she was finally face to face with Cloud, she gave him an angry glare. "There you are!" She suddenly grabbed Cloud's arm and yanked him forcefully into the house; since she half expected him to suddenly disappear as quickly as he'd came. She nearly toppled Yuffie over with the force. "You're like a ghost! You disappear just as soon as you appear!"

Cloud almost stumbled over his own feet with how hard he was yanked inside. "T-Tifa, wait a minute!" He tried to struggle to get his arm back, but the girl was pretty damn strong. "Let me go, Tifa, come on now. I just wanted some time to myself. You know me."

A red cloaked figure quickly moved aside before the woman could barrel into him with Cloud in tow, much like she had the others. Vincent watched the two for a few seconds before he glanced over at Leon who looked way beyond annoyed and past him at the two animals who were still in the doorway. "What about you two?"

Donald turned his attention away from Cloud and Tifa to look back at the others with wide eyes. "Us? Oh, well, we just came along with Cloud, tagging along with him." The entire scene had left Donald's mind in a bit of a mess at the moment to be quite honest.

"We're actually look'n for Sora." Goofy piped up. "Have you guys heard from him? We've been look'n all over the place." He blinked, realizing the strange man who talked to them. "Um. Who are you suppose to be? Ya from Halloween Town?"

Yuffie opened her mouth to give her hey say, perhaps introduce Vincent, but the comparison struck her as hilarious. She covered her mouth and tried her best to keep her laughter in.

Tifa ignored everyone, including Cloud's own protest. She kept a firm grip on the man's arm, hugging it tightly to her chest. "You've had enough time to yourself. In fact you're ebbing time to yourself. Why don't you give some of that self time to others now." She gave Cloud a stern look.

Cloud looked down at his captured hand then back up at Tifa. "Well, there is a lot going on right now, Tifa. I haven't just been thinking of myself. I've been fighting here and there too." He frowned. "I can't just drop everything and come back here to hang around."

Vincent on the other hand was unimpressed by Yuffie's amusement because of what Goofy had said. With a decided sigh he turned away from the group to go back into the other room. "Yes, very funny."

Leon seemed to be the only one that had caught onto a few of the words spoken and looked back and forth between everyone. "Wait a minute! Everyone be quiet for two seconds." He looked at Yuffie. "Or longer if possible." He then turned his eyes on Donald and Goofy. "Did you just say you were looking for Sora? How in all the worlds did you lose Sora? The kid isn't that hard to miss."

"Well, ya'see, we didn't exactly lose him. We got separated. We fell in this pool and the next thing we knew Cloud found us." Goofy made sure not to mention Zax. He tapped his lips as he gave a thoughtful sound. "We searched over the entire world, but we didn't find him there. We're not sure where he could have ended up."

Yuffie shook her head. "Unfortunately, we haven't heard anything from Sora."

"Well what about that other boy Clouds look'n for?" Goofy let his mouth get ahead of himself. Though he couldn't recall Cloud saying not to mention Ikkuris; it would be counter productive not to mention a boy he was looking for.

"What boy?" Tifa eyed Cloud, still keeping the man's arm hostage.

Cloud struggled to try and pull his arm back once more, but it was still no use. "It's nothing. Just some boy we ran into while looking for Sora. He's no one special, really." He shot a glance back at Donald and Goofy, hoping it would make them get the hint to keep their mouths shut and it certainly caused them to jump a little.

Leon had looked back at Cloud and Tifa while the others talked. Once there was silence again he shook his head before speaking. "Tifa, you should probably let Cloud's arm go before you break it. I doubt he's going to be going anywhere for the moment." After those words he focused once more on what he had been told. "I can't believe Sora is missing. This isn't good. Just one more thing to worry about."

"Hmm. You never know with Cloud. One blink and he's gone." Tifa frowned. "When will he learn that he doesn't have to fight his battles alone?"

Yuffie shrugged. "You know the tall, dark, silent types. They like to prove their masculinity by dealing with the worlds problems all on their own." She tried to help Cloud by trying to pry Tifa's arms from Cloud's. "Because getting help just isn't manly." She huffed when Tifa tried to shoo her away with a hand. "Anyway, I'm sure Sora's alright. Since when has the Keyblade Master failed us before, right Leon?"

"We've already searched about five planets already." Goofy frowned his worry a little.

Yuffie opened her mouth and then closed it. She let her hands drop from saving Cloud and glanced to Leon; that news didn't sound good to her at all.

Leon shared in the same worry the others had for the moment. It was a horrible thing to think of the worst when it came to Sora. The teen had never actually gone missing before, and for the others to have searched in such a wide spread area was something else also. Not to mention Leon had other things on his mind. "I hate to say it, but there's no telling what's happened to Sora. With the Heartless running around and then these new problems we're dealing with, we just have to hope he's okay."

Cloud had given up on getting his arm back, although he was a little grateful that Yuffie had tried to pry Tifa away. The gesture was all for nothing. Leon's words caught his attention and he looked over at the other man with narrowed eyes. "New problems? What new problems?"

Leon hesitated to speak after the question. In the end he only shot a glance between Yuffie and Tifa, before he let out a sigh and shrugged a shoulder. His eyes moved back to Cloud as he did.

"You shouldn't stay away for so long, Cloud." Vincent spoke up from the next room, having been close to the doorway. "You miss out on things every time you do."

Yuffie glanced back at Vincent before her gaze settled on Leon. She let her head fall, taking a deep breath. She let the employment of being the bearer of bad news fall upon her, since Leon wasn't going to speak up himself. With a deep breath she looked at Cloud. "You already know our little group hasn't been the only one fighting the Heartless." She tapped her fingers together. "You remember that big, flashy commercial company that came around to fight the Heartless. Shinra Inc. Well..." Yuffie chewed her lip before she continued. "They're trying to take over that responsibility completely, making our little group obsolete. They've sent their little lap dogs the Turks over to try and shut us down several times."

"What?" Cloud looked away from Yuffie and back to Leon to make sure what the girl said really was the truth. "Why the hell would they do something like that? This isn't a game. It's not some competition. If they want to help, that's fine, but trying to drive all of you out isn't going to get things done any faster." In his annoyance, Cloud looked back at Tifa and tried to pull his arm back once more. "My arm is going numb, Tifa. Let go."

"Well, in their minds we aren't doing a good enough job of protecting everyone." Leon continued on. "Especially with how things just continue to become more and more dangerous as time goes on with these damn Heartless." He waved a hand towards the front door. "They've even got some of the people in town thinking such a thing."

Donald looked back towards the door they had come through. "That's horrible. I remember when we helped restore this place." He looked back at the others and frowned. "It's hard to believe some people would lose faith in you guys so easily, but, this war has gotten a bit difficult..." He trailed off.

Tifa left go of Cloud's arm, turning away from him. "We could have really used your help, Cloud. Where have you been?" She turned to look back up at Cloud, hurt in her desperate auburn eyes.

"Well, that's not all." Yuffie continued on. "There are reasons, erm, to this." She pressed two fingers to her temple; the problems were obviously a continuous headache for her and their group. "There have been three powerful Heartless brothers terrorizing, not just other worlds, but Radiant Gardens too. We've been trying to take them down, but they're very strong and very elusive." Yuffie lowered her hand with a sigh. "Shinra managed to destroy one of the brothers. Pow!" She punched out a fist. "It won them a whole lot of points in their favour."

"This is exactly why some of the town has put their trust in them instead of us all of a sudden." Leon went on from Yuffie's explanation. "Sure, we used to hold our own against the Heartless well enough, but something as big as what's come up is entirely different and the people of Radiant Gardens are scared I suppose." He shook his head. "It's not like we haven't tried, though."

Cloud rubbed his free arm, trying to will the circulation back into it. He listened to what everyone had to say and narrowed his eyes in the end. "Tifa, I've been helping the others search for Sora. Things came up and I just needed to take care of them." Although now he wasn't sure what to do. He certainly wasn't expecting such news when he came back just to pick up supplies. He glanced back at the others to get his attention off his upset friend. "Any idea what these Heartless are after? Are they just causing the same usual mayhem as the other Heartless we see?"

Yuffie shrugged. "We don't know. I'm sure they're up to something. We just haven't figured it out yet." She crossed her arms and purposely bumped Cloud with her elbow. "It looks like we've all got plenty on our plate. When it rains, it sure pours."

"Yeah, no kidding." Cloud mumbled the words under his breath. He looked around at everyone, trying to decide on what exactly to say or do. In the end he had promised Zax that their stay wouldn't be all that long, and he did have a good enough reason as to why he couldn't stick around. He just hoped it was enough to get him by, despite the fact he really was worried about the situation. "Well, I'm sure you guys will be able to take care of it somehow. I'd stay and help if I could, but this whole ordeal with Sora has Donald and Goofy worried, so I told them I'd help them until he was found, especially since he's obviously needed."

"I'll come with you." Tifa quickly pitched in. She raised a finger to silence Cloud. "Don't argue for once. Accept the help." She gave him a firm look.

Goofy and Donald glanced at each other and wisely kept their mouths shut, staying out of it.

On the outside Cloud only stared at Tifa with a blank, almost annoyed look. On the inside he was panicking. Once Tifa made a decision it was hard to get her to change her mind unless you ran away and hid from her. It was something Cloud had learned over the past few years. This time around there was nowhere to hide and a Zax back on the ship. He was pretty much speechless.

Leon rolled his eyes only to look up at the ceiling of the house. He was used to this type of scene from the rare times he had actually seen the two interact. Tifa would be persistent and Cloud would find some way to bolt as subtly as possible. He figured he might as well save Cloud the trouble for once. "Tifa, how are you going to do that when you're supposed to be helping us? One less person in our group means a lot less help for us I hope you know and we just explained that we're not fairing very well."

"Yeah, yeah, Tifa." Yuffie patted he woman's shoulder. Yuffie easily took the hint; Cloud was radiating despair, despite his stoic expression. Her mighty ninja senses at work. "Too bad, too bad. You won't get to continuously follow Cloud like some love sick puppy." Sighed as if it were truly tragic, this earned her an angry shove from the woman.

"Cloud needs me more guys. Besides, Vincent is back." Tifa pointed at the cloaked man. "He'll fill in for me. You have plenty of people. It's been pretty quiet this last week." She looked back to Cloud, her brows furrowing.

Vincent took a step back. "I'd like to be left out of this little discussion." He held up both his hands for a moment in front of himself before he continued on. "I feel it would be much safer for me." He glanced at everyone before he dropped his hands and kept a careful eye on Cloud and Tifa.

Cloud shook his head and tried to keep his cool. "I can take care of myself, Tifa. I don't know how many times I need to prove such a thing to you." He lowered his voice, trying not to sound as stern with his words. "Besides, the others are right. Quiet or not you're still needed here. You shouldn't just let a little peace cause you to let your guard down. More people give you a better advantage."

Yuffie nodded. "Since those Heartless lost their brother, they're meaner then ever. I think this is just the quiet before the storm. They're coming up with some nasty plan. BOOM!" She suddenly threw up her arms startling Donald and Goofy. Goofy pulled down his hat further on his head.

Tifa lowered her eyes, her disappointment obvious with her worry. She didn't even glance at Cloud as she spoke. "... You're not telling me something. I know it." She hugged herself, hanging her head. "I can feel it."

Cloud shook his head at Tifa's words while he tried not to show anything in his expression. "I'm not hiding anything from you, Tifa. Why would I do such a thing? You're thinking about this way too much." He gave a sigh. "It's not that I'm hiding something. It's just...just..."

"Just the usual angst that he has to deal with on his own time." Leon spoke up for Cloud since the other man seemed to be at a loss for words at the moment. He shrugged a shoulder as if what he said was obvious. "It's the truth."

Cloud had immediately turned his attention on Leon and tried not to glare at him. "You have no room to talk. Some people just tend to handle their problems differently, but this isn't even about that." He looked back at Tifa after he rolled his eyes at Leon. He felt horrible for lying to the girl, but it was all to keep the truth about Zax hidden. "I just really want to help find Sora, especially if he can be the one to bring the peace back. He might even be able to help you guys."

"I hope so. These Turk guys, they don't play nice." Yuffie pointed a finger with a scowl. "We could use all the help we can get." She stretched out her arms to gesture to the room. "We need to expand." She cocked her head in Leon's direction, giving a cheeky grin. "We're going to need a bigger house, Leon."

"Don't remind me." Leon had to force himself not to groan at Yuffie's remark. Their current living space had started to become a little cramped. Even with just Cloud, Donald and Goofy visiting it was more then crowded where they were currently standing. "It's hard not to notice considering I live with you people."

"Well, there you go. Just another reason why I shouldn't bother staying." Cloud spoke up after Leon's misery. He looked over at Yuffie and shook his head. "And I can't imagine these guys being all that difficult. Look at everything Sora has done and then think about it again. I'm pretty sure once we find him everything will go back to normal." He hoped.

"So what are you doing standing here?" Yuffie shouted as she turned around and pushed Cloud from the side. "Go find us our Keyblade Master and send him our way!" She continued to push him towards the door. "No time to mope! Go, go, go, go!"

Tifa gave a start, not wanting Cloud to leave just yet. She'd just seen him after a good many months of not seeing him. "Hey! Now Yuffie! Don't be rude. Cloud doesn't have to go just yet!"

Cloud allowed himself to be pushed, watching Donald push Goofy out of the doorway unless they wanted to be trampled. It was Tifa's voice which caught his attention and had him looking over his shoulder back at his friend. "Actually, Tifa, I should be going." He dug his heels in the floor, stopping Yuffie's further pushing and letting out a noise as the girl nearly ran into him. He shrugged his shoulders at her before he looked back at Tifa. "I only came to pick up a few supplies and other such things. I didn't mean to stay even this long." He almost flinched, knowing those were probably the worst words to say.

Tifa did flinch, but she didn't look away from Cloud. She hugged herself a little tighter. "I... I just want you to know you're always welcome here. Even in your darkest hour, don't think that you aren't welcome." She smiled just a little. "We're all a family."

"She's right y'know.", Yuffie piped up in Tifa's favour for once. She patted Cloud's arm. "Don't be a stranger, okay." She grinned up at him.

In that instant Cloud felt guilty for the secret he was keeping from everyone, but if it really was for the best he'd continue to keep his mouth shut. "Yeah, I know all that." He spoke the words as even as he could and gave one last glance at everyone before he turned his attention on Donald and Goofy. "Come on you two. Let's get what we need and get out of here."

Donald was perfectly fine with that. He was afraid someone might try to pin Cloud down and make him stay once again. Then they would never get anything done in his eyes. He opened the door to let them out, pushing Goofy on the back to guide him out before they could be stopped.

Cloud rolled his eyes at the two, remembering that he still had to be alone with them for a little while longer to pick up some things. With a final wave to his friends he left the cramped house to follow the two, knowing Zax was more then likely going nuts by now.

-

The market area was rather busy. Even with the problems Cloud had heard about it seemed people weren't ready to crawl into hiding with just yet; they were rather used to crisis by now.  
Goofy and Donald had gone off to find Cid to find gummi parts for the ship; navi gummis and other such useful items that would help them to other worlds in their search. They left Cloud to pick up what he needed, the sword, and other such items. The two animals were used to Sora taking charge of the munnies; the teen had a knack with buying just the right accessories for battle.

A gentle hand placed itself on Cloud's arm. "You seem different." The kind female voice spoke up. Not outspoken enough to be Tifa's. "Not on the outside; you look the same. But on the inside. Dare I say it, you look happy." The woman giggled quietly. "Amidst all the worry plainly on your face."

Cloud had nearly jumped at the touch, only to have his eyes settle on the one person in Radiant Gardens he had been trying to avoid more then others. "Aeris..." He hesitated after the name, not sure how to answer the woman's words. He settled on something simple, hoping it didn't give away anything. "Is that so? I haven't really noticed myself."

Aeris slipped her arms behind her back and leaned forward to peer up at Cloud as she always did. But her expression remained softly cheerful. She turned her head left and then right as if searching for something before she finally pointed. "There." Her finger landed Cloud's chest. "There it is. That's where you're smiling." Aeris leaned back as she gave a smile herself.

Cloud had watched Aeris' every movement. It was her last few actions which actually had him a little surprised, but not all too much. He knew he felt much better then he had for a long time, but he didn't think he was all that easy to read. With narrowed eyes he looked back up at Aeris and tried his best to remain neutral to the conversation, considering the reason _why_ his mood had changed. "You can tell all this just by looking at me?"

Aeris placed her finger on her cheek. "Woman's intuition, I guess. I suppose to the untrained eye you would seem unchanged." She lowered her hand. "But I think I would say you're in a very good mood, Cloud."

"I think the others would probably disagree with you on that one." Cloud shook his head. "But, if you say I'm in a good mood then I'll take your word for it. I do feel better then I usually do." It was an understatement, but it was all he would say as far as his mood went since it was all he really could say.

Aeris tilted her head. "And you're not going to tell me why, are you." She seemed to pluck the thought straight from Cloud's head. She crossed her arms behind her back giving a soft laugh. "I didn't think so. You tend to keep the good news to yourself along with the bad."

"I have my reasons. Believe me." Cloud mumbled the last couple of words to himself, but allowed a small smirk to cross his face. If only for Aeris' sake. The girl really wasn't all that bad and was one of his closest friends. Not at all as pushy as Tifa, but still close. "Besides, I think all of you here have more things to worry about then what's going on in my life at the moment."

The woman nodded. "True, but it's something we think about all the time. It's nice to escape that for a moment and hear about something else once and a while." Aeris glanced around them. "So, what kind of shopping are you doing here?"

"Just the usual." Cloud tried to answer as casually as he could. "We were running low on supplies in the ship so we're just picking up a few things. Donald and Goofy went off to get some new parts for it from Cid and I'm just rounding up some things we'll need in general. Then we're off again."

"It's nice to see you helping someone, even if it isn't our own little group." Aeris looked up at Cloud's face. She shyly looked away and smiled. "I have missed seeing you around here. I hope you've been taking care of yourself. Since you won't let anyone else do it for you." She gave him a teasing poke at his middle.

Cloud rubbed at his stomach once Aeris pulled her hand back and tried his best to smile. It was a failed attempt and in the end he shrugged since he felt bad for such an awkward conversation with the woman on his own part despite her knowing nothing. "Yeah, I've been fine. I'm here, so I must be doing something right. Sorry I've kept away so long." It was the least he could say.

"It's alright. I'm sure you have good reasons why." Aeris knitted her fingers together. "You always do. Anyway, I don't mean to keep you. Would you like some help with your shopping?"

Cloud looked around the market district. In all honesty it really couldn't hurt to have some help. All he needed to pick up were supplies for a trip. As soon as he had to leave to pick up his sword he would easily part ways with Aeris and that would be that. "Sure, why not." He glanced back at Aeris and gave a quick nod. "Of course I'm just looking to get the usual potions, ethers and elixirs. I don't have the munny for anything special. This search has been a bit of a pain."

Aeris smiled, happy she could help. "Who are you searching for?" She paused. "You didn't lose the Keyblade Master did you?" She shrugged when Cloud stared at her in surprise. "Well, you said you're with Donald and Goofy, but you didn't mention Sora. And it's hard to over look Sora. I'd expect him to be eagerly tailing after you, talking up a storm, annoying you to no ends." She giggled. "Sorry, it wasn't woman's intuition this time."

Cloud sighed and shook his head. "Well, you're halfway right. I'm not the one that lost him. You can thank Donald and Goofy for that. Besides, I don't need Sora here to annoy me; those two are doing a fine job of it already. I actually wish Sora was here to keep them in line." He turned around to start looking around the small market, taking his time so Aeris could keep in step behind. "Right now things are looking a little hopeless."

"Well, why don't you think about what Sora would do if he were in your situation. You're with Sora's friends and you're looking for Sora." Aeris tapped her lips as she looked at the shops new and old that were set up. She tapped Cloud's arm to get his attention and pointed to a store run by a duck in a purple mask, cape and a broad rimmed hat. "That store is rather good I hear."

"I make it a habit to try and not think like Sora. Somehow I find it to be much safer for me." Cloud looked in the direction Aeris had pointed and blinked. It was a new shop, that was for sure. He had obviously been gone far longer then he thought. More and more people were building over the time he had been away. "Well, if you heard it was good then I guess I'll give it a shot." He made his way over to the small store while in the back of his mind he started to wonder if any humans would ever run the stores in Radiant Gardens.

When Cloud and Aeris stepped up to the stand there wasn't anyone to be seen. Then suddenly there was a puff of purple smoke that appeared behind the counter.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night- I am the X in the X-potion that heals the HP of Justice! I am- DARKWING DUCK!" The masked duck held his cape out dramatically waiting for the smoke to clear before he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at his two new customers. "So, what can I do for you two civilians today?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Sorry, one beautiful lady", he tilted his hat in Aeris' direction with a charming grin, "and one rather bland, normal, civilian." He just gave Cloud a bored nod.

Cloud stared at the strange duck with little more then a blank look on his face. He kept his eyes on the store owner for a few more seconds until he finally turned his eyes away, back on Aeris. "You said this store was rather good? I'm starting to doubt your judgment."

Aeris smiled with a shrug. "Yuffie told me it was rather good."

"Hey- hey! Judge not, lest ye be judged, boring sir." Darkwing glowered before he coughed into a hand regaining his composure. He stepped back and gestured with a hand to the shelves with items on them. "I promise you, I have high quality stock for a reasonable price. Just take a look for yourself."

Cloud had shot a look back at the duck for the one small remark he had made. He didn't have the time to argue though. He turned his attention away while he leaned against the counter and looked towards the items that were on the shelves. A few weapons that were useless to him. Some gems strewn about. Mostly things he wasn't all that interested in, but he could see the few reasons why Yuffie would find it rather interesting with just a simple glance. "I'll just take some simple potions, Elixirs and such, if you have those. As long as your reasonable price really is reasonable." He muttered loud enough for the duck to hear.

"'And such' coming right up!" Another duck from the back room enthusiastically shouted before Darkwing had a chance to open his bill. This duck wore an old fashion pilot's outfit, pilot goggles snuggly (perhaps _too_ snuggly) fashioned on his head. The pilot duck grabbed a good many items from the shelf and dumped them all into a bag, which made Darkwing cringe at the sound of bottles clanking against each other.

"Launchpad be careful!" Darkwing hissed.

"Oh, yeah, sorry DW." Launchpad dusted his hands off and pulled the draw string of the bag closed. "That'll be a hundred and twelve munny." He leaned over to grin at Darkwing and winked. "My lucky number. S'how many times I crashed on my first flight."

Darkwing stared at him. He glowered, yanking down his hat over his masked face as he growled. "Elixers are worth more alone." he murmured angrily to himself. "We're going to go out of business with you 'helping'."

Cloud reached out with a sigh to grab at the bag while he dug in his belt for the munny he was using for their search. "Don't worry about it." He pulled out extra then what he was told and handed it over, giving a quiet sigh over the fact it left him nearly broke. "We better not use all of this up in one go." After those words he turned back to Aeris and shook his head. "Try not to take Yuffie's advice so much. I learned that plenty of times."

Aeris gave a soft giggle. "I didn't take her advice, you did. And they seem very nice." She patted Launchpad on the bill; the duck gave a swooning sigh and promptly fell over.

Aeris blinked but soon giggled again. She smiled at Cloud. "Well you got your items. Is there anything else you need?"

Cloud shrugged a shoulder since he was mostly hesitant to answer. He didn't want to lie, but he could get by with saying as few words as possible. "Only a few things that I left behind. Nothing major, so, it's no big deal. I'll just pick what I need up then head out."

Aeris took a few steps before turning to face Cloud, her dress fluttering with the graceful movement. "Well I guess this is goodbye then." She crossed her arms behind her back, leaning forward as she always did to see Cloud's face since he always hid his true expression by keeping his head and gaze down. "You don't need to say it; I know you want to be by yourself. And that's alright."

Cloud took a small step back since his personal space was nearly invaded. Aeris' words had him almost giving a small smile, but he kept it hidden as best he could, shaking his head instead. "I don't think I'll ever be able to hide anything from you." He swung the small bag he held between his fingers. "Thanks for understanding, though." The words were spoken quietly.

Aeris nodded with a smile. "Of course." She straightened and gave a sly look. "Although, I should warn you." She pointed across the way at the corner of the market. "You're being stalked by ninjas."

Cloud almost groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me." He raised a free hand to rub at his head, hoping it would sooth the ache there. "Maybe I really should have stayed away from here. No offense or anything." With careful movements he dropped his hand to glance back at exactly who Aeris had pointed out.

The top of a head, black hair and brown eyes could be seen below a bandana. When Yuffie realized she'd been seen when she peeked she gave a squeak and clumsily crashed back behind the shop she was hiding behind.

Aeris laughed. "It can't be helped. We're all so curious where you go, and why it keeps you away for so long. Some, more than others." With quick steps she walked over to Cloud and stood on her tippy toes to place a quick kiss to the man's cheek. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you aren't followed." Aeris stepped back a few steps, a sad smile crossed her face.

Cloud seemed surprised at the gesture. It wasn't something he had been expecting at all to be quite honest. He was speechless for a few moments before he finally allowed that one smile to slip. "Thanks, Aeris." He started to make his way away from the woman. "Don't worry about me too much. I'll be back here in no time. I did tell the others I'd bring Sora, so I suppose I have to come back." With those amused words he turned and started on his way to pick up his sword and with that they would finally be able to leave.


	27. Chapter 27

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 27

After a good hour or so of searching through his old abandoned home in Radiant Garden for the sword he had been trying to find, Cloud had left to hunt down Donald and Goofy. It didn't take nearly as long to find the two as he thought it would which he was thankful for. He half expected to run into more people around the district, but there was to be no one else in sight as they made their way back to the hanger. He figured it was mostly Aeris' doing and silently thanked her for it.

As soon as they neared the ship Cloud reached a hand out to press the button that would open the hatch. When the door opened he allowed Donald and Goofy to make their way inside first and followed after, but tried to be as quiet as possible. He had no idea whether Zax would have fallen asleep out of pure boredom or not and didn't want to take any chances.

From the left of his blind spot Cloud was tackled with a Zax roar; the man was truly bored and stir crazy.

"Welcome home." Zax grinned devilishly at Cloud.

Cloud hadn't been ready for the sudden tackle and was caught off guard, falling on his back with Zax on top of him. It wasn't the most comfortable position, considering the two swords he had been lugging around on his back and the fact he nearly hit his head on the ship's floor.

With a small groan Cloud stared up at Zax with little more then an annoyed glance as he tried to balance the bag he had been carrying with the items he had bought. "Good to see you too. I take it you've been bored." It wasn't really a question.

"You're losing your touch." Zax laughed, straddling Cloud's middle quite comfortably. He had been extremely bored; he found Cloud owed it to him to be a convenient chair for the moment. "Several years ago you would have seen me coming." He tsked. Goofy and Donald had gone off to update the ship, leaving them to their own devices. So Zax leaned down, his eyes slipped half way closed, the grin spreading. "I think you're getting old." Zax pressed a quick kiss to Cloud's frowning lips.

Cloud blinked his eyes as soon as Zax pulled away and the frown finally left, but his eyes stayed narrowed. "Well, I didn't expect to be tackled the moment I stepped foot on the ship. You'd think I'd be allowed some sort of peace in at least this small space." He shook his head before he let it fall back down onto the floor, not caring that he was a chair for Zax. "You were right we should have stayed away from here. We know too many people." He was obviously annoyed.

"Expect the unexpected. Especially when it's me who's locked up in a tiny ship made of candy." Zax rested himself on his arms on the floor, hanging over Cloud. "What? Did Tifa stalk you? I told you she would." He didn't give Cloud time to answer kissing him again.

Cloud's words were muffled behind Zax's lips. He thought of trying to protest further since they weren't the only two on the ship, but his mind was lost to the other's actions. Soon, the bag fell from his one hand so he could wrap both around Zax's neck while he eagerly returned the kiss as his eyes slipped shut.

Zax grinned against Cloud's lips. "Mmm, who missed who, hm?" He chuckled. "But don't let me stop you from telling about your grand adventures." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Cloud's jaw. "In the great outdoors." He followed down to attack the side of Cloud's neck with a few playful kisses.

The tension that Cloud had been feeling slowly left with each kiss Zax gave him. It was hard for him to concentrate on what he wanted to say because of such thing, but he tried his best not to make it known, despite the small noises that slipped past. "W-Well, I did run into T-Tifa." He tried to sound as casual as he could while he ran a hand through Zax's hair. "She nearly took my arm off dragging me around. The others were there as well when we went to see Leon."

Zax playfully nipped at Cloud's neck, running a hand up his chest. "Any good news?" He grinned against skin before he attacked Cloud's neck with his mouth again while the other man answered him.

Cloud was losing any coherent thought he had left in his brain. He could only focus on what Zax was doing to him and it caused him to give the shortest answer possible. "No, not really." He left it at that before he pulled Zax up by his hair so he could crush their lips together once more.

All sounds Zax made were muffled against Cloud's mouth, but he didn't care. For once Cloud's limited answers suited him just fine. He pressed closer to Cloud, but noticed the man below him didn't lie comfortably. Zax peeked his eyes open, blinking when he noticed something. He parted from Cloud's lips, licking his own after. "Um, you're lying on a sword thing." He reached over to poke at it.

Cloud swatted Zax's hand away while he was reminded of how uncomfortable he really was. "Yeah, I know. Get off of me." He pushed at Zax, and with a bit of effort, was able to be free of the other man so he could sit up to stand on two feet again. Cloud pulled the one sword he had been using the entire trip free from his back and handed it over to Zax. "I believe this is yours." With that he used his other hand to pull the other sword that had been resting, crossed over the other, on his back and held it in his free hand. The blade didn't look too different from the one he previously held, but it was easy to see that it could be broken apart in several different pieces. "And this is mine." He smirked.

Zax took his sword back. He twirled it though there wasn't much room to do so; just a quick flick, getting used to his old weapon. "Thanks." He looked at Cloud's new sword, cocking a brow. "Compensating?" Zax grinned. "Oh sure, you get the fancy new weapon while I get the third handed sword." He rested the Buster sword down. "So where did you get that thing? It looks expensive." He tilted his head and rubbed his chin.

Cloud had glared at Zax for his one little remark, but let it slide. If only because he had to figure out how to explain how he had actually come across such a weapon. "Well, it was pretty expensive. I mostly had to have it customized, but I did odd jobs to get up the money. Nothing too annoying, though." He placed the large weapon on his back once more and shook his head. "It was mostly collecting dust until now. I forgot how long I was away from this place to be honest."

Zax did the same with his old sword, sheathing it on his back. "Nice." He put his hands on his hips and grinned at Cloud. "I suppose this is where I give my gratitude and say how much I was wrong, and you were right for coming back here and giving me back my sword." He twirled a hand and shrugged. "Alright, I owe ya." He grinned more. "Thanks."

"I think tackling me and nearly kissing me into the floor of the ship was gratitude enough." Cloud tried his best to smile, but it was Zax's words which reminded him of the fact that coming back had alerted him to other things that had started to happen. He tried to forget about it though, and moved the topic onto other things. "I ran into Aeris." He glanced to the side away from Zax. "That was rather awkward, considering."

Zax was a little startled at that, though he shouldn't have been. He'd just hoped Aeris could be avoided altogether. With a sigh he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms with a nod. "Yeah." He hung his head a little; he didn't have much he wanted to say on the topic of his old girlfriend. "Is she doing okay?"

Cloud fidgeted with his sleeve. It was something he rarely did, but he found he didn't act like his usual stoic self whenever Zax was around. "Yeah, she's doing okay. She said I actually seemed happy even if it wasn't written all over on my face." He seemed as if he were about to say more, but closed his mouth and shrugged a shoulder.

"And?" Zax nodded encouragingly. When Cloud didn't answer he spoke on. " _Are_ you happy?" He tilted his head while he regarded Cloud.

Cloud only glanced over at Zax for a split second at the question. "Hmm, yeah. Of course I'm happy." He looked away again while he took to leaning against the wall as well. "First time in a long time I have been, I guess you could say." He let his hands fall to his sides as his eyes stayed glued to the floor.

Zax leaned closer to Cloud, looking over the other man's expression. "Theeen, why do you look as if someone stole your pet chocobo," He leaned closer still, "plucked it, deep fried it, and served it to you for lunch."

Cloud raised his head to give his friend a rather horrified look. "That's disturbing. Couldn't you have come up with some other example?" He didn't give Zax time to respond before he shook his head, letting it fall back against the wall once more before he spoke up again. "It's nothing really. Besides, I thought I always looked like this?" He glanced at Zax out the corner of his eyes.

"No, sometimes you have a personality." Zax chuckled. "But you seem, erm, well, sadder than normal. Something on your mind?" He stuck his face right close to Cloud's with a smirk. "Don't make me kiss you." He grinned his teeth. "Cuz I'll do it." He squiggled his brows. "And in public. I know how much you like showing your emotions out in the open."

Cloud managed to crack a small smile at Zax's threat. If it could even be called that. "Somehow, I don't really feel any fear right now." He shook his head and moved away from the wall to step close to Zax. As soon as he was near the other he raised one hand to hold Zax's own. "Sometimes I wish I couldn't be read so easily. It's annoying." He let out a sigh after those words and glanced away again. "There are some problems here in town."

Zax straightened a little. Guilt began to pour in, and it was easy to tell by the concern that crossed his face. "What's wrong?" He gave Cloud's hand a squeeze. "It isn't that Organization XIII is it?"

Cloud shook his head. "No, it's not them. It's..." He hesitated. The look on Zax's face made him wish he had never spoken up to begin with. Maybe it really had been a mistake to drop by Radiant Garden. He didn't want to trouble Zax with everything he had just heard, but Zax always figured him out so easily. "It's nothing, just some Heartless." He tried his best to leave it at that while he continued to avoid Zax's gaze.

Zax frowned. "So there's still Heartless here? Well... I'm sure Leon has it under control, right?" He gave a weak smile. "He usually does. Everyone has handled piddly Heartless before. It... shouldn't be a problem, right?" But Cloud's expression didn't seem to help ease his worry.

Cloud kept silent for a few long minutes. He wasn't sure how to answer. It was so hard to lie to Zax, but he didn't want his friend to try and do anything stupid, either. "They aren't normal Heartless." He settled on the truth since guilt would only try and plague him as well. "There were three of them. Only two now. Leon and the others have been having problems and a new group is stepping in and trying to take over. Some of the people in town trust this new group more then Leon and them." He finally raised his eyes to look at Zax. "Especially since this new group, Shinra, were the ones to take out one of the Heartless."

Zax took a step back in surprise, still anchored by Cloud's hand holding his. His brows furrowed and he turned towards the wall. "... So they aren't okay." He punched the wall.

Cloud narrowed his eyes at his friend's distress and a small frown tugged at his lips. It was the exact reason why he didn't want to say anything, but he had already spoken up, he couldn't stop. "Shinra has sent their own group called The Turks into town to try and shut Leon down a few times." He looked down at the floor of the ship. "I told them I was looking for Sora. They think I'm searching for him and that I'll be able to bring him back. I didn't tell them anything about Ikkuris."

Zax let go of Cloud's hand, stepping away a few steps. He dragged a hand through his hair. Suddenly all his previous worry about his friends knowing seemed pointlessly minute in scale versus the crisis at hand. Still, Ikkuris had yet to be found. Organization XIII, Shinra, Heartless, Nobodies; it was just too much.

Zax found himself pacing and quickly he stopped, turning sharply to face Cloud. "One of us should stay."

Cloud's head snapped back up at that. It shocked him to hear such a thing when a while back Zax had been so against them even returning to Radiant Garden. "One of us?" He echoed the words back in a question. "Why one of us? You asked me if our talk went over my head, what about you? You're the one that didn't want to come back here." He felt guilty at those words, but he was starting to worry about Zax again. "Besides, Leon has help."

"Yes, but not our help." Seriousness took Zax. "This is different. This is Radiant Garden we're talking about. Our home. Our people. Our town." His hands tightened into fists at his sides. "Not only are the bad guys trying to take down our little group, but the good guys too." His brows furrowed determinedly. "We can't just run away from this. It's just... it's too selfish." He frowned. This was self hypocrisy if ever he'd heard it.

Cloud didn't know what to say to all of that since Zax was pretty much right. He couldn't really argue against him. Still, he had been the one to give into what Zax had wanted so the two of them could live more peacefully then they had before. It had him at least trying to find some way out of it; selfish or not. "What about Ikkuris? We were trying to look for him to begin with."

"...That's why only one of us will stay." Zax quietly answered. "And one of us will go... continue to look for Ikkuris. There's Donald and Goofy, that's enough. There doesn't need to be two of us."

Cloud shook his head as soon as the words left Zax's mouth. "No way. We're supposed to be looking out for each other now. How are we supposed to do that when we're apart?" He was being stubborn about the situation, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to keep Zax with him for as long as he could with no worries. "I told them that I'd find Sora and bring him back. They were satisfied with that answer. Why can't we just leave it at that?"

Zax's shoulders went slack as sadness crossed his face as he looked at Cloud. "... Would you feel right leaving it like that?" He raised his hands looking from one to the other as if weighing fates on his very palms. "Leaving our friends, hell, our family behind." Zax curled his fingers lightly. "... What if what happened to me... happens to... -to someone else?" He offered his hands to Cloud, showing his palms, as if the other man knew more than he.

Cloud grabbed both of Zax's hands and glared at the other man as best he could. "That still doesn't mean I want anything to happen to you all over again. Sure, I'm worried about everyone. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. Still, you know how I feel about everything right now." He looked down at their hands and after a few moments let go to allow his own to fall back down to his sides. "Neither of us should have to choose."

Zax gave one last look to his hands before he lowered them to his sides, curling them into fists. He slowly shook his head, unsure. It wasn't a decision he wanted to follow through on. Still, he would feel responsible if anything was to happen to anyone. Zax found it safer to keep quiet.

Cloud took comfort in the silence no matter how tense it really was. He had always been one to keep to himself, so it didn't really bother him despite the situation which brought it on. As long as it could buy them some semblance of time, Cloud didn't really care. Instead he rested once more against the wall while the quiet moment dragged on. His gaze once more fell to the floor of the ship.

Zax crossed his arms. Unfortunately unlike Cloud, Zax didn't like the quiet, and more often than not he filled it with his own rambling voice. Chattering on like an idiot soothed his nerves; no matter how stupid or childish he sounded. But he couldn't find it in himself to be the one to speak up. He knew it would probably be something neither one of them wanted to hear.

After a long while Cloud glanced up to narrow his eyes on Zax. After everything they had said to each other it was hard to believe that they had to push aside what they wanted as quickly as they had settled on it. They seemed to have no choice, though. Cloud knew it. "Who would stay?" The question was quiet when it was asked, but Cloud already felt he knew the answer. He was just too afraid to think about it himself.

Zax gave a startled sound. He hadn't expected Cloud to cave so easily. And for a second he was disappointed that he did. Zax slowly shook his head; he wasn't sure he wanted to answer that question. "I- I dunno."

Cloud frowned at the answer he got and looked away once more. Neither of them really seemed very much into the idea, despite Zax having brought it up to begin with and how important he made it seem. "We should just make Donald and Goofy stay." The words were spoken stubbornly while Cloud crossed his arms. He knew such an idea wouldn't make a bit of difference, but he didn't care.

A smile actually cracked across Zax's lips, and soon a laugh left him. It lightened the tension, at least for him. That's what he liked about Cloud.  
Zax walked over to Cloud, staying close. He raised a hand to brush away blonde hair near the other's cheek. "The animals away and us with the ship to ourselves." He grinned just a little. "How very selfless of you."

Cloud had glanced back up at the touch. It had been Zax's laughter which caused a small smile to form on Cloud's own lips, though he tried to hide it as best he could. "Of course it is." He turned his head only a little to have a better view of his friend. "Leon needs help, right? There's nothing wrong with letting those two stay instead. We'd get this whole ship for our own and some peace and quiet along with it."

"I think the Keyblade Master wouldn't appreciate you shipping his friends off to fight our battle." Zax subtly stroked Cloud's cheek. "A little birdie told me he already beat your ass once. Going for twice now?"

Cloud's eyes widened at that remark before he scowled. He didn't pull away from the simple touch, but it was easy to tell he wasn't pleased over the fact Zax knew of such a thing. "I was going easy on him." The words were mumbled as he glanced away once more and stayed silent afterwards. It took a while for him to speak up again. "I'd just rather us not be separated. That's all."

Zax stepped near, leaning his head against Cloud's. "I know. It makes everything we talked about before moot." He ran a hand through Cloud's hair. "And it's very hard to look out for someone when they're worlds away. I'm not sure who'd worry about the other more." His smile faltered a little. "Still... I feel so guilty."

"I do too..." Cloud spoke the words softly while he leaned into the touch. "I just wish there was some way for all of this to be easier. I know you don't want the others to find out about anything, but if we're going to help out I'd rather us both stay." He shook his head disturbing Zax's hand. "But, then no one would be able to look for Ikkuris or Sora. So, either way we're screwed."

Zax pressed a small kiss to Cloud's lips. "After we find the kid we can come back and help them. Fight the good fight." His throat danced with an uneasy swallow. His smile left him completely. "... Even though I begged you not to anymore." He quietly spoke, hanging his head.

Cloud lifted both of his hands to grab hold of Zax's own and keep them held tightly. With a small movement he leaned his head down to press a quick kiss on both then stood up straight so he could press another kiss to his friend's lips. A sad smile fell across his face after the action and he shrugged a shoulder. "There are just some things we can't avoid no matter how much we'd like to."

Zax tried to smirk. "Well, what if I do this?" He pressed a much more lingering kiss to Cloud's lips. "Would that make a difference?"

"Mmm, it helps." Cloud tried hard to hide the smirk that wanted to show on his face. "I don't think it's going to change the fact we have to fight, though. No amount of kisses can do that. You're out of luck there I'm afraid." He shook his head and glanced down at their hands.

Zax gave a weak smirk. "I dunno. I can try can't I? Maybe I can convince you not to." He moved his hands in Cloud's so he could grip the other man's hands back. "Maybe convince myself at the same time." His words were half a joke and he leaned forward to capture up Cloud's mouth.

Cloud didn't resist at all and eagerly pressed back. He knew they were only delaying what needed to be done, but it was just fine with him. If that's what Zax wanted he'd go right along with it. The small noise he made was muffled against Zax's lips and his hands nearly went slack in the other's grip.

Zax didn't think twice as he suddenly pushed Cloud up against the gummi ship walls. He pinned Cloud's hands there in a tight grip as he pressed a harder deeper kiss. When he barely parted from Cloud's mouth to speak, he couldn't help the wicked grin, "How about now? Convinced?"

The kiss had almost left Cloud breathless. He twisted his hands as best he could against the wall underneath Zax's own while he grinned up at his friend. The small bit of distance that kept them apart had him itching to lean forward and close the gap as soon as possible. "No. Not really."

"Convinced about whut, Cloud?" Goofy's voice startled Zax and he tried to halt himself from another kiss and ended up clunking his head against Cloud's forehead rather hard.

Zax staggered back from Cloud, rubbing his own forehead. "Ooww. Mph. Sorry Cloud."

Cloud had hissed in pain at the rather painful collision. He raised his sudden free hands to rub at his forehead, hoping that would be enough to dull the new ache that it caused, but it did little if anything to help. "Damnit." He mumbled the curse under his breath before he glanced from Zax then over to Goofy, trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt. "Nothing, Goofy. Do you need something?"

The dog blinked and gave a shrug. "We're done." Goofy grinned. "And ready to set sail!"

Zax sighed, burying his hand in his hair. His disappointment for the interruption was plain to see, even if Goofy couldn't. "Right, good, and not a moment too soon." He sounded less than enthusiastic.

Cloud turned his attention back on Zax when he heard the other's tone of voice. He tried to rub away the rest of the pain from his head even though he knew it was a lost cause and waved Goofy away with a small nod of his head. "Uhh, we'll be there in a second, Goofy. You and Donald just wait for us." He watched as the dog just shrugged a shoulder and left to go back to the front of the ship. As soon as they were alone again Cloud turned his attention back on Zax. "Well?" He stepped closer to the other once more before he went on. "Are you really okay with just leaving?"

Zax glanced at Cloud before looking back down. He shrugged, mostly at a loss. "You?"

The frown returned to Cloud's face and he couldn't help being honest at the moment. "Not entirely." He only frowned more at his own words. "I don't know..." After that he leaned over to rest his head on the wall, but it only hurt it worse and had him quickly moving back with another hiss of pain. "Geez." He quickly rubbed the spot again.

Zax gave a sympathetic smile. "Sorry about that." He grabbed Cloud's shoulders and pushed him to lean his back against the wall. "There. The unsore side." He smiled more. "I really am sorry. I'll cut back on the kissing to save you the headache." He brushed Cloud's hair back from the poor bump.

Cloud tried his best to smile up at Zax, but it was very weak. "You don't have to do that." He shook his head, but pulled Zax closer by the other's shirt, keeping him near. "We're going to feel guilty regardless of whatever we choose to do. We can't really win it seems. We just have to decide on what's right and go along with it."

Zax gave a small nod in agreement. He slipped his arms around Cloud's middle while the other leaned against the wall. He loved being near what he never could before. And what he might not be near again. "Things are complicated. But... we just have to weigh things out: what we want versus what the others need. I mean, can Leon really take care of it with everyone? Should we risk everything? Will history just repeat itself?" The last few words left him quietly.

Cloud glanced away after those words. It was easy to tell they bothered him, but they had to be said. "I think that no matter what we do, we have to face the fact that such a thing could be possible. I mean, look what happened while we were trying to help Ikkuris that one time." Cloud nearly flinched at just the memory. He still felt guilty for becoming a puppet so easily, but he didn't speak up anymore about it. "Leon more then likely does need our help. We just have to decide ourselves how much we're willing to risk."

Zax leaned down so he could rest his head on Cloud's shoulder, holding the other man tighter. "I'm willing to risk it all... and yet nothing." He sighed. "But I think we have to consider what we're going to do with the kid once we find him. Would it be fair to get him back and just dump him off on someone?" Zax shook his head against Cloud's shoulder, realizing something. "Those Organization guys will be constantly trying to get him. He'll need protection." He gave a low frustrated growl, punching the wall.

Cloud looked sideways at Zax's fist and blinked his eyes. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that." He turned his attention back on his friend and tried his best to think things over himself. "We could be his protection. I wouldn't want to just dump him off after everything he's done and I doubt you would want that either." He let out a sigh. "Of course, I guess coming back to all of this wouldn't be one of the safest environments for him to be in."

Zax slumped, mostly on Cloud. "Guess not." He quietly agreed. "Guess we won't be coming back to Radiant Garden and helping out after all. We'll either be on the run or living some peaceful existence on a non-descript planet." He sighed, blatantly conflicted. "We talked about plans, normal life plans, they weren't so bad were they?"

Cloud shook his head right away. "Not at all." He managed a weak smile even though earlier words had been preventing such a thing. He raised one hand to run it through Zax's hair since the other man had deiced to lean against him for the time being. "I thought they would have been a nice change from everything; the fighting and all of that. They weren't bad at all."

"But we're soldiers. We were born to fight. Do you think we can shrug off all we've known, all responsibility to live like everyone else?" Zax sighed, shutting his eyes since Cloud took to petting a hand through his hair. "I like you a lot Cloud... and I don't think I could manage like you did, if I was to lose you." He sadly nuzzled Cloud's neck.

Cloud took his own comfort in Zax's closeness and just barely moved his head to the side as he was nuzzled. "I barely managed. You saw me. I ended up going on my own away from our little group. I just couldn't handle everyone else afterwards." He glanced away near the back of the ship. "It's hard to say what we would and wouldn't be able to do considering we've been fighting for so long. We don't really know unless we do it. That's how I see it at least."

"I guess... we could try?" Zax pushed himself up with the wall so he could be face to face with Cloud once again. "If that's what you want. If that's _really_ what you want."

Cloud turned his head back to stare into Zax's eyes. He kept silent for a long while as he thought over everything they had talked about. In the end he shook his head and gave a simple shrug before he let his eyes fall away once again. "I want whatever is going to keep the both of us happy and near each other for once."

Zax gave a small cheerful smile. "You'll look adorable in a frilly pink wife's apron." He placed a quick kiss on Cloud's lips after the decided teasing.

Cloud blinked his eyes and his protest was muffled until Zax pulled back from the kiss. "No way am I going anywhere near an apron." He narrowed his eyes on the other man. "Besides, I can't cook anyway, remember? You'd be the one wearing the apron." He gave a satisfied smirk at his own words while he moved a hand out to push at Zax's chest to move the other away in a playful way.

Zax gave a soft 'oof' but grinned wider. "Fine, I'll wear the apron. Just for you." He rested his hands on the wall so he could lean nearer to Cloud again. "But," He slunk closer, "only if you wear it and nothing else in the bedroom." He grinned like the Cheshire cat for those teasing words.

Cloud's eyes nearly shot wide open at such words. Of course, they were words that he really should have expected, considering who they came from. Still, it wasn't everyday that Cloud was in such an embarrassed state of mind. His eyes moved around the ship as if at any moment they would no longer be alone. As soon as his attention turned back on Zax his expression was as stoic as it always was except for the smallest hint of a smirk. "Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren't you?"

Zax could barely keep the laughter behind his teeth. "That'a 'no'?" He managed to speak through his grin. He tilted his head and raised his brows; loving that he'd ruffled Cloud's feathers so much for once.

The question backed Cloud in a bit of a corner. He wasn't sure how to respond for a few seconds and opted on staying his usual silent self as he narrowed his eyes on Zax before he avoided the other's gaze once again. Finally after a long moment of silence he shrugged a shoulder and mumbled his next words. "You never know."

Zax grinned from ear to ear. "Good enough for me." He planted a kiss on Cloud's lips. "You're so very disgruntled and miffed at me right now aren't you?" It probably wasn't good for him that it was making him grin more and laugh. "I'm pushing my luck by doing this." He kissed Cloud again. "And this." And again.

Cloud tried his best to keep a scowl on his face, but Zax was making it very difficult. Each kiss had the frown on his face falling away and in the end he soon responded and pressed back into one of the kisses. He refused to let the other get away so easily and pulled Zax closer by his shirt, causing the other man to pin him to the wall of the ship as they kissed, but Cloud didn't really care.

Zax more than happily pressed against Cloud, grinning against the other man's lips. He slid his hands down Cloud's arms capturing his wrists to slam them against the wall to keep him captured up against the wall as he kissed the other more deeply; keeping Cloud from pushing him away. There was no getting away now.

Cloud blinked his eyes in surprise at having his wrists captured so suddenly. He gave a low growl beneath the kiss, but decided not to struggle. It would be useless either way and he didn't really want to. Instead his eyes slipped shut and his body slowly started to go slack after a few moments while any other noises he made were thankfully silenced by Zax's lips.

 _'Um, fellahs?'_ , Goofy's voice spoke up loudly on the ship's PA system. _'Are you gunna be done anytime soon? Hurry it up. We're a'wait'n. We need to find those two soon.'_

Zax paused in mid kiss. With a disapproving groan he parted from Cloud's lips. "Well, that ruined the mood. Rather well."

Cloud opened his eyes only to glare up at the speakers in the ship which Goofy's voice had come from. That was twice the dog had ruined the moment for the two of them and it was seriously starting to annoy him more then he already was with the two. "Well, at least you didn't knock me upside the head this time around." He looked back at Zax while he only slightly twisted his wrists under the other's grip. "We'll just have to continue this later."

It was Zax's turn to pout his disappointment. With a sigh he let go of Cloud's wrists. "I suppose we'll have all the time in the worlds to continue when we find the kid." He went about fixing Cloud's ruffled appearance he'd caused; looking out for Cloud as he always did. He smoothed hair down and tugged down the other's shirts that had some how conveniently tugged up. "Er- _kids_ rather. Everyone needs the Keyblade Master." Zax paused as he gave it some thought. "Never met the kid. Is he everything Leon boasted about?" He smirked. "I've heard and seen the good things myself but, I wanna hear the great Cloud Strife's opinion."

Cloud didn't move away from the wall even though he was finally free. Instead he started to think over the question as he tried to remember the times he had seen Sora and what the boy had done for them all. "Well, he did save the worlds. It may not look like it now, but there can't always be peace forever. Despite so much weight on his shoulders he always seemed way too optimistic for his own good. He's a good kid. Always worried about his friends." Cloud gave a small shrug. "I suppose Leon has a right to boast."

Zax crossed his arms with a grin. "So he drove you batty." He knew Cloud all too well. "In other words." It was hard not to tease Cloud. "It must have been a real kick in the teeth to be beaten by a cheery little boy. Let alone to watch him save the entire universe." He tapped a finger on his own arm.

Cloud glared at Zax for a quick second before he raised a hand to push his friend aside so he could finally move away from the wall. "If you really think that way then I'd like to see how well you fair against him. The kid isn't exactly a push over. That's for sure." He shook his head while he started to walk towards the control center of the ship. "He'd beat you just as easily." His smirk was hidden from Zax since his back was turned to the other.

Zax shrugged as he followed. "Wish I could have been there, to see that kid in action, to see him save everything. I bet it was great. Everyone happy." He grinned at Cloud's back. "Bet the entire group had a party." He poked Cloud's shoulder blade. "And I bet you were there for less than two minutes before you went back home to brood."

"I don't do well among large groups of people." Cloud answered truthfully. "Sure, everyone celebrated and we were glad that everything was as normal as normal could be, but I didn't feel like standing around to deal with it all. So, I left after it was all said and done."

"And instead you went back to your room," Zax's voice fell more solemn, "and made a toast to me." His steps slowed, pursing his lips as he wondered if he should have admitted that out loud. So he glanced down. "Remember that question you asked me... Well, the answer is: Yes." Zax stopped, raising a hand to rub his eyes since Cloud's back was still to him. "It did. It made a big difference. And I don't regret it." He lowered his hand, along with his voice. "... All I regret is," He swallowed thickly, "not saying what needed to be said... before leaving you."

Cloud had stopped dead in his tracks and his entire body seemed to have gone stiff. He hadn't expected to hear Zax say such a thing, considering he had never thought his own desperate question would be heard so long ago. It had him staying silent for a long time as he tried to think of something, anything, to say in response to such a thing. "Well..." Cloud finally spoke up softly while he turned his head enough to look back at Zax. "You're here now through miracles even you and I never thought possible." He turned completely and gave a simple smile as he tried to get over his shock. "You get a second chance at everything and anything. So, there should be no regrets any longer."

Zax hesitantly raised his gaze. Cloud's words had his usual smile returning to his face. "You're right. No more regrets." He waved a dismissive hand as if wiping them away right there and then. "For either of us. No more sadness." He grinned a little. "I'm going to fight my damnedest to keep that smile on your face." He walked up to Cloud and rested a hand on his shoulder. "This time around, I won't let your heart down."


	28. Chapter 28

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 28

The fierce attack which had happened in the dark desolate city was something that had been an easy flag to see for those tied to the darkness. It wasn't who controlled the attack, but the size of such power which had gotten quick attention. It was an unusual and rare occurrence, which was exactly what three individuals were looking for.

Near the demolition the three had made their way into the city by portal, though they knew for certain there was nothing amongst the rumble. Through streets they ran the familiar paths that had been taken by others before them not long ago. No breath was lost as none was needed by two thirds of the team.

It was by an alley that feet had skidded to a stop, while one in the group was forced to stop on every limb they had. On all fours he stayed for what had felt like an eternity, staring at the darkness that surrounded the street only lit by one small glowing lamp post. Waiting and watching for the ones that they knew were in a nearby building.

"Wait here." Riku's voice was softer than a breath yet as chilling as the cool wind that swept littered paper and debris on the street they stood on. "... I'll flush them out." He walked forward with no sound to his steps as he soon slipped away into the shadows.

Inside the building itself where the ragtag band of refugees stayed, all had previously taken to their own rooms for healing in their own privacies. Axel had taken to one room with Roxas while he ordered Demyx to stay and guard their pet Nobody. Much to Demyx's chagrin; he wanted to be as near to Axel as Roxas was able, considering what dire moment nearly happened.

Axel lay on a dusty bed with Roxas, previously finding himself having to mend the boy's wounds with bandages much like he had done with Sora. He'd allowed Roxas to keep himself busy from his worry by fixing bandages around Axel's wounds, even though it would do no good since only darkness and time would heal him. But it had fooled Roxas into placation, and the teen had settled for clinging onto the Heartless as they lay there, and hid.

Though soon a heavy feeling crept into Axel's chest, the weight of something far worse that had finally found them. Axel had only felt this dangerous feeling once, on the beach when 'he' had followed Ikurx's light.

Axel's eyes snapped open. "... We're S.O.L."

In the other room where Demyx lay resting unaware a dark shadow drew along the floor boards. It followed along to the edge of the bed, soon trailing up the bed sheets to the foot of the bed where it solidified in form. The itty bitty twitching figure crawled up, leaping to pounce on Demyx's head. The little Heartless had managed to escape from Demyx's beach, and what little purpose and loyalty it still knew to Demyx it decided to warn him of the ominous approach it felt too.

The Heartless yanked on Demyx's hair, its antenna twitching in alarm; what a useless master.

Demyx had nearly shouted out in complete surprise. He was certainly feeling jumpy enough with everything that had been going on lately. The last thing he needed was to have his head taken over by something he least expected. What annoyed him most was the fact his hair was soon being pulled, and as quick as he could he reached up to grab at the small little Heartless that he hadn't expected to see ever again. "Hey! Get off of me!" He yanked and pulled as best he could. "What are you doing? Get off!"

Demyx's shouts and movements startled the Nobody beside him and Ikurx flailed in his surprise thinking they were under attack again. He promptly fell off the bed. A flash of light and angelic keyblade was seen waved and pointed in no real direction as Ikurx scrambled to stand. He blinked when he realized it was no real danger.

"Hey! It's one of the little wigglies." Ikurx grabbed the little Heartless around the middle and pulled it free from Demyx's hair. But the little Heartless refused to sit still in Ikurx's arms, flailing and twitching up a storm. "Whoa! Something's got it spooked."

The Heartless began throwing a veritable tantrum in Ikurx's free arm; both its master and the living body were idiots.

Demyx had been about to shout at the small Heartless once again, hoping it would actually work for once, but something stopped his mouth from opening. He finally had his focus after all the sudden commotion and there was something near which had chills nearly running down every inch of him. "Something isn't right." They were the only words he could think to say as he tried not to go into panic mode. He looked up from the Heartless and at Ikurx instead. "He has reason to be spooked." Demyx was feeling quite the same at the moment.

Suddenly the Heartless stilled in Ikurx's hands. Ikurx himself froze as well. Such a horrific feeling filled up his chest, like liquid ice and death, choking his throat tight so no sound or breath could leave him. He turned his sight onto Demyx where he stood, but now behind the Heartless man there stood a far darker hooded figure.

Ikurx felt as if all life had been gutted straight from inside him leaving him the hollow of non-existence he truly should have been; all at the seconds glance of the hooded figure. And as quick as snipped string Ikurx watched a demonic blade plunge through Demyx's back. The Nobody's eyes blanked out, the farce emotions his body pretended cut off as what should have been absolute horror never came to him.

As casually, as if he'd always been there, the hooded figure leaned over Demyx's shoulder to whisper with pale lips near his ear; his unneeded breath near pure darkness. " _Goodbye_." The blade was sadistically twisted in Demyx's chest.

There was so much pain that Demyx wanted to scream, but he couldn't because of the black that tried to bubble and choke the inside of his mouth. His gaze that had been glued on Ikurx the entire time quickly dropped to the floor as if seeing such an expression on the Nobody's face was even worse then what he was feeling at that moment.

Demyx could feel his legs going weak as black dripped down from the blade and the horrid wound it had inflicted. With the twist he gave a shudder, but with the one word spoken he only gave a sad grin. "Dance...Water...Dance..." The blackness spilled forth from his mouth after the broken command and as he finally slumped over, black water formed in clones as a last defense of dying strength to protect the Nobody.

From over the slumped form of Heartless Demyx the hooded figure 'looked' at Ikurx from behind his blindfold. But it was the angelic weapon the Nobody held that caught his attention. "... A keyblade." The familiar bitter words stung his tongue in their foul taste.

The hooded figure then placed his boot on Demyx's back and his weapon was ripped free as the Heartless was kicked off it. The figure held up his own demonic bladed weapon, a mirror opposite that Ikurx held.

The Heartless fell in a heap on the floor. The blood which had been trickling from the wound was free to pour out on the dirty surface beneath him.

Ikurx had watched from between dancing water clones as Demyx fell. His blank eyes going glossy, but no other true emotions played present on his face. "... It's not fair that you can feel." His voice was so soft and monotone. "... And I can't even feel bad for someone that should mean the most to me." Ikurx brought his eyes up to Riku. "Even if I am just a _thing_ to be used by everyone else." He let the little Heartless drop from his arm. The little thing quickly scrambled over to help Demyx, nudging the Heartless' head desperate with its own. "... At least for a little while he made me feel like a person."

Despite the tiny Heartless' best efforts there was no movement. Skin was rapidly paling worse then it normally was, but still fingers twitched here and there. It was the only movement of the still draining life.

Before the hooded figure could open his pale lips to speak his questions crassly Ikurx immediately cut him off.

"Riku, you're my Somebody." Ikurx narrowed his eyes as he sneered fiercely. "And I loath to know that I'm your Nobody."

Riku yanked off his blind fold, staring at the same oceanic eyes across the room. His heart felt as if it stopped beating. "... You... I'm..."

"You don't deserve to feel!" Ikurx let the angelic keyblade disappear so there was only the keychain in his hand. He held up the star charm for Riku to see. A star, a symbol that hit Riku hard with memories of such perfect times, but it was a symbol for the memory of something far, far worse; the paopu that had gone missing when he'd killed Kairi. Ikurx curled his fingers tightly around the star charm, his arm began to tremble. "And you don't deserve to have a heart!" Ikurx choked on a sob, knowing it was farce in nature only made it that much worse. "... You broke our promise. And you broke his heart." Ikurx clutched the charm to his chest, hugging it, but it filled no hollow nor would ever make the tears he wanted so badly to fall. "...So I broke his heart in two."

Way to Dusk clattered from Riku's hand onto the floor.

The clones that had been conjured found their chance in that one moment of weakness and acted as their own, needing no push from their master to do so. Few stayed around Ikurx to continue to protect the angered Nobody while the rest started to move forward towards Riku in an attempt to attack the teen. The perfect opportunity.

None of them got far at all. Claws were soon ripping through water with ease, tearing the formed clones in half as if they were nothing. Drops of black water rained down from each destroyed creation, but among the mist that trailed from the small body the temporary rain was hard to see.

The last clone was cut down and only the ones protecting Ikurx remained. All was silent again and the small figure that had ripped through them fell back down on two legs, hands dangling between. Dull eyes stared with an unreadable expression at Ikurx while at the same time Sora slowly reached a shaking hand over to cling tightly to Riku's cloak without tearing his eyes away.

"... Sora."

Riku realized it wasn't himself that had said the Heartless boy's name, but his other. He didn't have the life inside him anymore to speak, to move. But unlike Ikurx he was able to have the tears, hot and painful welling up in his eyes. Riku didn't even realize, even as his sight was blurred before him.

Sora blinked slowly at the sound of his name coming from the person that resembled Riku, but yet, at the same time was so much different. "Ikurx..." The name was spoken low as he remembered a calm voice that had tried to help him through a lonely moment. While he kept his eyes on the figure he could also feel the pain radiating off the person beside him and felt a tear drop onto his clawed hand. It finally had him turning his attention away to look up at Riku instead.

Another pair of blue eyes, much more lively then the ones that belonged to the Heartless, had been watching the scene from atop a pair of broken stairs. They had heard enough and seen enough for everything to finally add up in their mind. It was all twisted, but in a way made absolute sense. A smirk had slowly fallen into place upon lips while keyblades were twirled at sides. "This is a bit of irony right here, Riku." Roxas' voice held a teasing, yet biting edge to it. He had gone on ahead of Axel, getting annoyed at the fire user over wounds still yet healed.

Before Roxas could continue his snarky words, blue eyes caught sight of the Heartless that had been his Somebody. Breath caught in his throat and he quickly looked away, trying to seem as calm as he had been moments ago. "Hmm." The keyblades were stopped and held still.

The tension was then set heavily with the new addition to the room. It was after Roxas' words that no other dared to speak. Nor did they dare to move. A stalemate, where no one person knew what to say or do; whether to flee, fight, or scream.

Sora stayed pinned near Riku's side, the taller boy seemed as lost for his situation as his Nobody now was. Ikurx could only watch with blank eyes as Demyx's life emptied onto the floor, the clones still silently guarding him as they shifted about languidly. Roxas was no better, poised for whatever catalyst would erupt in their stand still.  
The one small Heartless had taken to just standing there, twitching, helplessly.

"It's a veritable union we have going on down here." A sarcastic voice behind Roxas spoke up. Axel had wandered down despite Roxas' poignant scolding to stay back. The Heartless man flared his fingers dramatically. "Nobodies, Somebodies, and Heartless- oh my!"

Axel moved to stand beside Roxas, looking from one person to the next and soon the prone body on the floor. His eyes subtly narrowed as he looked back up. "Revenge, salvation, solace, love, hatred, irony, tension and plot twists- we have a little bit of everything here in this room." He pointed a finger, his smirk leaving to something much more sober. "I don't think any of you realize how serious your next move here will be. That what you do, here and now, will dictate all our lives. ... We're all tightly bound to each other, like a mess of tangled string; one wrong snip, and it's not just someone else' life that's severed."

Roxas' attention had immediately snapped towards Axel and his eyes had narrowed once more in worry more then anger. He should have known the Heartless wouldn't listen to him, but for once he had actually hoped his warnings would at least be taken. With a quick roll of his eyes Roxas looked back at the rest of the group while he listened to the words spoken, knowing they were all true. None of them wanted to move and only dared someone else to take the first step.

Sora's attention was taken by the voices which had made themselves known in the room, but it was Axel's that had really done it. Since no one seemed ready to move an inch, Sora turned his eyes away from both Ikurx and Riku to turn them on the two that stood side by side on the stairs. Much like on the beach the hurt he felt seemed to come back ten fold and the expression on his face made it more then obvious. As quick as he looked he turned his head away to stare at the floor beneath him. His hand that clung so tightly to Riku slowly fell away.

It was Ikurx who finally moved in the stand still. He didn't care what hurt came to him; he didn't have the ability to care as a shell of his former. He pushed passed the water clones and hurried to fall to his knees beside Demyx. He didn't care what black smeared on his pale clothing as he turned Demyx away from being face down in his own 'blood'.

A choked sob left Ikurx, loud in the silence that had fallen upon everyone. The Nobody as gently as he could threw his arms around Demyx's, trying to gather the Heartless in his arms, but the blood made everything so hard to grasp. Ikurx clung desperately to Demyx as best he could, the wisps of his own pale hair sticking to the dark blood as he cradled the Heartless' head against his chest.

Roxas watched the scene with a troubled expression on his face. He remembered the sudden talk that Ikurx and he had between the two of them. It had just been something to pass the time to get their minds off of things which had been far too difficult to deal with at the moment. Still, he could remember the Nobody telling him things about Demyx that for some reason he suddenly felt torn over as he watched the Nobody try so very hard to cry for, and blamed it all on the heart he now possessed.

With clenched fists, Roxas held the keyblades at his sides as tight as he could. He was never one to wait for anything and in that moment his own impulsive nature started to take over, more so since he had a heart. His eyes moved from Ikurx to Riku and narrowed dangerously before he made his move away from Axel and started hopping over broken steps to launch himself at the cloaked teen with blades ready.

Riku didn't counter the attack, nor attempt to avoid. The force of blades hitting his body had him staggering back, and he didn't have much energy left save for grounding his feet so he wouldn't fall back. It was the pain that brought Riku back, the black that misted from his wounds where blades had gouged him. He gripped one of the keyblades, keeping the weapon buried in his shoulder.

"Riku!" The teen's name was shouted in an echoed cry as Sora watched the scene in a mix of horror and what fear he could feel. Riku had never let his guard down so easily. It caused Sora to hurry behind Roxas, but he kept completely still as he watched the two and started to hear Riku speak once more.

Riku looked at Roxas with such shattered being, not for the new wounds, but for all the destruction he'd done. "... It was me who did this to Sora. I made Sora into a Heartless, and helped you become a Somebody."

"I'm not you!" Ikurx's scream choked. "I don't hurt people! I don't _kill_ what few friends I have!" He began to tremble once those words had left him, losing his grip on Demyx. "If I had been you, instead of you, I wouldn't have destroyed so many lives."

"If you had been with me- I wouldn't have destroyed so many lives!" Riku shouted back. "I gave into the darkness to save Sora- Kairi; her darkness was going to kill him!"

Ikurx physically flinched, hunkering over Demyx as if Riku made a physical attack instead of words. He sniffled even though his nose wasn't runny, no congestion from true emotion, no tears. "... And the Organization knew it. Marluxia, Larxene, Saïx, Vexen." He listed off the names he'd place to constant familiar faces he'd come to know in his living tug of war. "Zexion helped in my creation. And you killed him. I made him whole again, human again, exactly as they planned, knowing my gift. I was their fail safe." Ikurx ever so gently brushed back Demyx's hair that had fallen onto his face. "... Demyx, Axel. They all knew." He glanced at the now bloody charm still clutched in one hand. "... I was their fail safe... to bring them all back."

With each word Ikurx said, Roxas could feel his eyes widening more and more while locked onto Riku's own. The entire Organization had known all along. Yet he had been the odd one out. That meant that the entire time Axel had kept the fail safe a secret from him. It made sense, but at the same time it hurt. He had left the Organization because he wanted to find answers, but also because he couldn't stand how much he was left in the dark. Even from Axel.

Roxas closed his eyes tightly as he snarled and ripped his blades free from Riku. In a quick second he turned around on his feet to narrow his eyes up at the stairs where the fire user still stood, watching everything unfold. There was hurt in his eyes as they reopened and locked with green ones. "Why didn't you tell me?! You knew the entire time! I asked what was going on and you _still_ kept me in the dark!"

With Roxas' attention diverted Sora took his chance for what his other had done to Riku. There was no care as to what might happen. He was only a Heartless now and his instinct was only to fight. From his place near Roxas he ran forward on all fours and jumped up as dulled eyes changed to glowing yellow and instantly, clawed hands moved out to take a swipe at the blonde.

Roxas had been so focused on Axel that he didn't even notice Sora approaching. Claws landed in skin before he could get away quick enough and Roxas reeled back with a pained noise as blood dropped and splattered to the floor from the new wound that lay across his back. With wide eyes he turned to glare at Sora while he brought up his blades, crossed near his chest, to defend himself against anything else Sora might suddenly try to do.

"R-Roxas." The name was an uncertainty between quiet and alarmed. Axel found himself staring past Roxas when he'd reached the bottom of the stars. His eyes met another's gaze, the only individual standing still across the room; Riku. There was something in Riku's sea coloured eyes that had Axel staring back a moment; they were both fighting for two halves of the same coin, all for the same reasons.  
Axel smirked. There was one very big difference between them though; he'd already died for both sides of Sora.

Chakram flew from either side of Roxas, knocking Sora back from his new leaping attack. Sora hit the wall hard as both chakram made contact and knocked him far across the room. The impact had caused a chilling noise to escape him while the mist around him thrashed about. As soon as he was still the glow in his eyes flickered and faded back to dull blue as he lay still for the time being.

Axel leaned a hand on Roxas' shoulder. He was still badly exhausted from his previous fight with Saïx; though he knew all he'd get for his help was angry scolding from Roxas. "... I can't be blamed for what my Nobody did."

Roxas had watched Sora with wide eyes. He hadn't at all expected Axel to attack Sora in such a way after remembering how Axel's Nobody had fought along side Sora, but he was no longer part of Sora. They were no longer one in the same, so, there was no real need for Axel to care about Sora's well being.

It was the Heartless' words which had Roxas looking up from the hand on his shoulder and up to Axel's face. Suddenly he felt guilty for his earlier shouts. The Organization had kept secrets from him for so many reasons, as did Axel. If he was still a Nobody the guilt wouldn't be there, but at that moment he couldn't help feeling a little bad for his sudden temper. "Yeah...I know." The words were spoken quietly for only Axel while he turned his attention back on the rest of the people in the room.

The black that had been seeping from Riku's wound began to trail back up sealing the wound shut. The excess dark blood simply faded back into the dark clothing the teen wore. Darkness replaced the cracks and missing pieces that had come with Riku's trauma from everything that had been said. Sora's injury had become the catalyst that the dark needed to bring Riku back; a veritably puppet for fury.

The blind fold loose around Riku's neck misted up to coil around, replacing itself to tie around the boy's eyes once again. He took a step forward but the small Heartless impeded his movement, it squeaked as Riku's boot hit its squishy head.

Riku cast his somber 'gaze' down on the twitching creature who only stared up at Riku with perfectly round glowing eyes. He was in no mood for a mindless Heartless who wasn't under his own rule. So with a simple gesture Riku pointed his hand at the Heartless and at his will the last of Demyx's minions was gone with a small internal explosion. Ikurx felt what phantasmal heart he had claimed to have left break at the sight.

Now free of obstruction Riku walked onward, past Ikurx, towards Roxas but it was Axel that his focus remained. He loosely raised a hand to point Axel. "You're a Heartless as well." his voice was even without care. "You can just as easily be removed."

Roxas was quick to be the next thing that obstructed Riku's path despite being much shorter then both Axel and Riku. He looked up at Riku with no fear in his eyes and instead the same hatred he always felt for the teenager that he felt had been one of the main causes for all his problems. "No way." He raised one keyblade up until the tip was close enough to the taller boy's neck. "Like hell I'll let you even try such a thing."

Against the far wall dulled eyes blinked slowly as Sora's body was still wracked with pain. A weak groan left his lips, but despite it all he still heard the conversation and felt every bit of hatred that moved through the room. "R-Roxas...no..." The words were weak and spoken mostly under his breath, too low to really hear.

Riku was unmoved by Roxas' bold words or actions. "You're just a normal human now like Sora was." He moved his pointing finger to Roxas, pointing at the other teen's chest despite the keyblade at his own throat. "You're susceptible to the darkness now just as much as he was; especially now with that heart inside your chest." The corner of Riku's lips tweaked in cold amusement. "You have fears now. Worries. Regrets. All the delicious things the darkness preys upon." He lowered his hand. "And being so new to your emotions, you can't control them. You'll be the easiest to take down."

Riku reached up to pull his hood back over his head, shadows hiding his face most instantly. From under him his shadow spread out along the floor, seeping along to other shadows, causing them to spread as well. The darkness swept along any and all surfaces, leaving nothing but dark in its wake.

"... I can feel your heart beating faster now." The humour in Riku's smirk spread.

Roxas only narrowed his eyes harder at Riku despite how covered up the other teen suddenly was. "It doesn't matter how human I am now. I beat you again and again. I can do it once more." His eyes lowered and a small grin moved across his own lips as he held on tighter to both keyblades. "Do you want to try it, Riku?" There was a teasing edge to his voice. "Do you want to try fighting the one thing that was once so closely bound with Sora? Well," The grin spread further as Roxas' voice changed only slightly and in an eerie way, for just a second, sounded a little like Sora. "Riiiiku?"

"Roxas!" Axel had stayed silent for long enough. This was only asking for trouble. Fighting Saïx had been hard enough, fighting Riku only meant asking for suicide.

But it was too late, Roxas' words had been enough to send Riku into battle, summoning Way to Dusk with no mercy intended.

On the other side of the room Ikurx shook so badly with the darkness all around them now. He finally drew his eyes where the little Heartless had been killed to where a new battle had started. But how it turned out, he couldn't find anything in him to care. He looked down at the still, bloody Heartless in his arms.

"Please wake up." Ikurx's voice trembled so badly it broke. "Mister Demyx. Please. P-Please wake up." He sniffled, soon crumbling over the Heartless as he clutched him tighter. "D-Demyx, I don't want to be here anymore." His voice twisted into a stifled sob.

There was barely a hint of movement under Ikurx as the Nobody tried to breakdown, but it was still there as small as it was. The clones that stayed nearby were proof enough of the life that kept within the Heartless. The blackness which had seeped out from the deep wound and onto the floor started to form into a trailing mist which moved about, refusing to touch the Nobody that clung so tightly to Demyx, but still becoming part of the Heartless that the teen clung so tight to. All until the wounds at least stopped flowing.

There was a slight noise, a moan of pain, but that was it underneath the Nobody. It was enough to have the black liquid that surrounded them moving out of their protective stances and into much more defensive ones since it seemed their master was at least somewhat coherent and couldn't fight for himself. The Nobody wasn't the only one that needed protecting.

It was across the room that dull eyes had finally snapped open to watch the tense situation of two others play out. The hate that moved through both was just too much for Sora, despite what he was. He could feel his whole body trembling, and not just from the usual shakes that had been constant. "R-Riku..." The name came out weak, yet desperate, but it had him trying again. In a sadder tone of voice, but much louder. "Riku! Stop!"

Roxas didn't give Riku anytime to do much at all. He had heard Sora's scream, but he didn't care even if it had him nearly faltering in his steps. His only focus was on the person he hated and the keyblade that was summoned. Even though Axel had spoken his name in warning he just didn't want to stop. He wanted this all to be over and with another small smirk he brought both keyblades down, hoping to get the first blow.

The keyblades fell through Riku, the attack as useless as hitting a shadow. But Way to Dusk stayed solid, which Roxas soon came to realize as it slashed into his unguarded front. Though Riku didn't stop there, dark energy blasted from the demonic winged blades on impact with Roxas.

Roxas hadn't been able to block any of it since shock had taken hold of him at finding his keyblades move through nothing. The first strike had knocked him back easily and nearly had him losing his grip on both blades at the wound that Riku's blade inflicted across his chest. It was the blast that he couldn't block at all which made him fly back and land hard while both blades finally vanished.

"Damnit-! Roxas!" Axel ran towards where Roxas had hit and fallen but was thrown back as he came in contact with a sudden shield that appeared to stop his help.

Riku lowered his hand that had summoned the shield, and he began his slow assured walk towards Roxas. "... Everyone fears the darkness, Roxas." The words left the shadow from under the hood, calm, cold. "Even you." His other hand waved out and the black surface that Roxas leaned against began to slowly swallow him into it.

Beneath the hood Riku bared his teeth with wretched pleasure. His fingers curled with tension as he commanded the dark about Roxas to curl and snake around the other, pulling him down further and further into his own personal dark Hell. "... Let's see exactly what you're afraid of Roxas."

Roxas' eyes snapped open as he felt the chilling tendrils move around his arms and legs, pulling him in. He knew this feeling from so long ago and had always hated the chilling experience, despite how many times he had known himself to live in darkness when he had been part of the Organization. This was different. Everything felt so cold now.

"N-No!" The word was stuttered out from Roxas' lips as his eyes darted from where Axel had fallen. His eyes pleaded with the other to get up and save him, but Riku had made sure that wouldn't happen. He struggled, and tried to fight, but they were pulling him in deeper. With wide eyes he looked back at Riku. The one that felt the need to torture him in such a way. Hesitant, he lifted a shaking hand towards the teen, much too desperate. His heart pounded in his chest.

"Riku!" It wasn't Roxas that shouted the teen's name, but a voice much similar. Sora had crawled away from the wall, but still stayed close enough to it as he watched the scene with a tortured gaze. Roxas had been a part of him. Riku was fighting that side of him so much. Did Riku really hate that side of him so badly that he would resort to such a thing? "R-Riku...stop it!" The darkness around him licked at the air worse then before.

Axel crawled to the barrage that held him from Roxas. He banged on the shield, ignoring the cold pain that seared his hands when he hit it. He threw fire at it, but nothing would break it. He resorted to clawing at it desperate, shouting Roxas' name.

But Riku seemed deaf to all plea and scream; to Riku, it was just him and Roxas. He heard Roxas scream. He felt Roxas' terror bore above else in the once Nobody's heart; it was wonderful. And it was him that Roxas reached for, and begged to be saved. No better feeling or sight had ever filled Riku than this definitive moment.

And even though he and Roxas were far apart, Riku slowly raised his own hand, giving no real effort to stretch it very far. "... What darkness lies in _your_ heart, Roxas?" Riku coolly spoke. His grin widened cruelly, unseen, but felt. "... What limit can you be pushed to before you'll break?" Riku uncurled his fingers, offering a hand that was much too far away for Roxas to even fathom reaching as he sunk lower and lower in. "... You made one wrong mistake, Roxas. I can hate _far_ more than you can."

Roxas continued to reach for the hand that was just too far away to grab. Through Riku's speech Roxas could feel his heart pounding faster and faster as he was pulled in even more. His shoulders were next until he was up to his neck in the cold darkness. He tried to reach farther. To grab at the hand that wouldn't even try, but it was no use. Riku didn't care. They hated each other with a passion that continued to grow since Roxas himself had been the one to deny Riku anything. As the darkness crept up to swallow him completely he couldn't stop the tears. "Riku..." This time it was Roxas' voice that was the desperate plea.

Ikurx watched with wide eyes. Roxas' terror echoed inside him mixing with Sora's horror, two sides of one, and it made him sick inside; how- how could his Somebody do this? Roxas' words had gotten to Riku, but it was his other half, his Nobody.

"I'm sorry." Ikurx whispered to not just Demyx, it was everyone. "I'm so sorry." As gently and quickly as he could Ikurx set down Demyx. He then scrambled, clawing on the ground to stand, the slick blood on hands and feet tripping and hindering him as he hurried to Roxas. He crashed down on his knees, ignoring the pain and clumsiness of his fall as he desperately grabbed Roxas' outstretched hand, clinging, pulling. It was all to no avail. "R-Roxas!"

Sora's closed eyes had snapped open at Ikurx's sudden bolt towards the darkness. He hadn't expected the Nobody to try such a daring thing and had nearly forgotten about Ikurx amidst all the chaos that had been going on. He watched as Ikurx tried so hard to bring what used to be the other half of him back, but it seemed like such a lost cause and Sora could only turn a look of betrayal and hurt towards Riku.

Roxas could feel the darkness trying to move inside his mouth. It chilled every bone in his body and he almost didn't hear his name called or feel the pull on his hand. He had nearly blacked out between seconds or maybe minutes. He didn't even know. He tried so hard to grab the hand offered to him, but he felt so weak. "H-Help..." He choked the words out between a sob as his hand slipped free and with wide eyes he was finally pulled completely under.

Axel fell to his knees, staring wide eyed at the spot where Roxas disappeared. Roxas was in the darkness now, as a human, his fragile new heart now at the hands of everything merciless; and he couldn't save him. As a Heartless, his mind couldn't wrap around it; it was too unreal.

Ikurx clawed at the dark surface, but Roxas was gone. Completely gone. His hand slowed as he gaped at the floor. "... R-Roxas?" The Nobody slumped over the spot, though there was no one there to save now, just the cold dark floor. Riku was taking everything. Destroying everyone he knew.

A rough hand yanked Ikurx back, pulling him up, and he was face to face with his Somebody.

"... Make them whole again." Riku firmly ordered his Nobody. Though Ikurx didn't seem to acknowledge him, his blank eyes stared at nothing; pushed over an emotionless edge. Riku violently shook Ikurx, the Nobody lolling back and forth like a living doll. "DO IT!"

Ikurx clutched the keychain he still held. He couldn't tell up from down anymore. Nothing mattered. He didn't care. He couldn't care. There was only nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

The Nobody threw the keychain; it clattered to the floor, skidding to purposelessly land near Sora. Ikurx then stared at his other's blind folded eyes. "... I hate myself too much to care."

The charm had grabbed Sora's attention as soon as it skidded to a stop near him. He heard the exchange of words, but didn't flinch at them. The darkness around him fed off of Riku's anger and Axel's sudden loss. Still, something inside Sora hated it all. With a trembling hand he reached out and grabbed the chain, holding it tightly between spasms that just wouldn't stop.

"Does it matter, Riku?" Sora's voice was so low amidst the sudden tension that had grown inside the room. The echo his voice took on bounced off of walls and ceilings. "You hate him so much that you tortured him into a place that will surely tear him apart." His hand squeezed the star. "You hate a part of me that much. Will you still hate that part if I'm whole again? Will you ever look at me the same?" His eyes shut tightly and he finally let the star drop with a loud clatter.

Sora's voice fell to a quiet whisper. "I've never hated you, Riku." His eyes fell closed once more. "I'm sorry I could never control him, but _I_ don't hate you."

Riku's grip on Ikurx shoulders tightened, digging gloved fingers into skin, though the Nobody didn't flinch; he'd felt far worse tortures. "... It doesn't matter what _you_ feel, a part of you hates me. And isn't that enough to just end everything? There's no fixing this." He let go of Ikurx, and the Nobody fell back to his knees, having no will or energy to stand on his own. "... There's no fixing _us_."

"... Love conquers all." The words drifted from Ikurx, though he wasn't all there.

"Love conquers NOTHING!" Riku shouted at his own Nobody. He ripped off the blind fold and threw it aside, burying his face in his hands, rubbing his aching eyes. "... We're all proof of that."

Black tears spilled down at the hateful words shouted. Each one fell on hands that had tightened into fists on the wooden floor beneath as well as onto the floor itself. A sad noise left Sora that was everything pitiful, but he didn't care. "You've done far worse things then just hate me, Riku..." Sora's voice was choked on the sadness he felt and the trembles that continued to run through him. "Yet, every time I forgave you, over and over again, because I wanted to."

Claws scratched at wood in desperation for his words to be heard in some way; some how. "Just because...just because something happens that I didn't ask for..." Sora stopped for a second in hesitation before going on. "Can't you do the same for me? For the both of us?"

"... You bastard." Axel muttered low and loathing to Riku. "You had no idea what he went through. You don't know what it's like to be that half of someone that isn't supposed to exist or feel." He banged his fists hard against the barraging keeping him in with such fierce anger. "Roxas just wanted to be like either of you! It isn't his fault that what he fights for is what everyone thinks is wrong! There is nothing wrong with wanting to love and be loved in return!"

Axel turned his gaze onto Sora. "You can't help who you love." His brows furrowed and his fingers dragged down the energy that kept him with held. "Please, give him back to me." He pleadingly appealed to Roxas' other, the other half of the heart; he loved Roxas that much.

Sora lifted his gaze to stare right at Axel. He kept the other Heartless' gaze for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds. Axel was someone that could feel so much in no matter what form for one person and it all led up to love. Sora had never felt so envious of his former Nobody before. Sora was so sick of fighting tooth and nail for that same thing.

With a weak turn of his head, Sora looked away from Axel and back towards Riku. As he kept sad eyes on the older teen he raised a weak hand out to his side to start opening the beginnings of a portal to the dark realm. The only true way to bring Roxas back. The entire time black tears still slid down his cheeks that could barely be seen.

"I believed you when you said that you would love enough for the both of us." Sora spoke up in a near childish voice. "I guess...it was just too much to handle." After those words he spread a clawed hand to allow the portal to grow and turned dulled eyes away from Riku to stare at it. Blue left and turned to glowing yellow.

Riku tightened his hold on Way to Dusk, but just as quickly it went slack. He raised a hand and the shield that incased Axel was gone. "... I guess it was." He quietly agreed with a breath.

Axel slowly stood, exhausted in all forms; he was in no mood to fight now. With careful limping steps he walked over to Sora and knelt down, keeping far enough as to not test Riku's grace. He gave Sora a small weak grin. "... Thank you." He picked up Ikurx's discarded keychain and stood up again to walk to the Nobody. He picked up Ikurx's limp hand and dropped the charm in it, closing the Nobody's hands over it. "Take good care of Demyx. He needs a somebody like you." Axel gave Ikurx a brief smile when the Nobody acknowledged him with a glance.

Axel walked over to the portal Sora had opened. "I don't need to be whole to love a half... I'm sorry, Sora. I'm far more selfish than my Nobody."

"I'll miss being whole..." They were the only words Sora spoke in return to Axel, but words that felt very final on his own end. Claws twitched after the last echoed syllable had silenced and the portal was finally stable enough to be used. Eyes fell away from the swirling darkness and away from Axel as his next words were spoken mostly to himself. "At least one half will be happy."

"Thank you." Axel spoke his quiet sincerity; as much sincerity as a Heartless could. He stepped back into the portal, disappearing in it to save the only one that mattered to him through two life times.


	29. Chapter 29

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 29

Returning to the darkness for a Heartless was as simple and perfect as stepping over the threshold into ones own home. But for a person of light, entering the darkness was as pleasant as stepping into a wood chipper. It tore at you from all sides, sinking metaphorical hooks into your mind, tearing into weakness and insecurities. It knew your worst fears and played them out, all to seep into your heart and claim it for its own.

To make you its own.

A Heartless.

And this was what Axel needed to save Roxas from.

But Roxas' heart wasn't whole. It was a far fragile thing than any whole heart. And Axel didn't want to chance what could happen to him if Roxas gave in. He didn't have much time.

All around the shadows watched Axel with prying eyes. It wasn't an unusual thing since most of the Heartless kept in the realm, but they weren't only watching to watch. There was barely a sound heard within the darkness that surrounded Axel. Only dead silence aside from the usual skittering of some strays here and there, but the silence was far from a good thing.

Axel shut his eyes, sinking deeper into the depths, allowing his whole to spread throughout the amalgamation of other trapped souls. Hurt lapped and swayed like the dark ocean's water on a beach; and for the briefest of moments Axel felt a pang as he was reminded of poor Demyx.

 _... Roxas_

It was heavy realization that Riku had such awesome control over the Darkness; over them all. The other members of the Organization, as strong as they were, they were all still Heartless, each a separate piece of the darkness; little toys that Riku could play with at his mercy.  
Had it not been for Sora, even in his shambled state, Axel knew even he wouldn't have made it out alive. And even still Sora had given his other half, as terrible as Roxas had been, his blessing to live on.  
That knowledge gave Axel strength to search onward.

Deeper.

Deeper.

Riku had made sure to plunge Roxas into the darkest part of his hatred. Riku had given Roxas no mercy; even as the former Nobody begged for it.

 _...Roxas!_

Axel could feel the struggling heart; the only heart so small and stifled in the worst of the dark.

There was little hope left in the heart that Axel felt. The darkness was trying it's best to feed on it and tear it to shreds. Anything that could be used against the new found hope and happiness was being eaten away and dying slowly amidst the blackness that surrounded everything. Humans weren't welcomed in this world, and Roxas had half of one of the brightest hearts in all existence. Something that all Heartless in the dark realm were going to see fit to completely tarnish.

 _'H-Help...'_

The broken word moved through the realm from the darkest depths, carrying on. Whether it was too late for the former Nobody to be saved or not was merely a complete guess.

Axel dove deep, traveling to the source, following what glimmer was left of the heart he needed to save. Like wild fire he tore fiercely through, the darkest of guilt and worry tearing into him as he proceeded; this was his fault. He couldn't save Roxas. They'd never be together again. They'd never share life, love, hope- all gone and for nothing.

 _Roxas!_

The former Nobody was falling, drifting deeper before him, sinking deeper into the inescapable of the dark as if in it were nothing more than water. Roxas' very being was being shredded though to 'sight' it seemed as if the boy were peacefully falling in sleep.

Axel threw out his hands, his chakram flying from him stretching out his being to fend off the worst of the darkness and replace it with his own. Even his own regret and anger, his own dark thoughts, they would never harm Roxas.  
Axel lashed out a hand and caught Roxas' arm. His chakram circled them, protecting and ceasing either of their decent further.

Roxas was easily yanked away from the darkness that had tried to pull him in. His body was the same as a rag doll and just as weak. Even with the sudden protection Axel gave, a tortured expression still seemed permanent on the teen's features as he kept eyes shut tightly, but still weakly clung to the sudden body so close. No noise or other movement came from what had once been such a lively individual. It seemed most of the damage had already been done.

Around the two, glowing eyes stuck out among the darkness, watching and waiting for the moment that the protector of the heart would slip up. They wanted what was left of the fragile heart, but the shield that had been put up was preventing it, so, they stayed on the sidelines and didn't dare move. It didn't mean they weren't hungry to continue trying at some point.

Axel pulled the small body into his arms, holding Roxas tightly, cradling the only heart that meant more than his own; more than his own lives.

 _You'll be okay now._ The 'words' were spoken to Roxas' weak heart; speaking directly to it, as all Heartless could with the darkness. Though how typical of himself; speaking casually in his optimism despite the direness of the situation.

Axel curled around the limp form, hugging it tight even though it never held him back.

 _I'll take care of this._ Axel nuzzled his cheek against Roxas' hair. _...I'll take care of you_

Axel drew his hand up Roxas' chest. Black fire gathered round underneath his hand, spreading as he splayed his fingers loosely. He then plunged his hand into the fire, into Roxas' chest yet not his physical being, past it, into the plain where the symbolism of one's 'heart' and being truly lies. As a Heartless one could capture hearts, place darkness inside that would undo and make more of his kind; and so he only saw fit he could use the same power to undo that same process. Axel manipulated the darkness set there inside Roxas, drawing it out and into his own being, undoing what damage he was able.

A sharp gasp left Roxas in the same second Axel tampered with his being. Eyes snapped wide open, but looked straight through the fire user, instead of at him. The darkness was being twisted and pulled out from where it rested, but it wasn't a pleasant experience at all. It didn't matter how careful the Heartless tried to be it still affected the teenager because of how twisted the darkness had tried to wrap itself around his new heart.

Such a delicate process, though Axel took the time to drag each sliver of darkness from Roxas' heart; as excruciating as it was for Roxas, it was necessary. A healing pain.

Once all the darkness was gone Axel didn't remove his hand. He couldn't resist brushing his dark fingers over the crystalline symbol of Roxas' heart, awed. And although in this plain, as his fingers smoothed over the heart, he soon found his hands falling down the neat division. Half a heart.  
Axel withdrew his hand, the fire vanishing on Roxas' chest.

Roxas' eyes fell closed once again after the pain left completely and the fire was gone. There was nothing but silence from the teenager much like before, but slowly after so long, eyes opened and bright blue stared up at Axel. There was obvious fear in Roxas' expression that had rarely ever been there before in all the time he had known the other. "A-Axel..." The name was whispered in near disbelief after everything that had happened and soon a face was buried in Axel's chest as Roxas' whole body shook.

The scene hadn't gone ignored. Among the darkness the ones that resided were more then angry with what had transpired. Their efforts at tearing the human apart had been stopped. It wasn't only glowing eyes that narrowed dangerously from far away in the dark realm. Angered hisses and claws scratching could also be heard letting it be known what they thought of the treacherous Heartless.

 _Shhh..._

Axel held the boy tighter, knowing what he'd done was blasphemy in this realm. But he was far too greedy to give into instinct and denied the other Heartless, and even the darkness, of the heart. This was his and his alone.

Before anything far dangerous could erupt Axel lifted them from where they were, taking them from the darkest of the realm, to a place far less hazardous. There he could control the darkness far better and even the Heartless there, though he still kept the chakram protecting around them.

Blasts of dark energy cut through the darkness from the more enraged Heartless, but never hit their mark thanks to the spinning chakram as the two of them retreated. The attacks had Roxas flinching against Axel, but he continued to keep silent as ordered. Everything about him was still so much on edge even though he was saved and he only held on that much tighter.

When Axel was sure enough that they were safe of not being followed out by other Heartless, he summoned a quick portal for them to go in through. From dark to light.

It was blinding, the sun. But they were in a far better place now, safe on some planet where the light shone through and barely a cloud touched the sky. Axel narrowed his eyes, for him the light bleached out all the colours in his sight. Though it didn't stop him from scooping Roxas up in his arms and carrying him a good ways away from where they had appeared.

"We're safe now." he told Roxas as he settled down on some old stone steps, leaning heavily against a crumbling stone wall. Axel kept the boy on his lap. He grasped the others shoulders leaning him back to look at Roxas' face, to now find any physical damage done.

Unlike his former self, the darkness hadn't been kind enough to heal wounds on Roxas that had been inflicted by Riku much earlier. The gash across his chest was more then apparent in the bright light along with the burn that the dark energy had caused across clothes. Sora's claw marks took over more then half of his back, but were much harder to see. The darkness didn't heal humans.

Despite it all, Roxas' eyes were more focused downward as he finally found his voice again. "I was scared..." It shook slightly as he went on and his hands finally fell to his sides. "Axel...I was so scared..."

Axel began pulling the unneeded bandages that Roxas had put on him before and began to carefully bind the battle wounds the teen had received. "I know." He quietly spoke up. "That's one of the downsides to feeling. And the darkness knows this, and abuses it. It takes all your weaknesses, all your worries, all your emotional flaws, and turns them against you." He tied off the bandages, finally looking into Roxas' face. "That's how all the Organization became Heartless. We gave into that fear, the temptation; one way or another."

Roxas looked up at those last few words to glance at Axel's face. At that moment he seemed to realize everything that had just happened while at the same time he weakly raised a hand up to wipe away tears he didn't even know had escaped. His hands shook, but he didn't care for once. "You couldn't get to me. Everything was so cold and then everything was dark and all I felt was helpless. W-What happened? How did you get to me?" He was afraid of the answer for some reason.

Axel unwrapped more bandages on his person. He had to turn Roxas around to properly wrap around the scratch across his back; but the teen didn't seem to have much energy to protest. He wasn't sure how to answer Roxas; whether it was good news, or sad.

"Sora." The one name finally left Axel. "Ikurx tried to pull you out, but...-y-you were too far in. Sora couldn't take the cruelty I guess. And you are a part of him. He couldn't stand what Riku had become; a merciless bastard." Once finished with the bandages Axel then pulled Roxas back to hold tightly like either of them needed. "I asked Sora to bring you back to me. He created a portal to the darkness, and I guess Riku couldn't do much else but let me go."

Axel nuzzled Roxas' head. "You thought you were scared? I thought I'd lost my everything." His voice shook as hard as he tried to keep it steady.

The information he had been given caused Roxas' eyes to finally widen a bit. "Sora...?" He spoke what used to be his other's name softly under his breath. Sora was the last person he had thought to help them at all. He had shown nothing but contempt for both his other half and Riku, so, that meant he should get the same in return, right?

It was Axel's last few words and the tightened hold that snapped Roxas' out of his shocked state of mind. He tried to glance up at the Heartless, but it was a lost cause. Instead he gave into the hold around him and fell back against Axel while he tried not to harm himself in the process. "I guess I should have listened to you." He continued to speak up quietly. "But, Riku and I have never mixed well."

"Well, I don't think there's going to be a next time, baby." Axel dug around in Roxas' pockets. "Sora's essentially given us his blessing to live our own little happy lives." He pulled out the potion that was never used from Roxas' pocket. "'At least one half will be happy'." He quietly quoted Sora's last words. "Cheers." He handed the potion to Roxas.

Roxas took the potion hesitantly after hearing such a thing. "He did that?" Roxas spoke on quietly. "He even said that?" It made no sense to Roxas after being confined within Sora for so long and knowing Sora to fight so hard to stay himself. To be with Riku and keep Riku near him. Although with what Axel had told him, maybe Sora did just finally give up on it all.

With a final shake of his head, Roxas put the bottle to his lips and downed what was inside. He still didn't enjoy the taste a second time around, but he could feel it trying to work against wounds that he was starting to slowly notice. "What about Ikurx?" It slowly dawned on him that the Nobody wasn't with them.

Axel rested his chin on Roxas' shoulder, cuddling the teen a little tighter around the middle since the potion was healing him. He gave a shrug. "You were important." He smirked just a little. "At the time, anyway." Despite his teasing words he held Roxas as if his very life depended on it.

"You're squeezing me." Roxas smiled along with the words since Axel had decided to tease him. He just wanted to give the Heartless a dose of his own medicine. Words didn't matter either way since Roxas had discarded the empty bottle so he could rest hands on top of Axel's arms. After a few seconds a worried expression came over his face while he thought over something. "You need him to be whole."

"Are you okay?" The question immediately left Axel. He knew he was ignoring Roxas' words, but he'd been keeping the expected question in for too long now. He ran a hand through Roxas' bangs, keeping them smoothed back so he could peer at the teen's face without restriction. "I never wanted to put you through anything like that, not while you're whole." Axel drew his hand up to rest over Roxas' heart. "... It's not beating so fast anymore. Thank God." His worry still creased his brow.

The sudden extra attention piled on with everything else caused Roxas to blink his eyes a few times while he made sure he heard Axel right. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine now." He tried his best to smile for the other, but it was weak at best. Even with the one potion he still felt drained on so many levels. "It's not your fault, what happened." Roxas shook his head before he looked ahead once again. "Riku threatened you. It was my decision to get between the two of you. You didn't throw me into anything."

Axel sighed, "So brash." He kissed Roxas' cheek and settled back to holding him, leaning against the shambled wall. "I'm going to have to tie you down. It'll keep you from wandering and getting into trouble." He leaned his head back on stone. "..I never want to go through that again." he murmured.

"Sorry." The word was nearly whispered, but it was easy to tell Roxas felt bad enough. "I didn't mean to worry you. I didn't even know he would try to do anything like that." His expression became thoughtful for a second. "I guess things have gotten a little out of hand between us all, but it's hard for me to say I regret anything I've had part in lately."

Roxas turned his head a little so he could catch at least a glimpse of Axel since the Heartless was behind him. He still remembered earlier words spoken and was curious to still figure some things out, without the harsh words he had used before. "So, everyone knew? About Ikurx, I mean. Everyone knew about him and Riku?"

The Heartless' eyes were skyward. Axel nodded before speaking. "As a group of Nobodies, we had to make sure that there was a way to resurrect ourselves if Xemnas' plan failed. A' plan B' I guess you could call it. If Organization XII were to fall our Heartless would then activate the 'fail safe' and bring us all back stronger than before." Axel lowered his head down to glance at Roxas. "As a Neophyte, and as Sora's Nobody, you weren't privy to that information." He frowned somewhat. "I know what you're thinking. But my Nobody thought it best that the less you knew the better. I suppose I thought so too. Protect you from yourself." He relented a hand to drag it through his hair wearily. "Ignorance wasn't bliss, I guess."

Roxas listened intently to everything he was finally told. He didn't feel any anger or hostility towards Axel, knowing that the other was right. He and Sora had been connected long ago. If he knew about Ikurx then in the end, Sora would learn about everything as well. It meant all of this would never have happened. He would never have gotten a heart. Still, something about it bothered him. "Naminé, Ikurx and even me. All of us were just something for The Organization to use." Roxas shook his head to clear those thoughts. "I guess none of you expected Ikurx to actually be fought over between our..." He stopped for a second to correct himself. "...your own members."

Axel cocked a brow up at the correction but he managed to give a casual smirk and shrugged his shoulders. "It seems we all had our own ideals for Ikurx. Well, except Saix. He was following through on the plan." He gave a thoughtful sound. "I actually commend Zexion. I didn't think a runt like him could give Riku that extra push to send him into darkness completely. Riku had always walked that fine line between light and dark. Pushing him to one extreme would send his Nobody to the other. Dark and light."

Axel clicked his tongue as he tilted his head one way. "Unfortunately we've all seen what a terrible enemy he can be. Confrontation with him isn't, well, I guess you know. He and Sora were Xemnas' downfall." He shrugged a shoulder. "Understandable why he'd be a last ditch effort."

Axel gave a heavy sigh, leaning back again to rest his head on the wall, looking up. "... Sora's light was Riku's dark counterbalance, since he didn't have Ikurx. But now that Sora is in darkness as well... there's nothing to keep him held down again." He blinked dully. "They've reached the ends of their rope."

"That's why..." Roxas held up dirty and bloodied hands to stare down at palms. "Why Riku was acting in such a way. That's why he wouldn't listen to Sora. It was all because Sora is a Heartless now. He has no light to hold onto any longer. He won't listen to Sora." Roxas blinked before he dropped his hands and finally moved in Axel's lap to face the Heartless. His moves were still unsteady, but he caught his balance as soon as he had turned around all the way.

"This is a good thing, right? If the two of them aren't as connected with each other anymore, and Sora wanted you to help me, then maybe we're actually in the clear." Roxas pulled Axel's arms away from where they still were around him and clung tightly to them to pull them close to his chest where his heart lay beneath. "We just have to get Ikurx back before anyone else decides to mess with him. Especially Riku."

Axel lowered his gaze to where his hands now resided on Roxas' chest. He ran his hand over the singed and tattered clothing; the prior battle had been so horrible, despite how brief it was. "... Is it really worth it?" He murmured quietly. "There's just so much to risk... going back."

Roxas was obviously startled by Axel's words by the way his head jerked back a bit. "Axel..." He spoke the other's name softly, but shook his head immediately after. "You wanted to be whole just as much as I did, right?" The questions were all spoken in curiosity, trying to understand the other's sudden hesitation a bit more then just what he had been given. "Don't you want to be human again?"

Axel gave solemn nod. "Yes, of course. But... I don't want to risk losing you again to him." His hand drew up Roxas' chest, along his neck to brush against Roxas' cheek. "I think I've come to terms that my own state of being doesn't compare to your safety." He smiled sadly. "Love is messed up like that."

Roxas was quick to place his hand on top of Axel's own. He should have expected the other to do such a thing; to give up everything just to keep him safe. In a way he felt guilty for being the cause that had led to so much grief for Axel, when so many times in the past he had only scoffed at every little thing the other had tried to do for him.

With a quiet noise, Roxas moved his head so he could brush his lips against the palm of Axel's hand. "I don't think it's messed up at all." After his words he leaned forward while keeping hold of the other's hand and ignored wounds on his own person so he could press their lips together. The contact was quick and chaste, but when Roxas pulled back he had a small smile on his face while he kept close. "If you decide to stay a Heartless I'll still love you. I just don't want to be the thing that keeps you from what you wanted the moment you joined the Organization as a Nobody. To exist." His smile fell so he could give Axel a more serious look.

"I'll admit I joined the Organization for my own selfish need to be whole again; to get my heart back. It wouldn't matter what it took, I'd even follow such a suicidal plan such as Xemnas' to get my heart back." Axel raised his other hand to cup Roxas' other cheek. "Then Organization XII turned into XIII. And suddenly the world didn't seem so cold anymore. And I didn't feel so hollow." He stroked Roxas' cheek with a thumb. "Suddenly getting my heart back didn't seem so important, nor did Xemnas' plan." Axel smiled a little. "You've been the only person I've ever really liked. Nothing else ever really mattered when compared to you. Nothing ever came close." His smile went sad. "I- I mean, he may have died, but he and I- we shared one heart for you."

Axel lowered his hands from Roxas' face to take one of his hands, resting it on the Heartless' chest. "It may not beat, but it's still there." His long fingers tightened around Roxas' hand. "... And it's yours."

Even though Roxas could feel nothing under his palm the sentiment still meant everything to him. His fingers twitched before they closed around Axel's shirt where the silent heart lay. He glanced up at Axel through eyes that were half closed while he tried to hold back tears, being his usual stubborn self. After a few seconds he shook his head and let go so he could wrap both arms around the Heartless' waist while he buried his head against the other's chest much like Axel had taken a habit in doing to him. "Sometimes I wonder about you." He started out quietly and in a teasing way. "Why you were the only one that tried so very hard."

Axel held Roxas, keeping the teen near and dear in his tattooed arms. "Wishing for _this_ I guess. You were the loneliest of us all, some how. If I could make you smile like you made me inside, that's all I needed." He nuzzled Roxas' soft blonde hair. "I suppose the words 'love sick' would be an appropriate explanation. Or 'obsessive'. Yes, that seems to be a more fitting word." He chuckled softly.

"Both work pretty well." Roxas closed his eyes as the hint of a smile made its way onto his face once again. The sudden memories were something he welcomed if only because he had everything he wanted. He found no reason to be upset at anything. "Truthfully, I didn't mind too many of the things you tried to do to get my attention. I didn't feel as much like an outcast while I was part of The Organization. It was the deceit I just couldn't handle anymore."

Roxas lifted his head a little, disturbing Axel's own, so he could glance up at the fire user. "Riku was wrong when he said the real you was dead, and I'll tell you the same thing I told him. Nobody or Heartless. It doesn't matter. To me you're still Axel." He moved up while his smile turned into a small grin. "Annoying." He leaned in to give a quick kiss to Axel's lips. "Impulsive." He bit the Heartless' lower lip. "Stalker." With that last word his grin grew before he leaned in to give a much rougher kiss while his hands pulled back to rake across tattoos.

A low pleased growl escaped Axel's throat, a slight hint of dark sparks caused by Roxas' nails over the tattooed weapons. He grinned into the kiss, flicking his tongue across Roxas' bottom lip before he spoke again. "And you're the pouty, selfish, brat who loves all of it." He nipped at Roxas' chin. "You can't deny it, you love the attention." He followed to playfully nip at Roxas' jaw. "As annoyed as you tried to appear all the time."

It was Roxas' turn to let out a noise of his own. A less then quiet moan left him at each nip, but still he grinned at the words spoken. "Well, I could try to deny it." He moved his head so he could catch a bit of Axel's ear between his teeth and bit down before he licked up the lobe in a teasing way. As he pulled back he spoke again while he moved so their faces were only inches apart. "But, you always seem to see right through me no matter what." He gave a quick lick to the Heartless' lips.

"Mmmm. Just a talent I guess." Axel's eyes fell half way closed with a grin as he unconsciously licked his lips after. "I guess I can't help but know what you want." He pulled Roxas closer, reminded to be a little gentler when his fingers smoothed across bandages. "Even when you won't admit it out loud." He kissed the corner of Roxas' lips, his grin perking more. "I usually have to try my best to make you _vocal_." Axel attacked the side of Roxas' neck with playful biting kisses.

Roxas tried to keep his lips shut tight and bite his tongue at the same time. Anything to prove Axel wrong and keep in the noises that he desperately wanted to make, but it really was no use. He was soon squirming in the other's lap as he let a quiet whine escape him while his eyes fell halfway. Roxas planned to get the Heartless back in his own way, wanting to hear that sound he had caused Axel to make much earlier with just one simple movement. With a vicious grin, Roxas ran nails over the other's arms harder then last time while he let out another quiet moan of his own.

Axel let out a throaty hiss against Roxas' neck, sparks flitting under Roxas' nails along dark and pale skin. The Heartless bit hard affection at the crook of Roxas' neck. He gripped Roxas' wrists and smirked slyly. "That feels really... _kinky_." He near purred as he kissed over bruising skin.

Roxas had let out a rather needy sound at the rough bite the Heartless had given him and underneath it all Axel's name had slipped past his lips as a moan. As soon as his wrists were captured, Roxas opened his eyes a tiny bit to look at the Heartless under him as best he could with much more then a playful expression. "Did you want me to stop?" He gave a crooked grin.

"I dunno." Axel toyed with Roxas' wrists with a lazy smirk, debating whether he should let go of them or not. "It might be dangerous. They're not 'normal tattoos' y'know, they're a part of me, and deadly weapons at that." His gaze flicked up to Roxas' face. "Although," He laughed low in his throat as he teased, "I didn't know near death experiences made you soo-... _amorous_."

"I didn't hear you complaining." Roxas continued to grin after his words. Even though Axel continued to keep hold of his wrists he didn't struggle at all. He allowed the other to hold him still if only a little bit. "I have always loved the rush that fighting brought to me. Even without a heart it was still something I could take aggression out on." He shrugged a shoulder before going on. "We've always been the more unique out of the bunch, you and me, certain circumstances excluded. There's no reason we should just sit here and worry about things that happened already." With those last few words he gave a far more wicked grin before he bent his head down and ran his tongue right across where nails had just touched on one arm.

Roxas' name left Axel in a husky tone. Roxas' tongue was cool on hot marked skin, the touch melted all coherency the Heartless had; like ice on hot metal. Axel's fingers twitched in their hold on Roxas' wrists, though the rest of him arched back against the wall as his breath left him in a hiss. "D-damn." Axel eyed Roxas from heavily lidded eyes. A lazy smirk spread. "In a good way."

Roxas only gave the marks one last lingering lick before he even dared to pull back. As soon as he did he pressed himself as close as he could against Axel and finally freed his hands with a flick of his wrists since the Heartless seemed to have let go of his grip somewhat. "I figured as much." He let out a small laugh after his own words while he wrapped his arms around the other's neck to bury fingers in hair. "Hmm...I should do that more often."

Axel couldn't have melted against Roxas more perfectly with the boy resting along his front. He ran his hands along Roxas' sides, drew up the boy's shirts as he dragged his own nails into skin. "You can," He playfully bit Roxas' bottom lip, "all day and all night, in your room at Twilight Town." Axel captured Roxas' lips in a hot lazy kiss. A slow grin spread on his lips after. "... We might not join your school for a while."

Roxas let out a small whine as soon as Axel pulled away from the kiss. It was the Heartless' words that had a small smirk returning to his lips as he squirmed a little in his place on top of the other. "Well, comparing the two activities. I don't think I would mind all that much." He pulled at a few strands of hair before he ran his fingers through all of it. "And going on how well you've reacted, I don't think you would either." The smirk on his face only grew as his hands finally ceased and kept still.

"Mmm, I could go for some _quality_ time together." Axel grinned. "Lord knows we deserve plenty." His hands smoothed back down, over back and hips. "We can get cleaned up, heal up, and enjoy some R 'n R." He chuckled as he kissed along Roxas' cheek to his ear. "At least I'll enjoy some R an R; Ravaging a Roxas." With an amused grin he paid Roxas' ear some playful affection.

Roxas had tensed up when hands were moved along his back since it had been one of his injured spots. It was Axel's mouth which caused him to relax again and forget all about his previous wounds. For once he didn't try to keep in the pleased noise that came forth as he melted against Axel once more. "Sounds good to me. Especially that last part."

Axel grinned against Roxas' ear, murmuring there, "You're so much less frigid as a human." He kissed the teen's ear. "Years ago you wouldn't let me get away with saying something like that." He slipped the waist of Roxas' pants down a little to smooth across skin, just to see how much he could indeed get away with there and then. "I think I like the change." He grinned just that much more.

Roxas didn't protest to his pants being slipped down inch by inch. Either that or he didn't take much time to really notice that Axel had tried such a thing, too focused on feeling what the other was doing to him. "I don't have to act frigid anymore." Roxas couldn't help grinning at his own words. "I _want_ you to do everything and anything to me." He turned his head to the side so their lips were inches apart, teasing Axel by refusing a kiss. "And vice versa of course."

And of course Axel then wanted the kiss, simply because he wasn't able to have it. He leaned forward, trying to bridge the teasing gap while he spoke. "Then by all means, who am I to deny such wants. I'll gladly do that 'everything' and 'anything' you so desire. Anytime, any place."

The fact that Axel tried so hard to close the small space between them only caused Roxas to grin even more. He pulled back a little to deny Axel the kiss he wanted for a little longer while at the same time he pulled at the Heartless' hair to yank the other's head away. "So quick to please." He moved in to lick a quick trail along Axel's throat all the way to his jaw. As soon as he pulled away he let go of the other's hair to allow Axel his freedom just so he could crush their lips together.

Axel growled against Roxas' lips, kissing him fiercely since now he was able to. "Bratty tease." He muttered between kisses. He dragged his fingers through Roxas' hair, giving Roxas a taste of his own medicine as he gripped the teen's hair, holding him near incase Roxas got any 'cute' ideas of teasing him like that again. With Roxas' rough playfulness it was hard for Axel to remember to be gentle; throwing Roxas against the stairs on his wounded back wouldn't do. So the Heartless settled on biting Roxas' bottom lip instead; a little revenge.

The bite wasn't unpleasant. In fact Roxas actually enjoyed it and let out a muffled whine as his lip was tugged between teeth. He soon found himself squirming in Axel's lap more on purpose then to get comfortable. The rough back and forth between them only spurred Roxas on and had him wanting more. He gave a quiet noise that was close enough to a growl as his hands fell down to Axel's shoulders to pin the Heartless more so then he already was, while he pulled his mouth free to give a bite of his own to Axel's neck.

The Heartless gave a low sound in his throat, pulling on Roxas' hair since he couldn't do much else than that since it would aggravate the boy's wounds. Of course that didn't stop his other hand from slipping down to Roxas' rear to pull the boy close with a squeeze. "Let's finish all this in Twilight Town," Axel murmured in a husky tone. "We can christen your bed."

Roxas let out another needy whine after the suggestion, but still he pulled back and his grip loosened up. He stared down at Axel with eyes that were only half opened and gave a crooked grin to the fire user. "You better mean that." He leaned down to press a kiss to the other's lips, nothing rough or desperate about it for once. "There's nothing stopping you this time around."

Axel's fingers brushed away the blonde hair that always rested on Roxas' cheek. "I can be with you, and only you." He grinned softly, and he leaned forward to kiss Roxas' lips with a little more gentle affection. He rested back against the wall after. "Are you sure you'll be alright going through darkness to get there?" Axel's brows furrowed slightly, and he gently tugged a lock of hair. "I'll be there to protect you like all the other times. Just thought I'd ask, because that's what 'sensible' 'boyfriends' do." Axel smirked. "And I'll have to be both once we get there."

Every bit of humor completely left Roxas at such a question and he turned his attention away from Axel despite the fingers running through his hair. "I don't know..." He spoke up quietly and his voice was obviously uncertain. It made it all the more real how much being thrown into the darkness had taken a toll on him. "But, it's the only way we can get there. So, it's not like we have much of a choice." He looked back at Axel with a sad smile on his face. "Weird, right? I used to go in and out of the darkness all the time like it was nothing. Now if I try it, it tries to eat me alive."

"That's because you now have something they want." Axel let his hand slip between them to feel where the beating lay. "But I won't let them take you. Not like that, ever again." He sat up from the wall, making Roxas sit up with him. Seriousness etched into Axel's expression. "Ever." He drew a heart shape over Roxas' heart. "This is my heart." He looked at Roxas' face. " _Our_ heart."

Under Axel's hand the steady beat quickened its pace at such words spoken. Roxas had watched the quick invisible drawing made on tattered clothing and felt even more wanted then he had been as of late. He met Axel's eyes and the sad smile that had kept to his face turned into something more genuine. "So protective." He shook his head and looked back down at the other's hand. "I know that when I'm with you I'll be okay."

Axel tapped Roxas' nose playfully. "Such a brat." He teased in an endearing tone. "But you won't have to worry about traveling in the darkness." Axel slipped his arms around Roxas, turning the boy in his arms so he could embrace him near and kiss his ear.

 _Sleep._ Axel whispered there, to Roxas' beating heart. _Sleep, and dream of us, and where we'll be happy._

Roxas could feel his eyes getting heavy. It wasn't like before when sleep had been forced on his being between himself and Sora. This time it was relaxing. He could see the future that he craved so much, and as his body nearly slumped over in Axel's embrace his expression was content instead of something restless.


	30. Chapter 30

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 30

The tip of nose ran up along the bare nape of neck, nuzzling into blonde hair. A few lazy kisses were placed on warm skin, hoping to wake up the small sleeping body lying in his arms.

They'd been there for at least a day now, as far as Axel could figure; maybe two. He'd lost track of actual time, and frankly he couldn't care. They deserved to forget the anxious tick of seconds, the hardships, and reap the happiness they'd fought hard for.

Though most of the time spent there in Twilight Town was in Roxas' room, in his bed, spending _quality_ time together.  
No wounds could be healed properly under such conditions Axel doubted, but neither seemed to care in the heat of the moment. They had time now; time to heal, and now time to live out dreams.

As a Heartless Axel didn't sleep, not like Roxas and his conventional human sleep. Axel found himself watching Roxas sleep, something he wasn't used to seeing at all. The boy's face was so peaceful, content, and sometimes even the smallest of smiles could be seen on his lips. Roxas would sometimes sniff, and softly murmur and Axel would sometimes catch the briefest images of dreams that Roxas' heart had. In these drifting hours Axel felt whole, and with no jealousy of not being human. If he was human he wouldn't be able to peek into Roxas' heart like he could, and share what Roxas felt.

Axel tried again to wake the stubbornly sleeping Roxas with new ticklish kisses along his neck. He cuddled Roxas nearer, petering the kisses down Roxas' bare shoulder.

There was a sleepy noise from the smaller body in the bed. Roxas squirmed with each kiss given to skin as he tried to fight off Axel's lips by moving away from the Heartless as best he could with what limited space was in his bed. "Mmm... stop it..." The words were drowsy in their protest and didn't hold as much bite to them as they usually would have. In the end he failed at moving away and kept where he was in Axel's arms, but instead tried to bury himself under the blanket.

"Nuu," Axel mewed his whine. He wasn't about to let Roxas get away so easily. He slipped under the covers too, placing a lingering kiss on Roxas' shoulder. "You should wake up now," he softly encouraged as he nuzzled the crook of Roxas' neck.

Roxas answered Axel with a whine of his own as he tried to bury himself deeper, but any further and he would be part of the bed itself. "No... I shouldn't..." He weakly answered and tried his best to sound grumpy, but the words only came out whiney and stubborn. Even though he was trying his best to get out of waking up he still leaned into the small nuzzle that Axel decided to give to his neck before he settled back down.

"You should." Axel softly nipped at the crook of Roxas' neck. "Because I say so." With a perk of mischievousness on his lips he nipped at Roxas' ear next. "Because I want you to." He nosed Roxas' ear with a whine. "Please."

Roxas had let out a quiet moan at the little bites given to him. He seemed to finally give in, peeking one eye open while he pulled the blanket down off of both their heads. He glanced back at Axel with only a slight turn of his head and narrowed his one open eye at the Heartless. "You just won't give up, will you?" It was easy to tell he was teasing by the smirk on his lips.

Axel grinned with lazy wickedness. "I was born stubborn." He kissed Roxas' smirking lips. "And I couldn't be more stubborn when it comes to you." He kissed Roxas' cheek. "Besides, I'm surprised you haven't been eager to run outside and see your home town again, visit your friends." He snerked his amusement. "Naked or not." He stifled his laughter against Roxas' shoulder at such mental imagery.

Roxas only rolled his eyes while Axel tried not to laugh, but failed miserably. "I haven't been eager to go outside because I've been stuck inside too busy with other _things_." He hid his own amusement in his pillow since he had turned his head back around. "Besides, I don't even know what time it is. For all we know everyone is still in school. I sort of lost track of everything that was outside this room." He pulled the blanket back up over his head. "Now let me sleep." The words were muffled.

"But I don't want to. You're too much fun to bother when you're pouty." Axel pushed the blankets enough aside so he could run a finger up Roxas' bare spine. "And naked."

Roxas gave a slight shiver at the touch. In a quick instant he moved a hand to grab onto Axel's wrist, pulling it away from his back while he turned around to face the Heartless and pin his hand to the bed while he leaned over the other. "You're so annoying." He gave another small smirk after his words before he moved down to press his lips to Axel's own without letting up on the Heartless' wrist.

Axel buried his free hand in Roxas' hair, pulling the teen nearer to deepen the kiss. He grinned against Roxas' lips after. "And you're a brat." His free hand fell down, drawing a finger down Roxas' spine this time. "That's naked." He chuckled.

Roxas licked his lips while he straightened up and tried not to shiver again at the touch. He gave another small roll of his eyes at Axel's words, but still laughed. "Hopefully you didn't just wake me up to continuously state the obvious." He let go of Axel's wrist so he could stretch both arms above his head before he flopped back down on his side of the bed, minding still healing scars and new love bites that had become part of his person.

"I can't remember what it's like to dream." Axel propped himself up on an arm as he looked over Roxas' person. As if dreaming had changed Roxas physically. "I know I used to sleep." He tapped his fingers on the pillow in thought. "I think." He lay back, pillowing his arms behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. "It's one of those perks being human, dreams; I've been able to see a few of yours. A few. And for someone who's never dreamed before, you have very beautiful dreams." Axel blinked, turning his attention to the window beside the bed. "Huh," he commented with idle amusement to himself, "The curtains are open. I wonder if the neighbors got an eye full."

Roxas' humor fell away as he stared out the window as well and thought over the few words Axel had spoken. "I've dreamt before, although, I guess they couldn't really be considered dreams. They were just his memories. That was it." He blinked his eyes and turned his head to glance back at Axel as best he could. "Do you miss it at all? I mean, I'm sure it got boring just laying here and watching me sleep the entire time I was out of it and my dreams couldn't have been all that great." He turned around completely, but kept his head down on the pillow.

Axel gave a weak shrug. "Can't miss what you can't really remember, I guess. Besides, you looked so content." He gave a wry smirk Roxas' way. "And you were so exhausted after _everything_. Who am I to deny you some well deserved Z's?" He relented a hand to mess with Roxas' bangs. "Besides, you're awake now. And you can tell me your dreams first hand. All of your very first dreams."

Roxas couldn't help leaning into the hand while he allowed his eyes to shut again. "I'm awake because you wouldn't stop pestering me to wake up." He smiled a little after the words and shrugged a shoulder. Under the blanket one of his feet moved from side to side as he tried to remember at least a few of his dreams. "It's strange. I thought I would dream about past things I did while I was away from Sora, but none of my dreams were unpleasant. It was as if they were just things I wish I could do." He glanced back out the window. "That's all."

"That's why they're called 'dreams'. You can do anything in them." Axel let his hand rest on the pillow as he continued to toy with Roxas' hair. "All of this has felt like a dream. Hard to believe any of this is real, that we're back here again." He twirled blonde hair around a finger. "I can't say I saw us like this at all. Except, heh... maybe in 'dreams'." Axel gave a slight chuckle. "Maybe I shouldn't be admitting stuff like that."

Roxas turned his head back around, disturbing Axel's fingers as he did. "Well, you already did and now I know." He gave a teasing grin as he sat up once more to rest across the Heartless while he let out a small content noise. "I guess I never really saw it either. Of course, that was way back when nothing mattered. I like the way things have turned out; us and this. Nothing can hurt us now." The words made everything seem even more final and after they were said he shut his eyes if only to relax.

Axel made the softest of noises at Roxas' words. He was touched; far more than a Heartless should feel. He ran his hand lazily down Roxas' bare back. "Nothing can hurt us." He quietly echoed Roxas. And for the time being, as he idly traced feathered wings on each of Roxas' shoulder blades, he truly let himself believe every word of it.

Roxas nearly purred at how content he felt in that moment. Especially with the feeling of Axel's fingers running along his back in such a smooth pattern. He wanted to fall back to sleep and knew he easily could, but Axel would only wake him up in a split second much like he had before. He didn't think he would mind it though.

The Heartless' finger continued to draw across Roxas' skin, mindless designs now, following the contour of shape and curve of body, the rise of shoulders, the dip of spine. Axel especially liked following spine, the slight bump of vertebrae under his fingertips, the goose bumps he could elicit along with the little noises and shivers from Roxas.  
The ever gentle touch made up for the new red tracks he'd left along the other's back with their intimate moment, mingled with Roxas' previous healing battle wounds Axel wanted to make up for it, just a little.

"Dunno if I've mentioned how much I've loved you," Axel quietly murmured since their moment had fallen so quiet and comfortable now, "you lazy ass." He chuckled.

Roxas peeked an eye open, having given up on any semblance of rest. "I'm sure I've run out of fingers by now to count the number of times." He sat up a little, but made sure not to disturb Axel's fingers. "Not to mention you have a good way of showing it as well." He grinned as he trailed a few fingers up and down Axel's chest, watching his own actions. "And I hope you know that I love you just as much by now. It feels good to be back here, at home in town, with you." He finally glanced up, meeting Axel's gaze with his own. "I just have to come up with a good reason as to why I bailed on my friends again."

"Mm, just blame it on your oh so charming and _hot_ 'punk' boyfriend. I'm sure that Hayner kid will find some way to blame me." Axel lazily smirked as his hand settled on simply running up and down Roxas' back. He looked a little too pleased with himself there and then. "Although now I can go into far greater detail about what makes you howl to that girl you know." His hand slipped lower down Roxas' back, slipping under the sheets. "Not _all_ the intimate details, just enough to make her blush and you flustered."

Roxas' hand stopped while he tried to keep in the low sound that wanted to make its way past his lips. He failed miserably in the end and gave Axel a stern look that didn't pass off as cruel as he intended it to be. "Don't you dare. You've traumatized my friends enough as it is. I don't think you need to try any harder at it. Besides..." Roxas scooted up so he was just barely straddling Axel. "I do not get flustered."

Axel's smirk perked into a grin. Both his hands slid to Roxas' hips without shame. "Oh but you do. You blush madly, and stammer for something to say- but you're far too embarrassed to come up with an excuse." His hands slipped lower with a chuckle. "So you pout and grump."

"I do not." But with those few words Roxas did just that as he tried to defend himself. A small twitch of lips showed that he was indeed pouting down at the Heartless, annoyed at such a statement. "I don't get embarrassed. I'd just rather you not tell my friends what we were doing since we got here, that's all, especially Hayner. I don't need him to be even more annoyed with me if it really is true that he's jealous because he likes me, or liked me, whatever." Roxas looked away in aggravation.

In a swift motion Axel had Roxas scooped up in his arms. "You're right." Then much to Roxas' chagrin Axel dragged him from bed. "We should go _right now_ and talk with him!" He carried Roxas as he stood from the bed. "No time to waste dressing- we should go _now_!" He laughed.

Roxas' eyes shot wide open as he was swept away from the small cocoon they had both been nestled in. Axel's words didn't help him relax and he was soon kicking his feet in the other's arms as he tried to free himself despite his lack of clothing. "No way! Put me down right now, Axel! This isn't funny!" He flailed his arms around and nearly hit the Heartless in the face. "Axel..." The name came out as a whine. A rarity for him.

That had caused Axel to stop, though it didn't wipe the mischievous grin from his face. "Yes, darling?" He was wretched at playing innocent; especially when they were both so wickedly naked and he was holding Roxas hostage.

Roxas finally kept still and glanced up at Axel with narrowed eyes. "If you think I'm going out there to greet my friends naked then you're crazier then usual." He squirmed a little in Axel's hold to try and get free, but to no avail. Not to mention Axel was too tall, so he didn't want to chance falling uncomfortably. "Either get us some clothes or let me go back to sleep."

Axel seemed to consider something, but it wasn't Roxas' options. "Hmm... y'know- we'd get there _a lot_ faster if we teleported. Right now." And right on que the Heartless' shadow began to grow darker, circling around, licking at his naked ankles. He grinned; man, was he terrible.

For a split second Roxas' expression was no longer relaxed as he stared down at the darkness that had come up from his floor from Axel's shadow. In a split second he was back to normal as if the moment hadn't bugged him in the slightest as he quickly turned his eyes back up to Axel to try and ignore it. "Seriously, Axel. It's not funny. I don't think they would appreciate the sight very much."

Just as quickly the darkness disappeared and Axel tried to mock a frown. "But I appreciate the sight of your lack of anything." He placed a quick kiss on the grump's cheek. "And I'm sure that Hayner guy would secretly enjoy it too." He tried to pout, but it was hard when he was grinning so much. "You don't think I look good as I am?" He tilted his head. "You seemed to say otherwise not long ago. In fact- I recall you clinging, clawing, and appreciating every inch with fervor if my memory serves me right." His grin was nothing short of devilish as he touched his nose with Roxas'.

"Yeah... well... still." Roxas glanced away as he lost his words for a second. He couldn't deny the truth, and even though it would have been right to continue to try and push Axel away, Roxas found himself sharing in the other's amusement. "I don't think anyone else in town will enjoy seeing us naked. Remember, they think of me as a sweet and innocent boy." He turned his attention back on Axel and ran his fingertips just barely along what he could of tattooed arms. "Do they really need to know how much you've tainted me?" He gave a teasing grin.

Axel placed a quick kiss on Roxas' lips. "You're such a manipulative, brat." And it was obvious he was won over, not that he was going to run outside with Roxas while they were both as naked as babes; maybe. "And I suppose I love you for it." He finally set Roxas down on his own feet. "Although, you do know that your neighbors probably got an eye full of your not so sweet and innocent side." He pointed to the open curtain window beside the bed.

Roxas glanced over at his window and blinked a few times as he actually took in the situation. He frowned in disappointment before he looked back up at Axel with a small bit of annoyance on his face. "If you knew about it then you could have closed it." Still, he seemed to be ducking a little near Axel to keep hidden from the clear view the window gave despite it being too late. "Where did you throw my clothes?" He glanced around the room for what by now was mostly ruined clothing.

"I deleted them." Axel answered simply with a shrug. He didn't seem to mind that Roxas' neighbors were getting a _full_ eye view as he stood there. By now nothing could really faze him. "They were torn and bloody. You need new clothes, anyway." He then looked at the window in question. "And about the window; there were far more important things on my mind at the time than voyeuristic neighbors." He gave Roxas' bare bottom a pat before he moved to recline non-too-innocently on the boy's bed.

"Deleted..." Roxas stood there staring as he tried to process that word a few times. He didn't even seem to mind the small pat. Finally he turned to look with wide eyes at Axel who by that time was on his bed. "You deleted my clothes?! Where the hell am I supposed to get new ones? I don't have any new ones here. Those were my only real pair of clothes, Axel."

Roxas gestured around the room wildly with his hands. "I only have my pajamas left and if you haven't noticed Twilight Town doesn't exactly have a mall made of data." His hands fell to his sides and his lack of dress was forgotten as he waited for an answer from the Heartless while he tried not to pout once more over the fact his favorite pair of clothes were so easily disposed of.

Axel was failing miserably at trying not to laugh at Roxas' dilemma. "You- only have one pair of clothing?" He bit his lip but a snicker still left him. "Although I was wondering why your room didn't have a closet." He finally let loose a laugh.

The Heartless leaned back, propping himself back on his elbows. The bed's data had to be modified prior for his height. He stretched out his long legs, looking much too comfy and pleased with himself rather than helpful. "Well, you'll either have to accept your new life style as a nudist; which I have no qualms against. Or I suppose we could look into getting you some new ones." He tried to give an innocent smile; though it came out cheekier. "We could go right now and buy you some."

Roxas easily let out a distressed noise as he walked the few steps back to his bed and plopped himself down to sit. "I can't even go outside unless I want to walk around in my pajamas. That's if they even fit me anymore." He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Probably, I'm lucky Sora hardly ever grows an inch since my clothes still fit, but at the price of being cursed to probably staying a midget for the rest of my life."

Roxas turned his head a bit so he could glance at Axel since his back had been turned to the other. "Can't you just, I don't know, make me some clothes like _that_." Roxas snapped his fingers with the last word then dropped his hand as he turned completely to crawl onto the bed and across Axel, his earlier anger easily forgotten with such an action.

"Maybe," Axel let that one word trail as his hand then did down Roxas' back, "if you ask _really_ nicely." He continued to grin with interest. "And, I dunno, I like that you're rather pocket size. It makes you very 'cute'." He idly trailed a finger back up Roxas' spine. "And I know how much you hate that."

Roxas let out a low growl. "That's not funny. Besides, I'm not that small. I grew a few inches at most." He glanced away with narrowed eyes. "It's not my fault that you're unnaturally tall." He looked back at Axel and tried to keep a some what calm expression, but failed as he began to whine. "Please, Axel. Just something to at least get me by for today at most." A small grin twitched at the corner of his lips and he was quick to pin the Heartless' wrists to the bed in a second. "And later you can have the pleasure of tearing those new clothes off of me." He leaned down to run his tongue over tattooed arms while he continued to keep Axel pinned. "Hmm?"

Axel's fingers twitched at the tongue over skin, he hated to admit it was one of his newest weaknesses. He let out a throaty thoughtful noise. "Mmm, I dunno. I have you here, now, without said clothes." He tried to nip at Roxas' jaw line but the teen had him too well restrained; for now. "It's a tempting offer though, I must admit, almost irresistible."

Roxas moved back a little just to be sure Axel couldn't get to him at all. "Almost? I'm sure it's much more then that." He moved his hands up a little to clasp their fingers, but still kept Axel pinned with a grin on his own face at having the Heartless under him. "Just think. After such a long day of dealing with my friends and walking around town, it would be nice to just unwind again, don't you think?" He finally moved in a bit but only enough so that their lips barely touched. "We can unwind for as long as we want."

Axel grinned back against Roxas' lips. "Mmm, and you do know how much I like to unwind." He placed a brief kiss to Roxas' lips. "Fine, you win. I did want to do a bit of a walk around. Feel a bit of freedom before we're chained to that school of yours."

"It's not that bad. Shut up." Roxas rolled his eyes while he finally pulled away and let go of Axel in the process. As soon as he moved away from the Heartless he scurried off of the bed to try and get to his feet, but almost fell as he got caught in the blanket. As soon as he caught himself he acted as if the slip up never happened and stood next to the side of the bed. "Since I won make me some new clothes. And no deleting these ones this time got it?"

Axel didn't even try to hide the laugh this time. He ran a hand through his jagged hair as he ran his gaze slowly along Roxas' body from foot to face; his eyes lingering at certain parts. He propped his head up on a hand. "What kind would you like?" he asked smoothly.

Roxas snapped his fingers in front of Axel's eyes to get the Heartless to actually keep his attention on his face. He couldn't hide the amused look on his own face before he shrugged a shoulder and looked around his room. "I don't know. Something simple I guess. I'm not a very complicated person." He looked back at Axel and smirked. "Well, that's not true, but as far as clothing goes I don't think I am. I just don't want to be naked in front of a window any longer."

Axel rubbed his lips in thought as he glanced about the room. "Well, you seem to like stars; lots of stars." He looked back to Roxas. "And checkers. Hmm, I'm no fashion designer, but I'll give it a shot. Might as well go for something new. You've been in that checkered pull over and duel coloured pants as far back as I can remember. A bit of a change can't hurt with our new life, right?"

With a simple snap of Axel's fingers new data was called up, circling Roxas' feet and climbing upwards quickly to weave complicated pixels. In a matter of seconds a new outfit was laid on Roxas' person: sneakers, skater shorts with suspenders hanging down from belt loops, a long sleeved shirt with checkers along the sleeves under a hoodie with star designs.

"How's that?" Axel grinned.

Roxas looked over himself a few times while he spoke up. "Other then the fact I'll never get used to having data crawl all over me or near me. I look pretty damn good." He turned his attention on Axel and finally smiled at the other instead of his usual smirks or cocky grins. "Thanks. I like it a lot." His smile faltered a little and his fingers fidgeted with his new sleeve.

"Are you sure that you're okay with this? Not getting Ikurx back?" Roxas looked down at the floor while his fingers stopped. "You'll have to change yourself completely, all the time, just to go outside. I mean, it doesn't bug me. Either way you're still Axel to me, but, I just don't want any of this to be a burden to you." Finally, he looked up to stare at the Heartless who would soon have to change his appearance into that of his former Nobody.

Axel's grin faltered for a brief second. "I'm fine. I mean," he pushed himself up to sit on the bed, feet on the floor, "it's never been about appearances." His good humour fell away to something more serious. "And... well... I've always had a bit of a head start." He tugged Roxas over so he could slip his arms around the boy's middle, resting his head on his chest. "With you. Demyx deserves a little something for his efforts, I guess. He was never a good fighter, horrible at confrontations, not too bright either... And- he doesn't have anyone else." Axel looked up at Roxas. "I've you to keep me whole. So it doesn't matter if I have to change what's on the outside... I could just... never change back to the way I look now." He lowered his head a bit in thought to that. "... Would it even matter?"

Roxas raised his hands to run one through Axel's hair while the other dropped down to run lazy circle's on the Heartless' shoulder. "No matter what I love you, but, I just don't want you to change anything about yourself and feel fake just for the sake of my friends and such. I guess I just feel kind of bad about it."

The small smile Roxas gave earlier came back little by little as he dipped his head to try and glance at Axel's face. "I think it's nice that you're letting go of Ikurx for Demyx's sake. Especially after everything that happened." Roxas' smile turned into a smirk. "Ikurx told me Demyx's whole reasoning for acting like a jerk when we thought you died. Although, it was kind of hard to tell which of us was acting like a jerk more at that moment." He glanced away as he thought about it, but stopped just as quickly, hating the memory too much.

Axel straightened some at that knowledge. "He did, did he?" He glanced away as well before giving a sigh, resting his head back on Roxas' chest. He smirked a little. "Y'know, before you got your heart had you been through what you have, I don't think you'd be as kind and giving." He glanced up at Roxas. "You had more contempt for Demyx than you did for me back in the Organization. You'd always call him 'pathetic' and 'useless' most of the time." Axel nuzzled his cheek against Roxas' chest where his sweet heart lay. "Now you're happy for Demyx that he has Ikurx. You've come quite a long way." He placed a single kiss on Roxas' chest.

Roxas dropped his head down to nuzzle his face in Axel's hair before he was able to speak up. "I guess so. Being told as a Nobody that we didn't have feelings there was no reason to even try most of the time. Now though, I just can't help it. I can be as honest as I want because these really are my feelings. I really do exist, now." He straightened up and lifted Axel's head by his chin just so he could lean down and press a kiss to the Heartless' lips.

Axel smiled a little in the kiss. He tugged Roxas on his lap, keeping his arms around the teen. "You always existed to me." He brushed a few blonde bangs from Roxas' eyes before he leaned his head against the other's. "... It doesn't matter when... doesn't matter where. You'll always exist for me."

"And that's all that really matters in the end." Roxas spoke up after Axel's words as he sat on the other's lap. His hands had moved so fingers could barely brush over both tattoos under Axel's eyes while he watched the other's face. "We exist for each other." He finally dropped his hands only to have them move down Axel's chest while a teasing smile came over his face. "You need to get dressed by the way."

Axel's eyes had fallen closed when Roxas had touched the markings under his eyes. There was something very touching about the gesture, along with the words.

But just as quickly the Heartless blinked opened his eyes. "Really?" His sincere smile went catty, his thin brows rising. "And here I thought I was in proper attire to go visit your friends. I'm sure at least Olette would appreciate my fine naked form. Or maybe Pence." Axel feigned thought. "Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that Hayner kid is the staring type."

Roxas raised a hand to place a finger over Axel's lips. "That's enough out of you. Don't push it." He eyed the Heartless for a few seconds as he tried to keep a stern gaze on the other, but it soon fell away as he started to smirk. "Besides, only I get to see you naked and we're going to keep it that way aside from the neighbors." He glanced towards the window with a sigh. He dropped his finger as he looked back at Axel and placed another quick kiss on the Heartless' lips before he got off his lap.

Axel gave a dramatic sigh. "Fair enough. You win again." He stood from the bed with a grin. "All this is yours and yours alone." His grin got cockier. "Lucky you and lucky neighbors."  
He snapped his fingers and much like it happened with Roxas, data ran down the Heartless' form changing his appearance to a normal form, normal clothing to match; fiery and punk.

Axel wiggled his normal coloured fingers, turning them over to look at the healthy shade his skin now was. He ran a quick hand through his hair and down his own jaw. "Not much of a change. But you have to admit, I was a pretty good looking Somebody. My Nobody inherited the good looks of course." He couldn't help pushing his luck. It felt good to have some semblance of normality, even if it was only skin deep on so many levels.

The man sat down and pointed to the chakram markings that scrawled up his arm now as tattoos to any onlooker. He'd kept them last time as well. "Though I can't leave these, I know how much you like them."

Roxas' small smile turned into a grin at the last few words while his eyes moved along the tattoos. "I can't help it. You make such pretty noises when I play with them." He took the few steps towards Axel and grabbed his outstretched hand, running nails just barely over the hidden weapons on purpose as he did so, but playing innocent the entire time. "Now get up and let's go. We can probably stop for some ice cream before I have to face my friends. It will help calm me down."

But Roxas was suddenly caught within lanky arms with a growl from the Heartless. Axel spared not Roxas' neck from nips, adding a few more playful marks among the other love bite bruises. "Keep that up and we won't ever be leaving your room."

Roxas had given a startled squeak at suddenly being tugged down so quickly. He had been about to protest, but the bites to his skin turned any words he would give into small little moans instead. "Sorry." He spoke the word quietly while he tried not to grin and it was easy to tell he wasn't sorry at all. "I just couldn't resist. You know how that is."

"Fortunately, I do." That said Axel scooped up Roxas as he stood, carrying him off to the door. "Well! It's time to go get this day over with! The sooner we bug your friends the sooner I can get you back and tear those new clothes of yours off. They look great on you, babe, but they'd look far better on your bedroom floor."

Unlike before, Roxas didn't struggle when he was picked up and only clung tightly to Axel's neck. "I'm sure they would. Although, I'll have to say the same for you as well." As they neared the door, Roxas was the one to free a hand so he could lean over and twist the knob on his door since Axel's hands were a bit occupied at the moment. As soon as they were allowed out of what had become their own little hide away he turned his attention back on Axel and smirked. "I still want ice cream."

"Yeah, yeah, feed your addiction." Axel laughed some. "With all the ice cream you guys eat, it's no wonder you guys haven't bloated and rolling around the town. But with all the odd jobs you guys do, running all around town playing gopher to feed the habit, I guess it burns what you eat." He paused and then gave a wicked grin. "Maybe all that ice cream has stunted your growth." Without warning he tossed Roxas over his shoulder, patting the teen's butt before he headed deeper into town.

Roxas' eyes widened at the sudden switch in positions. He stuttered for a second since he hadn't expected it and was soon hitting his fists against the other's back. "Axel! Put me down! You're not funny!" He scowled at his predicament and looked down at the floor beneath him as he kicked his feet to try and break free. One look at how high up he really was caused him to pout and stop squirming. "Damnit..." He kept still and looked up only to notice a few people walking around since they were away from his house and closer to town. Those few people stared at him because of his loud protest and all he could do was wave meekly before he lowered his head again.

"Such nice people." Axel commented as he waved as well with a grin at the people as they walked down the street. "I wonder if any of them are your neighbors. Well, you better put your best face forward." This was of course Roxas' rear right up in the air.

"Shut up." They were the only words Roxas could think to say to the disguised Heartless as he tried his hardest not to blush and damned his new heart because of it. At least the old familiar come back was something that still stayed with him. He just hoped it would be effective. Probably not. It never worked the hundreds of other times he used it.

"Better hope none of your friends find us first." Axel idly commented as he walked. "Ah- I think I can see the ice cream store. Maybe we should hop the trolley. I wonder if we could get a discount if I called you a carry on. You certainly are tote-able." It was probably a good thing Roxas couldn't see his grin.

Roxas kicked his feet a few more times at those words, but it did little good. He decided it was best to just keep glaring at the ground since it was the only real thing he could look at without getting a head rush. It didn't stop him from talking, though. "Keep this up and my clothes are going to stay on later." A small smirk came to his face.

"Hmm- I don't need your clothes off to enjoy you." But Axel let Roxas back down on the ground. "Unwinding might be a little more fun if you keep them on." Axel slipped his hand under Roxas' shirt undeterred, running his fingers across skin as he pressed a quick kiss to the corner of the teen's lips. "So don't pout." There was nothing that could ruin his good mood, but he left the grump alone after that to continue walking.

Roxas blinked his eyes open; having closed them to the one simple touch and kiss he had been given. He realized he was still standing there staring and quickly looked around to make sure he hadn't grabbed too much attention from anyone. With a shake of his head he hurried after Axel, stopping with a small skip when he was near the Heartless only to reach his hand out and entwine it with Axel's own. "I don't pout." After those words he glanced up at Axel to give the other a tiny smile while he kept hold of the other's hand. "I just argue."

Axel gave Roxas' hand a squeeze, smiling back at the other. "No arguments here." He raised his other hand to shy his eyes from the artificial sun above in the artificial sky. They'd locked themselves away for so long; even if the light wasn't real it was still hard on his eyes; even more still considering he was still a Heartless.

Axel's eyes swept over the town; the same shops, the same trolley, the same people. "It's so hard to believe that we've made it. This is the rest of our lives, right here." He gave a small 'heh'. "And nothings changed a bit since we've been gone, again."

Roxas looked away from Axel to watch the few people in town going about their daily lives. "Not really, no. Nothing can really harm this place. It was always here, waiting for us to come back again." His eyes narrowed as he continued to look around and in the end he let out a sigh. "I wonder where Hayner and the others are. I'm pretty sure school has let out by now. It doesn't seem to be too early in the day." Despite his curiosity his feet still led him straight to the ice cream stand.

Axel trailed after Roxas, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I'd have thought they'd be here in line getting ice cream. Maybe they have detention- for eating ice cream. But they're more than likely in that little fort you guys have- eating ice cream."

The ice cream tender was more than surprised to see Roxas. It was quite obvious they'd been gone a long time from the shocked expression on the man's face; he almost looked like he'd seen a ghost. "R-Roxas! There you are! Where've you been keeping yourself?"

Roxas hadn't been quite ready to go into details as to why he had been gone so long just yet. The question actually caused him to keep quiet for a few seconds as a lie was processed in his mind. Soon enough he was waving his hand to dismiss the worried look he was given. "Just a family emergency. That's all there is to it." With that answer he was quick to move onto other things. "Two of the usual please. Also, have you seen Hayner, Pence, or Olette around anywhere?"

"No, not yet today." The tender went about getting the ice cream. "They've been constantly on the look out for you though. They've searched everywhere. They've been really worried about you." He handed Roxas the two sea salt ice cream popsicles. "I hope everything is alright."

"Here, let me cover it, babe." Axel stepped up behind Roxas reaching over his shoulder to place the right amount of munny on the counter. He took one of the ice creams, his other arm draping over Roxas' shoulder.

"Hmm, thanks..." Roxas barely muttered the words to Axel as he paid for the ice cream while he limply held the treat between two of his fingers. To hear that he had worried his friends such a great deal was upsetting. More so then it would have been in the past.

With a quick shake of his head Roxas looked back at the tender and tried his best to smile. "Everything is fine. Thanks for the ice cream. I'll see you around." After those words he finally looked up at Axel while he licked some of the flavor off the bar. "We might as well check the Usual Spot first. It couldn't hurt."

Axel sucked the top of his ice cream before giving it a bite; cold things always sent a shiver down his spine. "Going to tell them the same story? Family Emergency? You don't exactly have an existing family." He gave a slight laugh, licking ice cream from his lips. "Less you wanted to create mother and father NPCs. I'm sure they'll adore how much time we've been spending in the bedroom."

Roxas shrugged a shoulder as he gave what was more of a hollow laugh then anything. "Not really. Having a fake family seems worse then not having one at all, don't you think?" He nibbled a small piece of his ice cream off and swallowed the cold bite before he went on. "They've never met my family, not like they were ever able to, so I can tell them the same excuse. I'll just tell them the emergency was out of town. It was just an annoying cousin or something. They'll buy it."

Axel gave a thoughtful sound. "And I know no one will care or notice I was gone. So, that takes care of that." He looked down at Roxas. With a slight grin, just wanting to perk Roxas' spirits, he slipped his arm over the teen's shoulder. "And besides, you do have a family, Roxas. Or did you go and over look me, hm?" He gave Roxas' shoulders a playful squeeze.

Roxas looked up at Axel with half the ice cream hanging from his mouth while his hand stayed close to the stick in case it decided to fall. He couldn't help the small smile that came to his lips at such words and it caused him to pull the bar from his mouth, licking his lips afterwards. "Thanks, Axel." He stayed close to the Heartless, enjoying the feel of the other's arm around him after such words.

The Heartless ruffled Roxas' hair playfully. "I mean it." Axel went back to grinning, his arm around Roxas again. "With all the stereo typical cheese and romance that goes with that statement. Cuz, you're stuck with me now. Hell or high tide, I'm not going anywhere." He leaned down and gave Roxas a quick kiss on the ear.

Roxas squirmed a bit with that one action, but didn't mind it much. "I'm glad. At least now I know my friends won't drive you away very easily. I just have to worry about the very opposite happening." He shot the other a playful look after his words and slowly untangled himself from under Axel's arm as they finally reached the small hide away that he shared with the other three he hung around with.

"Someone is bound to be in here. If not, then I guess we just get the place to ourselves for a while." Roxas turned his eyes away from Axel as he pushed the thin curtain aside to let himself in. There wasn't much to scan, so when his eyes focused on the room there was one thing and one thing only that caught his attention and made his ice cream slip from his hands onto the dirty floor. His blue eyes were wide and no coherent thought or sentence would come to him at all.

There was only two people in the room, on the couch, but who and doing what, no one could ever in all the known worlds expect it. Hayner was sprawled back on the well beaten couch, of all people, Seifer on top much too close keeping him pinned. His mouth was heated on Hayner's, which the other didn't seem to object to too much with his own. Seifer's hand was slipping up along Hayner's front, dragging that black shirt up as it went. Neither one seemed to hear Roxas come in just yet.

Axel nearly stumbled into Roxas who had suddenly stopped. "Hey Roxas why did you-" he caught the sight Roxas stared at and felt his own mind shatter with Roxas'. "-Holy mother of-"

"-Roxas!?" The name was shrieked, muffled against Seifer's lips. Hayner's eyes snapped wide, and he was frozen for a second. He quickly pushed Seifer's face away, writhing and kicking to escape from under Seifer, who now became offending, with a scowl.

Hayner's movements were only annoying the taller boy above him so much so that a low growl finally escaped Seifer despite the fact that they seemed to have an audience. "Damnit, quit kicking me, lamer." He moved a hand to push it against Hayner's face so the smaller boy was flat against the couch and at least a little still. It allowed him some freedom of movement so he could get up and move to the other side of the couch while he ran a hand through his hair which was free of its usual beanie. Only then did he chance a narrowed glance at the two that occupied the door to the hideout. "What?"

Roxas stared with an open mouth still unable to answer. He felt as if reality had just collapsed in on itself at what he had just seen. He had just caught his best friend with someone that had always been their rival. Someone he had thought Hayner despised to the point that he'd been jealous when Roxas had been around Seifer for longer then two seconds. Roxas actually forgot to breathe for a moment and couldn't even muster up a usual glare at Seifer's cocky tone of voice.

Hayner had scrambled up to sit when Seifer had moved. He yanked his shirt down, eyes darting to his vest across the room, staring at it with a blank expression as if he didn't know how it got from his back all the way over there. Unlike Seifer, Hayner couldn't manage to look at Roxas, not directly anyway. He began to fidget terribly, at a loss, and it had him scowling when his mind shut down and his throat tightened and he couldn't speak to save his life.

"I think it's a unanimous vote that this door cape needs a lock on it." Axel's comment broke the intense silence with obscure sensibility.

"I was choking on something." Hayner was quick to speak the rather weak excuse for what was seen. It was the first thing that popped into his mind, and he knew it was terrible. His cheeks grew hot and it had him scowling more, indignantly, his hands tightening into fists. "... Yeah." He couldn't look at Roxas after that.

"Yeah, whatever it was, it was way down in there." Seifer spoke up after the horrible excuse. "As you can see, he's just fine now, but, we figured we'd double check just to make sure." Seifer glanced at Hayner before he rolled his eyes just to make it clear how stupid he thought the excuse had been and moved his gaze to the far wall.

Roxas could feel his eyes widen even further at those words and for the first time he couldn't actually control the blush that came over his face. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger he wasn't entirely sure. His mind felt like pudding. "Y-You..." He still couldn't speak more then a word and he gulped down anything else he was going to try to say.

"-Saw nothing." Hayner quickly finished for Roxas. He crossed his arms giving Seifer such a fierce glare for his words. "Absolutely nothing." He was caught between Seifer on his one side and Roxas and that stupid punk of his blocking the door. Anger easily replaced embarrassment with Axel watching, had he not been there Hayner would have been less seething on the spot. Roxas' dumb expression wasn't helping; it made Hayner feel like a heel. "Stop gawking like an idiot." he snapped.

Those last few words finally had Roxas snapping out of it as best he could. He was still a bit shaky, but he still managed a somewhat half decent glare at his friend. "Well what do you expect me to do, Hayner?! Last time I checked you two hated each other enough for you to throw a temper tantrum every time Seifer got in your face." His hands clenched at his sides. "Yet here you are sucking face with him on the same couch that you gave me hell over for doing the exact same damn thing!"

Seifer watched the two angry teens with a bored expression while at the same time his eyes traveled around the room at random moments in search of his lost hat. It was the last part Roxas shouted that gained his attention and had him more interested in the conversation then his beloved lost item of clothing. "And I thought this day would be boring."

Hayner was up on his feet glaring anger that was fueled by hurt. "Last time you _checked_ was about a god damn month ago!" he shouted right back at Roxas. He took a step nearer, the only thing stopping him from being in Roxas' face was the fact that Axel was behind him. "The hell have you been Roxas?! You have no right to suddenly appear out of no where- waltz right in here with _that_ ," he pointed a finger at Axel, "and get pissed off at me!" He swiped his hand aside in gesture. "You say I'm back stabbing?! Just look at yourself, you lying deserter!"

The words stung more then they would have long ago, but Roxas tried so hard to keep his face as emotionless as he could. "You have no idea what the hell I've been through, Hayner. I left, yes, and I'm sorry that I had to leave, but I couldn't help it. If you want to be pissed at me over it then whatever, but it's not Axel's fault! You don't have to treat him like crap." His eyes narrowed and he was no longer able to keep the anger from his face. "If you were my friend you'd understand."

Those last few words hurt, and it showed for a brief moment on Hayner's face. It hurt to know that someone else's' friendship mattered over his own; they were supposed to be best friends. But all that was over now, it seemed. Roxas only had eyes for Axel now.

The anger returned as Hayner glowered at Roxas. "Then I guess I'm not," he answered simply. Hayner headed out the door pushing hard past Roxas. "That bastard punk is," he finished low and hatefully as he walked off.

Roxas nearly stumbled as he was brushed past, but didn't notice it all that much as Hayner's biting words hit him much harder. He could only stare blankly at the ice cream that had started to melt and create a puddle below him on the floor near his feet. Why was everything so difficult?

"Great, now he's going to be in an even worse mood then he was earlier." Seifer nearly groaned the words in annoyance as he finally stood up and gave up on finding his hat for the time being. He would only be back in the small hideout at some point later. He'd retrieve it then. "Way to go," the words were spoken with obvious sarcasm towards Roxas.

Axel had rested a hand on Roxas' shoulder so the teen wouldn't fall over. The shock from the entire situation was wearing off as he noticed his ice cream was now a mountain of sticky foam green all over his hand. He tossed the stick aside, flicking his hand to get the mess off. "... That almost sounds like caring," he idly commented about Seifer's sarcastic words.

Seifer only scoffed as he barely gave a glance to Axel. "Not in this lifetime." He pushed past the two to make his way out the small curtain. "See ya later, wuss," his voice rang out for Roxas to hear. "Oh, and next time take a picture. It might actually last longer."

Roxas flinched at those words, but soon his eyes narrowed. He felt like brushing Axel's hand off his shoulder, but knew it was the only comfort he had left. Besides, he'd only end up near the Heartless to gain the comfort back at some point anyway. There was just no point. He had lost his friend all because of something he couldn't prevent.

Axel leaned against the door frame, watching Seifer now walk off. Things were not at a good start outside the bedroom. He didn't have much to say about the whole ordeal. They were Roxas' silly little friends and enemies. He could imagine the turmoil that now both of the two were mixing in his little world.

He waited until Seifer was out of sight before he spoke up. "... Did you want to look for Olette and Pence?" For once he'd called Roxas' friends by their proper names instead of 'girl' or 'kid'. "... That might go smoother than this did." He rubbed Roxas' shoulder, even though Roxas looked as welcoming to touch as a cactus then and there. He felt he owed the teen a little something to sooth him. "Or... chase down Hayner," he added quietly.

Roxas frowned at the last suggestion. He was afraid of running into the two of them together again. "I don't know..." He finally turned around so he could bury himself against Axel. "He's so mad at me. He doesn't even want anything to do with me it seems. It's worse then before. I should probably just... stay away for a bit I guess." He lifted his face away from Axel's shirt to look up at the Heartless with a torn expression. "Let's just look for Pence and Olette. Maybe... they can tell me what's going on."

"Give him time to cool down." Axel ran his fingers through Roxas' hair. "He just missed you a helluva lot. He doesn't know the real crap you've been through. He thinks you're just a normal teenager like him." It felt a little strange to talk like these were real people he was speaking about. But the more he was around them, the more he watched them, how could he think anything else about such passionate beings. "Not to mention you caught him at an awkward moment." Axel managed a little grin. "Just give him a moment and talk to him later. You diffused the bomb last time, I'm sure you'll do it again." Axel slipped his arms around Roxas, giving him a hug knowing Roxas needed it since his new heart had never gone through something like this. "And just for you, I'll lay off him. I know how much he dislikes me... And he'll want to catch up time with you and just you alone." Man, time away from Roxas was going to suck; time was going to crawl, alone.

Roxas gave Axel a smile for such words and tried his best to be more optimistic after what happened. "Thanks, it means a lot." He brought the other's head down to give the Heartless a quick kiss, pulling back after a moment so he could speak up again. "It's still a bit of a shock, but you're right. I just have to give him time. He just doesn't know what happened and it's not something I can talk about." He brushed a thumb along Axel's cheek before he let the other stand up straight again. "Everything will be okay again..." He spoke the words mostly to himself then out loud.

"Of course," Axel affirmed Roxas' words even though they weren't for him. He placed a quick kiss to Roxas' cheek before resting his head against his. "Personally," he murmured his whisper into Roxas' ear, "I blame the couch. It's a home wrecker." He chuckled, wanting to perk Roxas' mood a little more.

Roxas did smile a little more at such words and shook his head. "It is very tempting, though." His hands fell down to grab onto both of Axel's own. "Now come on, let's find Pence and Olette and see if we can't get some answers out of them. If not then boy are they in for a surprise as well." With those words he pulled Axel out of the hideout to find his other missing friends.


	31. Chapter 31

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 31

Twilight Town wasn't known for being very large. That's why if a person wanted to run away from something there wasn't a lot of places to run to. After a while, if everyone knew a person well enough then they could easily track down every hiding spot that the troubled mind led them to. Aside from the huge tower that was the main attraction of the entire town, there was also the mansion that rarely anyone visited.

It was through the darkness of woods that one usual cocky teen stalked through to get to said mansion without causing too much of a racket, considering all of the branches and leaves on the ground it was a lost cause that was given up on by the time Seifer made it completely though. He stopped in his tracks to stare at the moody figure that sat near the gates as if the whole world had wronged him.

With slow steps, Seifer walked towards the gates, but didn't sit down. He kept himself upright to lean against the small bit of brick. While he still found the situation of going after Hayner rather irritating, it was something to do. "You know, it's not really storming off if you go to places where people can easily find you."

"Piss off, Seifer," Hayner snapped. He scowled even more; though the grass he stared holes through didn't wither up and die like he hoped. Seifer was the least of people he wanted to deal with at the moment. He'd hoped going to such a remote local, one rarely visited and disliked for its eeriness, that no one would think to find him there. Seemed he was wrong on that one. "I'm not in the mood for your BS right now." He turned away from Seifer, glaring at a tree next.

"When are you and when has that ever stopped me?" Seifer looked to where Hayner's eyes had suddenly rested and he gave an amused sound. At the same time he moved a hand out to rest it on top of the other's head, just barely using it to lean on. "I don't think that tree is going to burst into flames any time soon, so, you're not succeeding at anything. All you're doing is sulking at a tree."

Seifer's hand was slapped away with a growl. Hayner didn't appreciate being used as rest, nor the other's sarcastic words. He shifted over along the grass away from Seifer. He crossed his arms after, only glaring harder. "Maybe if I glare hard enough at you, you'd combust," he muttered in a low tone. If only.

Seifer didn't seem all that detoured that his hand had been pushed away. Instead he only let it fall to his side as he shot words right back at Hayner. "Sorry to tell you, but your weak little stares couldn't catch a piece of paper on fire." He finally slid down the brick to make it obvious he planned to stay. "Besides, then who would Roxas have the pleasure of catching you with? Real smooth there with the choking bit; genius."

Much against his will Hayner felt his cheeks and neck grow hot. So that wasn't his most intelligent of moments, he accepted that. He just didn't appreciate Seifer pointing out the obvious nor poking fun at him.  
It grated Hayner that it had been Roxas that had caught them, and with of all people, that stupid punk. It was humiliation with triple the burn.  
"Speaking of genius, you obviously didn't catch the meaning of: Piss. Off." Hayner just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. His entire world was a mess now.

"And you obviously didn't catch the fact that I'm not going to do what you tell me to." Seifer shot right back before he kept silent for a few seconds. His fingers plucked at the grass beneath him, having nothing better to occupy himself with since Hayner was in a sudden distant and pissy mood. "Besides..." He started up again, but continued to look away from Hayner. "You can't stay out here and pout forever."

Hayner drew his legs up, wrapping his arms around his knees, burying half his face in them. "Watch me."

Seifer finally rolled his eyes at how childish Hayner was acting. "You can't be serious." He looked up from the grass to stare with narrowed eyes at the other teen. "What happened wasn't even all that serious. Stop acting like such a wuss just because you and your friend had a little spat over stupid bull-shit." He moved a boot out to nudge Hayner in the side.

Hayner glared at Seifer over his arms. "Of course you'd say that- this is all one big joke to you! You think it's great that me and Roxas are fighting. You get to just sit back and laugh at the mess you've made." He lowered his arms, sitting back to finally face Seifer. "This is your entire fault!"

Seifer raised a brow. "My fault? How in the world is any of this my fault?" He crossed his legs so he could be more comfortable while he glared right back at Hayner. "I was just _there_ when they decided to barge in and even then I just wanted to find my damn hat that you tossed somewhere. And let's not get into any of the other little situations before this even came about. Those were your doings, so screw you."

"Sure, right, like I'd want to be near you." Hayner scoffed, looking away quickly. "You must be insane. _Anyone_ can come barging in at that spot. Pence, Olette, anyone could have seen _that_. I don't know what you were thinking when you did what you did there." Hayner groaned as the entire situation played through his mind again. He rubbed his brow, his eyes. ".. Oh god." The truth of the matter finally settled on him; Roxas had seen him making out with Seifer on the group couch. He was never going to live it down.

Seifer settled down once again as he watched Hayner nearly have a mental breakdown. "You didn't really seem to be complaining all that much I hope you know, or was that someone else I had squirming under me on the couch? Maybe I'm blind and didn't know it." He let the words trail off as he moved to lean back against the bricks once more.

"Shut up, Seifer." Hayner buried his face in his hands; the weight of the matter was just too much. Seifer wasn't helping. "Just shut up."

For a while it seemed as if Seifer actually listened to the command spat at him since no sound came from the spot near Hayner. It was soon that fingers tugged Hayner's hands away from his own face to get him to at least stop burying himself away. "You're so pissy and annoying. I don't understand how anyone in their right mind can stand to be around you for more then five seconds to be honest." The words weren't said in as much of a cruel way as they usually were. "So what if Roxas caught us. He'll get over it somehow."

Hayner frowned but he didn't pull his hands away or move like he did last time. "I seriously doubt it. Even if he does, I won't." He glanced at Seifer. "Not that you care. I'm sure you find this whole mess hilarious. Some big fall down that you can point and laugh at with your lackeys." He narrowed his eyes at Seifer. "And if I'm so annoying, what the hell are you still doing here."

"I'm not laughing now, am I?" Seifer shrugged as he sat more comfortably in front of Hayner. "Not to say it wasn't amusing at the time that it happened. Besides, if I really wanted to point and laugh about all of this with the others then I would have told them about this from the get go, because really, it's a bit on the ironic side and something they would find funny no matter what the situation." He finally dropped his own hands to his lap and smirked. "And maybe I'm still here because it pisses you off even more."

Hayner gave the other a rather bland look, quite unimpressed. "Oh yeah, you're a real smooth operator." He looked away, giving Seifer the cold shoulder.

Seifer only clicked his tongue at that. "Whatever, like it matters." He didn't buy the cold shoulder act at all that was given to him. It would only work for however long Hayner was able to keep it up. His hands moved back up only to inch across Hayner's sides to sneak under the other's shirt so fingertips could ghost over skin. "Or maybe I'm here because I just wanted to follow your ass after you stormed off."

Hayner's eyes snapped wide and he grasped Seifer's hand yanking it from his side. "Stop that." Annoyance took the place of surprise. "What, the great Seifer Almasy is actually thinking of someone other than himself? That's a real shocker. Kindness and caring doesn't exactly suit you."

Seifer didn't seem all that upset over the fact his hand was captured. He still had one free hand that continued to try to make its way under Hayner's shirt. "Usually not, but, yelling at the top of your lungs at your best friend doesn't exactly suit you either. We're both just full of surprises today, aren't we?"

"We've done worse." Seifer could take that comment either way. Hayner grasped Seifer's other sneaky hand, moving it away as well. "Will you stop that? That kind of stuff is what got me in this mess. Knowing my luck you'll start something and Roxas will come bounding out of the forest to talk some sense into me- and then all hell will break loose again." He lowered their hands to the grass as he glanced away. "And I think you mean _ex_ -best friend."

"Somehow I doubt that very seriously." Seifer didn't try to break his hands free while he spoke up after Hayner's last few words. "The two of you can never keep up an argument for more then two seconds. Not to mention Roxas seemed pretty shook up after you stormed out. I think you're just over reacting. Both of you are probably. This will all blow over and you'll both go back to normal."

Hayner scoffed. "I doubt anything can go back to normal after he saw what he saw. You could hear his mind shattering from across town." He eyed Seifer skeptically, not liking what he saw. "How can you act so casually about this? Doesn't any of this at all get to you? I mean- what if that were Rai or Fuu that walked in? I doubt you'd be keeping such a cool head then." He leaned back, his shoulder blades thudding against the wall near the gate. "You're being quite optimistic about all this."

Seifer snorted before he moved to lay back on the grass with both his arms behind his head. "Rai wouldn't even be able to grasp the concept and would probably forget about it in a day or two and Fuu refuses to say more then a word. So, as far as they go I'm pretty safe. Besides, being the head of the committee has its perks. No one messes with you and just brushes most things off. So, I'm allowed to be as optimistic as I want." His foot tapped a few times on the ground. "None of this really bugs me as much as it does you. Of course you're the one with the temperamental friend. Not me."

"Right. I have all the luck," Hayner muttered sarcastically. He crossed his arms, feeling no better. He glanced aside, though he didn't glare at anything this time. It took him a moment to speak up again. "Great, I'm being consoled by you. The world really has turned upside down."

Seifer moved to sit up on his elbows so he could look at Hayner once again. "Me trying to console you is your realization? If that's the case then you're slower then I thought." He laid back down once more and shut his eyes instead of staring up at the sky. "Feeling at least somewhat better then you were?"

Hayner's hand met his face and he groaned at Seifer's previous comment. He rubbed his face again. He wished something would just swallow him up and end his misery... or at least swallow up Seifer. And end all his problems. "... No," he answered in a low disgruntled tone.

Seifer opened one eye to stare at the sky again after the one small uttered word. "Stop letting it bother you. If the two of you are so close then something like what happened isn't going to kill your friendship." With one easy movement he sat back up and moved so he was in front of Hayner and nearly breathing the same air that the other teen was. "Stop acting so lame." After those few words he closed the small gap between them, pressing their lips together.

Hayner froze up at the closeness, but the touch had his resolve melting away much to his chagrin. He hated that the kiss actually made him feel better, when he wanted to stay mad; angry at Roxas and his friend, and angry at Seifer. He wished he didn't press back into the kiss just a little, the way it made his heart thump harder in his chest.

Hayner thunked his head back against the wall after the kiss, trying to glare the same anger he had at Seifer since he was still so close. "... You bastard." The words came out in a whispered winded breath.

Seifer only smirked as he pulled back a little. "Yeah, I know, but it worked. You feel better, right? Even if only a little bit, I can tell that you do." He leaned in again, but didn't allow their lips to touch. "You don't look quite as pissy as you did before." His smirk grew. "It's a start."

Hayner begrudgingly grasped the lapels of Seifer's sleeveless coat, it was proof enough he was feeling at least somewhat better than he had. He was allowing the other near him without getting smacked. But Hayner refused to admit it out loud. "I don't get 'pissy'. _Girls_ get pissy. And despite any smart remarks you want to make about that, I am obviously not a girl." He gave Seifer a rather stern look. "We're supposed to be rivals, y'know." So close to Seifer he felt the need to remind the other about that little fact; as if either of them had forgotten.

Hayner's words didn't really seem to faze Seifer as much as they usually did. He found it in himself to place both of his hands on either side of Hayner's head on the wall where it had previously rested since the other had him pulled so close. "Yet here we are and you enjoy every minute of it. If it wasn't the case then none of this would have started in the first place."

Hayner tried to scowl but it came out more as a pout. How Seifer could say such bold things at a time like this was beyond him. It didn't ease him any that Seifer was blatantly skirting over the issue; every issue at hand. "... You're a far cry from romantic," he spoke rather dryly, "and that's not the point..."

Seifer finally tore his eyes away from Hayner's own as well as the pout that had fixed itself on the other's lips to stare across at his hand that rested on the brick wall instead. "So then what's the point? So what if we're supposed to be rivals? It's not like it really matters at this very moment." He finally looked back at Hayner with one brow raised. "You need to stop worrying about every little thing that you think about."

Hayner stared at Seifer's face a moment. The other's words had some good sense in them, much to his disappointment. Worrying would do him no good. Being angry at Roxas did him no good. Maybe Roxas had good reason for running off again. Reasons that hurt Hayner because Roxas couldn't tell him, his own best friend. Ex-best friend. Hayner pouted more.

"... Damnit." Seifer had him thinking clear and logically. Manipulative bastard.  
Hayner raised a hand to the back of Seifer's head, messing with the blonde hair there before he pulled the other's head near for another kiss. Damnit, why did he have to miss Roxas so godamn much.

Seifer wasn't as hesitant to give into the kiss as Hayner had been the first time. He pressed back as his eyes slid shut and allowed the other teen to pull him near for the time being. His hands fell down away from the wall to rest near Hayner's shoulders and soon his fingers were idly toying with the small thread that kept the crude little necklace Hayner wore tied around his neck.

Hayner's other arm slipped up loosely around Seifer's neck. He gripped the collar the other's coat, of all things he wanted to keep Seifer near. His heart sank, falling right into the pit of his stomach. All his anger turned to sadness and it was apparent as his lips were slow and soft against Seifer's. He knew he was seeking comfort in all the wrong places, but there was no one else. And all he had was some random little phrase, he couldn't remember where he'd heard, running through his mind to quell arguments that told him to stop doing this: keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.

The sudden feeling of clingy arms seemed to surprise Seifer. Hayner wasn't usually a clingy type of person unless he was just dragging his friends off. It was the sudden change in the kiss which got his attention even more. Usually one of them would easily try to dominate the other, but this was different and it wasn't hard for him to come to the realization that Hayner was still upset.

Still, Seifer gave into the closeness that Hayner wanted and the kiss that had turned into something much gentler then what they were used to. It wasn't long though before he was pulling away, but still kept near so he could just barely nose Hayner's cheek before he started to kiss down the other teen's chin.

The unusually gentle affection had Hayner's mind swimming, though it didn't drown out his woes entirely. They were still there, continuously nagging at him, nipping at the heels of his mind. And now that Seifer's lips were no longer keeping his own preoccupied, he couldn't help but ramble. The things weighing heavily on his chest just tumbled from him without consent. "... He forgot about me... Again. All he ever cares about now is that stupid city punk."

Seifer pulled his lips away from where they had started to kiss along Hayner's throat. He straightened up so he was face to face with the other boy once again and tried his best not to be as sarcastic as he usually was with Hayner. The other teen was obviously more troubled then usual. "He came back didn't he? I doubt he forgot about you, and if all he cared about was that weird freak with the tattoos then I doubt he would have acted the way he did when he saw us."

Hayner didn't say anything after that. He was so torn up inside, feelings of betrayal worming its way in. He'd been trying to fill that empty gap Roxas had left with Seifer, but that hadn't remedied anything, just left complications. Hayner chewed his lip and glanced away, down at the grass.

"You're doing it again." Seifer was quick to speak up at the look on Hayner's face. "You're worrying about everything that pops up in your mind. Nothing is going to get solved if you keep pouting like this, lamer." Despite the name calling Seifer freed himself from Hayner to sit beside the other boy and slung an arm around the other's shoulders instead. "You two just need to talk. That's all there is to it."

Hayner settled his hands on his lap, toying with the wrist band. "... Remember that Struggle trophy he won...way, way, way back. Well... My friends and I, we all kept one bobble from it each." He didn't know why he was telling Seifer this. But the other teen's easy going attitude had a way of making Hayner feel like he had someone to listen to him; in some twisted way. "Well... he lost his. He never did find it again. I never gave it much thought at the time. But then summer ended, and we lost Roxas... When he came back, I really did think everything was going to go back to normal. But he brought that city boy with him." Hayner's one hand tightened into a fist. "... I gave him my bobble. ... And he left me again." Hayner swallowed thickly. "... He's probably gone and lost that too," he finished very quietly.

Seifer watched Hayner for a few seconds after silence had come over them again. Hayner and Roxas had always been close friends, but anyone with eyes could see that Hayner got easily jealous over Roxas far too quickly, which was why no one was shocked when the boy's sudden disappearance put a heavy weight on Hayner more then anyone else. Seifer wasn't as stupid as most people to know why that was.

With a small movement, Seifer raised his hand to rest it on top of Hayner's head, ruffling fingers through Hayner's hair as he finally spoke up. "He said he had a reason, right? He sounded pretty serious about it from what I could tell while you two were arguing. I doubt he'd lose something so important if your friendship meant anything."

Hayner gave a weak shrug. "I guess," he weakly agreed. It did make sense in the long run. Roxas wasn't usually so careless. In fact he was down right the most sentimental out of the group; he always took things to heart. ...Damnit, Seifer was making him see the bright side of things again.

With a loud sigh Hayner let himself lean with a flop on Seifer's side, his head thudding against the other's strong shoulder. "When did you become so damn helpful," he lightly complained.

"Just today, actually." Seifer gave his usual smirk at his own answer while he continued to run fingers through Hayner's hair despite the fact the smaller teen had settled against him. "You should be happy I'm feeling so damn helpful. It's not really in my nature. I could have just tried to finish what we started on the couch if anything."

"Careful, Seifer," Hayner warned sarcastically, "or I might think you like me."

Seifer let his hand fall down after those words to rest on Hayner's hip instead. He nearly scowled, but looked away to try and hide the look on his face. "Tch, yeah right. Whatever." He looked back down at Hayner and the small smirk made its way back on his face. "You wish."

Hayner glanced up at Seifer, a slight smirk of his own finally spreading on his lips. "No. Not really."

"Then you have such a backwards way of thinking." Seifer didn't even give Hayner time to respond to his words since he had already leaned over to claim the other boy's lips once again and allowed his tongue to slide out. His hand moved up from Hayner's hip to move under the smaller boy's shirt, glad that the annoying vest had been forgotten in Hayner's sudden mood swing.

Hayner's quiet noise of surprise was muffled, melting into a throatier sound. Hearing himself Hayner pushed Seifer's face away with a grunt. He wasn't about to start all this again. Especially if it was this sort of thing that had caused the entire reason he was mad in the first place.

"Stop it. Just stop." Hayner gave a disapproving look. "We should just- stop all of this. Roxas is back, so... things should just go back to the way things were." He dropped his hands and his gaze fell with them. "Back to normal, like you said."

Seifer pulled away at that and allowed both his hands to fall to the grass beneath him. It was Hayner's last few words which had him narrowing his eyes a little before he spoke up. "Why? So what? He knows, right? What's it matter if he's already seen all there is to see? There's nothing really stopping him from knowing about it anymore, so, what's there to actually make completely normal? I didn't think I was going to be in that little equation when I said that before, just so you know. I just meant between your friends."

"You sound disappointed," Hayner pointed out sarcastically, going back to toying with his wrist band. "You sure are arguing against the idea."

Seifer only narrowed his eyes further at those words. He stared at Hayner for a few more seconds before he turned his gaze out towards the woods that he had been moving through not too long ago to find the other boy beside him. "No, whatever. Do what you want."

Hayner frowned. "Look, I'm sorry I started this whole mess, okay. I haven't been in my right head space lately. ... Possibly ever." He rested one hand out. "You have your gang," he rested his other in gesture, "and I have mine." He gave a hollow dry laugh. "Like any of this could work. We hate each other. None of it would make any sense." He let his hands fall back down.

Seifer opened his mouth as if to answer to the excuses Hayner gave, but just as quickly closed it and gave a shrug instead. With one quick movement he was up on his feet and dusting himself off without even a glance to Hayner as he did. "It doesn't bother me any. It only means I finally get some time away from you, lamer." After he was done he scoffed. "I've done my good deed I guess. So... yeah... whatever."

"Thanks," was Hayner's only reply, quiet, but he meant it. Maybe things would get easier now, or maybe they'd only get worse. But at least things would go back to normal, right? In some form.

"Mm-Hmm." Seifer gave the quiet noise as he finally started to walk away towards the woods. "Have fun with your boyfriend." The statement was said in snarky sarcasm, but couldn't be helped. "If you find my hat you better give it back to me or I'll kick your ass." With those last few words he disappeared in with the trees.

Hayner dug his fingers into the grass, grasping it to yank out clumps, tossing them aside with a cuss. He dusted off his hands, quick angry movements. He cussed a few more times. He'd just told off his worst enemy, the only one who'd bothered to talk him down even before his (ex-)best friend had a chance.  
And for what? A person he'd thought was his closest friend who had better things to do like disappear without telling him why. Someone he'd thought trusted him the most. Only to watch him being constantly pawed by some over aged tattooed delinquent.

Hayner clunked his back against the wall. He thudded his head against it several times, until he had a nice good headache and even less solved problems. "... Idiot."


	32. Chapter 32

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 32

Roxas had wasted no time in dragging Axel all over town to look for his remaining friends. The entire time Roxas had gone back to thinking over what happened with Hayner, but thankfully it didn't take long to find Pence and Olette sitting on the steps that led inside the station. The two were merely chatting and Roxas was quick to run up to them and ignore their looks of complete surprise at his arrival so he could talk with them and hope to get some answers.

By the time Roxas had finished asking questions and explaining his long winded story he had to take more then even one short breath. The looks on his friends' faces would have been priceless to him in the past and he would have laughed, but he didn't really find it much of a laughing matter himself. He knew Axel was probably behind him laughing his ass off though. He could almost feel the Heartless trying to hold it in and almost elbowed him, but stopped himself as Olette seemed to finally find words to speak.

"Um... okay... wow." The girl seemed unable to blink her eyes from the wide state they were in as she continued to stare at Roxas. "Let me get this straight. You caught them in The Usual Spot, making out?" The last few words caused Olette to blush as they came from her own mouth and she almost had to sit back down. "Uh... no... He never told us anything, Roxas."

Pence opened his mouth and then closed it. He shook his head; you could almost hear the pieces of his shattered brain rattle around inside his cranium with the action. He opened his mouth again, this time he managed to squeak out some words. "A-are we talking about th-the same 'Hayner' here?" He shook his head again. "Because- that doesn't sound like the Hayner I know."

Axel cleared his throat of any amused sounds that wanted to leave him. "Surprise."

Roxas shot Axel a look even if it wouldn't do any good. He looked back at his two friends and gave his own distressed expression. "Same Hayner. The one and only. At least the one and only that we know. The entire thing caused us to have an argument. I couldn't help getting pissed off at him. Can you blame me?"

Olette cleared her throat as she was still trying to process everything she had been told. "Honestly, I don't know, Roxas. This is a little much. I mean, Hayner despises Seifer. At least, I thought so. It's strange that he had his own friends fooled." She finally sat back down on the steps. "Wow..."

Pence scratched a hand through his hair, whistling his surprise for the whole matter. He looked out at tawny sky. "Well... you have been gone a long while, Roxas. We all were looking around frantically for you. It's like you dropped off the face of the planet." He finally looked back to Roxas. "He took it pretty badly. Mmm, if not personally. You know how Hayner is. He was a bit more reclusive but... we never thought it was because of _that_ extreme."

Roxas frowned at such a thing. It made sense considering how Hayner had acted towards him in that one short moment, but still, he couldn't help his reasoning. "I had to leave. There was an important emergency with my family and it was a spur of the moment thing." Roxas hated to lie to his friends like that, but it was all he could say. "I didn't want to hurt Hayner or any of you guys. Especially after I told all of you I would be staying, but it wasn't something I could help."

Olette clasped her hands in her lap after hearing Roxas' reasoning. "Oh, Roxas. I'm sorry. We figured you wouldn't just leave us out of the blue like that, but, well; Hayner was just difficult to convince. He must have... just... dealt with things in his own way..." She trailed off as she tried not to blush again.

Axel cleared his throat of a laugh at that, course that did little to quell Roxas' annoyance or Roxas' friends from blushing worse.

"This is so weird; too weird. Weirder than that summer long ago with that thief." Pence still couldn't wrap his mind around it; he just couldn't picture what Roxas had explained. "Maybe he really was choking..." Pence trailed off, his own cheeks growing hot. He was more willing to accept that excuse than the truth; sadly it made more sense.

That had a laugh finally escaping Axel. "Sorry, sorry." He covered his mouth with a hand, turning away some to hide his amused expression.

Roxas narrowed his eyes on Axel and felt that choking Axel with his suspenders wouldn't be a bad idea if the Heartless didn't keep quiet soon. "No you're not." He muttered the words loud enough for the other to hear, but knew his other two friends would as well.

Olette watched the exchange with only half her attention as she continued to think over a few things. "I kind of wish it was the thief again. I could handle that. This is just strange." She twisted her hands. "How are we supposed to talk to Hayner about this? He'll only get upset and deny it."

Pence had to agree. "He'll only get madder. And Seifer will be no help."

Axel suddenly snapped his fingers cutting off Pence. "I got it!" He pointed. "A glitch in the system!" That had even blanker expressions falling on Pence and Olette's faces. Axel rubbed his chin, thinking out loud. ".. Maybe if we defrag Hayner. Hmm."

Roxas jumped up to slap his hand over Axel's mouth. He nearly had to stand completely on his tip toes to keep his hand right where he wanted it and glared something vicious at Axel. "Don't even think about it. That's my friend you're talking about." With those words he looked back at Olette and Pence. "Don't mind him. He's insane."

"Mm. Mph-heem." Axel blinked. He smiled as best he could at Roxas' friends and waved. Pence and Olette just stared before glancing at each other.

"Riiight. Well. I'm not sure what we can really do. I haven't the slightest of idea why Hayner would, uh..." Pence stuttered on before he shrugged, "y'know, _that_ with Seifer of all people." He looked at Olette. "Maybe it's some weird love hate thing. I dunno. It's kinda creepy."

"You'd think they would have destroyed each other by now, but, you can't help who you love I suppose." Olette's own words had her blinking and she quickly shook her head in disbelief at what she just said. "Of course, that's a strange thing to think about as well. Hayner was probably just lonely..." She nearly hid her face at her own words. "He was rather taken with you Roxas if you didn't know."

"Yeah, I know this already." Roxas shot Axel a look as he finally removed his hand and slowly started to feel worse. "I can't help it, though. He was just my friend. I know I hurt him, but leaving was never something I could help. Hayner is so touchy. Besides, it hurt me to even have to leave this place. I wanted to come back and thought about you guys a lot."

Pence gave Roxas a smile, despite all that happened it was nice to know that he hadn't forgotten about them. "Well, you know you're always in our hearts." He grinned. "So it's no biggy. At least me and Olette knew you'd come back."

Axel blinked, rather taken by Pence's words. They were just so amazing to hear, knowing the truth about these people, this world, though he chose to keep quiet about his thoughts this time, for Roxas' sake.

"S-so." Pence was hesitant to speak up again. "Are you back here for good?" He didn't want to ask it, but he wanted to know. He was sure it was a question on Olette's mind too.

Roxas finally managed to crack a smile at the question since it was something he could give a definite answer to. "Yeah, I am, for sure this time, there's nothing that I really have to leave for anymore, so, we'll be staying here for good."

Hearing those words and seeing the smile on Roxas face caused Olette to crack an actual smile of her own after everything she had been told. "That's great to hear. We'll all finally get to spend some real time together, and I'm sure Hayner will be excited to hear the news as well."

Roxas expression fell and he shook his head. "No. Like I told you before, Olette, we had an argument. I don't even think he wants to speak to me right now let alone see me. It was worse then before."

Pence gave a thoughtful noise. "Just give him a moment, Roxas. I'm sure Hayner will cool down. You two have had fights before, and you two always make up, closer friends than ever." He waved a hand. "You both were mad and things were said that neither of you meant." He paused, running a hand through his hair. "It'd probably be best if you talk to him about this 'Seifer' thing too. You're his best friend after all." He gave a small chuckle. "We'd probably fumble it."

"Yeah, well how do you think I feel about it?" Roxas mumbled quietly as he glanced away. "It wasn't very easy to walk in on. Especially when half our time spent long ago was used trying to find ways to piss Seifer off. Yet that's what I find when I come back after a month." He knew he was being a bit of a hypocrite, but he couldn't help it.

Olette frowned at that. "It's true that it's a little hard to comprehend, but at the same time we might just have to get used to it." She looked back and forth between them all. "Hayner is our friend after all. We don't want to single him out just because of whom... he... likes?" Her words had become a question.

Pence shrugged to Olette's words. "It's a double standard I guess. Hayner doesn't like Axel, and you don't like Seifer. Mmm, well, we all don't seem to like Seifer." He glanced up at Axel. "No offence, Axel." Axel simply waved it off. Pence looked back to Roxas. "I guess that's irony for you, though I commend you for braving that moment walking in." Pence cringed, smirking some. "It doesn't sound like a pretty sight."

"Actually, my mind was pretty broken. I think it actually took me a good long while to figure out what I saw. Hayner was the one that snapped me out of it and thus the argument began." He shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe it shouldn't bother me as much as it does. It's his life, but it's true that he gives me shit for going out with Axel all the time."

Olette shook her head. "Roxas, two wrongs don't always make a right. Just because Hayner messes with you because of his jealousy doesn't mean you should get picky about whom he decides to go out with." She stopped speaking and thought over what she just said. "Wait... did I just sort of defend Seifer?" The entire thought seemed to trouble her.

"Yeah, I think you did, Olette. And I think it broke my brain." Pence rubbed the side of his head. "Again." He sighed. "We don't even know if Hayner's thing with Seifer is actually serious. I mean." He shrugged his hands. "What if it's just a fling? Or a one time thing Roxas walked in on?"

"Maybe, who knows." Although, Olette didn't want to think about Hayner in such a way that he would just throw himself to Seifer so randomly for no real reason. Their friend had been hurt when Roxas left, sure, but was it really to such a degree such as that?

"If it was just a one time thing then I picked a hell of a time to look for him," Roxas spoke up again as he finally moved to sit down on the steps near his friends. His feet were tired after so much walking and he was just completely drained in general. "Sort of funny though, considering the one time I came back here with Axel and ran into Seifer before we saw you guys." At such a memory Roxas couldn't help the small amused look that came over his face as he shot a look towards the Heartless, his own sour mood leaving him.

Axel slipped his hands into his pockets; he felt a bit like a third wheel, especially when it came to Roxas' friends. A tag along. But he still managed a small grin. "Well, Hayner walked in on us, I guess it's only fair you'd walk in on Hayner." He shrugged. "Law of averages I guess."

"I would have liked to not been part of that law, thanks very much." Roxas wrinkled his nose up. He kept his eyes on Axel for a few seconds before he let out an annoyed noise and reached out to pull the Heartless over by his arm since he couldn't grab his hand properly. Roxas wasn't satisfied until Axel was seated in front of him and he could at least rest his arms on Axel's shoulders from behind.

Olette watched the two with a small smile on her face, finding Roxas' bit of aggravation amusing. It was after a few seconds she remembered something. It would at least take their minds off of the news they had been told. "Axel, if Roxas was with family then where have you been? We haven't seen you around either."

"Yeah, despite what Hayner thinks, don't think we forgot you." Pence added with a laugh.

Axel was startled to say the least. He hadn't expected Roxas' friends to be concerned with anything but Roxas. It had him dead panning for a moment. He scratched an itch that didn't exist. "I... um... went to help." He rested a hand on Roxas' arm, running up and down it idly. He gave a nervous laugh. "It was, uh, a pretty big emergency. Y'know, moral support, a shoulder to cry on. Yeaah." He glanced at Roxas.

Roxas was amused to say the least. It was rare to see Axel struggle for words since he was always the one ready to speak with some kind of witty response no matter what. "Pretty much, yeah." He turned his eyes away to look back at his friends while he tried not to let out the content noise that Axel's fingers were causing him to want to make. "It was a lot to go through and he was there to help me through all of it."

"How sweet, it's so nice that you had someone by your side. It would have been awful if you had to go through anything painful on your own." Olette couldn't help gushing at least a little. "Still, at least tell us next time. We won't mind giving you some support either. That would more then likely go for Hayner as well." She was satisfied when she got at least a small nod from Roxas.

Axel leaned his head back to rest against Roxas' chest as he looked up at him. "Wow. Look 'it that. One of your friends actually likes me." He reached up to mess with Roxas' bangs, gently tugging on a lock with a grin.

"Well, considering Roxas is the second grumpiest in the group, I think it's pretty amazing he's found someone at all to put up with him." Pence couldn't help teasing Roxas over it. "He's so put offish." He tapped his lips. "It's miracle really."

Axel's grin at Roxas grew. "Yeah, I'd say so."

Roxas gave his own small grin to such words before he turned his head to narrow eyes on Pence. "I'm right here you know. Besides, I'm not that bad. I like to think my attitude has gotten slightly better." He moved a hand up away from Axel so he could pinch two fingers together. "Just slightly." He smiled a little after he dropped his hand back down to run fingertips barely over tattoos.

"Well, so far I see a much more drastic change then that." Olette tapped her feet against the bottom step as she continued to keep her eyes on the two. "The only thing you must have needed was a boyfriend." She laughed a little.

"Just the right boyfriend," Axel added, placing a quick kiss to Roxas' hand. "Or stalker, in this case." he finished slyly under his breath.

"Figures opposites attract," Pence commented.

Olette let out a little sigh while she leaned back a bit more against the steps. "It's romantic, opposites or not, to stay by each others sides and be there for each other through the worst of times. I think it's great. I mean, what else could you want?"

Roxas let out a bit of a nervous laugh at Olette's wistful speech. It wasn't really unusual for the girl, but in Roxas' own case, his friends didn't really know the true story, but, they got the gist of it. "Not much else I suppose except for the whole love and devotion thing, ya know? But, I suppose that comes with the package." He tried not to grin as Olette shot him an annoyed look for his snarky remark.

"Got it and got it." Axel tugged Roxas down enough to touch a kiss to his jaw. "I've snagged myself the entire package deal. Love, devotion, a good heart, and a wicked little body to boot." He chuckled low in his throat, running his hands up along Roxas' arms. "And we've learned that our Roxas boy is indeed a screamer."

Pence glanced aside. "Not again. Look what you've started, Olette." He nudged the girl with a smirk.

Olette nearly hid her face in her hands because of the blush she felt coming on at such words. "I-I didn't mean to... well... hmm..." She glanced away from the two as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "I guess all of that is good." She realized in an instant what she said and blushed a little more, but kept her mouth shut.

Roxas only groaned while he lightly pushed Axel's face away a bit in a playful way. "I told you to behave. So much for that." He shook his head and gave Axel a look while he tried not to blush himself. He still wasn't even all that used to doing such a thing. "Don't mind him guys, he's just bull shitting you," he continued on in an almost nervous tone as he tried to convince his friends.

"No, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about." Axel turned in Roxas' arms to yank him from the steps into his arms on his lap. "Captured." He playfully attacked Roxas' ear with a kissing bite. "No escape." He ran his hand up Roxas' front dragging his shirt up with his hand as he attacked the teen's neck with biting kisses. It was just too much shameless fun to attack Roxas in public.

Pence gave a nervous laugh, looking at Olette since she was the safest person to look at. "Well I guess it's semi-nice to see that not much has changed and that all is still in good spirits." He had to admit he'd never seen Roxas so, well, happy before.

"A-Axel, quit it!" Roxas' moaned protests cut off anything Olette was about to say as the blonde was trying his damndest to struggle out of Axel's grip. He didn't seem to be trying all that hard though, and clung tightly to the front of the other's shirt as he let out a breathy whine.

Olette opened her mouth and then closed it quickly. The way Roxas sounded made it much too obvious that Axel really wasn't lying. Still, she tried to ignore it and answer Pence, but her voice was a little shaky. "Y-Yeah, everything is okay I guess..."

Axel gave a whine of his own, though far more dramatic; it was hard for Pence and Olette to ignore. He kept a tight hold on Roxas, though the boy was already weakening quickly. "Aw, but I love you. And I want to love you with my mouth in public." He nip at Roxas' neck, sucking on skin to leave another mark where there were already several.

Pence clasped his hands ceremoniously. "They're already saying the 'L' word, Olette. Soon they'll be married, have a house. And soon- little ones will be running around at their feet."

Despite how the situation near them made her feel, Olette couldn't help laughing at what Pence said. "Let's hope not. Roxas can hardly take care of himself. I'd hate to see what he's like with kids," she couldn't help but tease and it helped lighten the mood a little for her.

"H-Hey, that's not funny!" Roxas was sure to shout the words out as best he could between the touches and kisses Axel was moving across his body. It was hard for him to really care about anything his friends said, though. In the end all he really cared about was making Axel squirm just as much as the Heartless was doing to him and soon found himself biting down on the other's ear.

Pence stood up, brushing himself off. "C'mon Olette, we should get started on home work while Roxas and Axel get with the baby making on the train station's front steps."

Axel laughed low in his throat. "Trust me, we've already tried plenty. Sadly, nothing yet." He dragged up Roxas' shirt to pat his bare stomach; no baby. "I'm starting to think that it's just not possible by now." His hand slipped dangerously low under Roxas' waist line before clawing up his stomach, across ribs and under shirt. "But we'll keep on trying."

"You're a riot, really," Roxas spoke with utter sarcasm to Axel before he turned his head towards his two departing friends. "Come on guys, you don't have to leave. At least stay around until Hayner shows up or something. I don't want to deal with him on my o-own..." He trailed off with a small little moan at how Axel continued to claw across his skin. It felt amazingly good.

Olette had gotten up to join Pence and already they had taken a few steps away from the couple that were still blocking the way into the station. "No, that's okay, Roxas. You're too distracted." She finally cracked a smile at the entire situation and shook her head. "Besides, you should talk to Hayner yourself without us getting in the way if it's as serious as you said." She doubted Roxas was even listening anymore, but gave the advice anyway and shrugged a shoulder.

"It was nice seeing you back again, Roxas." Pence waved, ushering Olette forward. "Good luck with Hayner. We'll see you around." He turned around, walking with Olette. He leaned forward to whisper to her, "Just how old is that Axel guy anyway?" And the two disappeared down the station steps.

Axel near purred the pleased note he made low in his throat, nosing Roxas' cheek. "That just leaves me with you again; alone." He placed a kiss to Roxas' cheek. "But I should split too; you need to talk to that Hayner kid. And it's best if I'm not there clawing off your clothes." He tugged down Roxas' shirts, smoothing them back down in proper place.

To have Axel actually slide his clothes back down surprised Roxas since the Heartless was usually trying to rid him of them. He had to come off the quick high he had been on in front of his friends before he could comprehend Axel's words. "You're gonna go?" He blinked his eyes while he wrapped both arms around the other's neck. "You're sure you're okay with it? I don't want you to feel bored while I'm setting everything straight with Hayner."

"Oh I'll be bored. I won't lie." Axel slipped his arms around Roxas' middle, knitting his fingers together at the small of his back. "I'll be bored to tears and then some, missing you every second you're gone." He rested his forehead against the Roxas'. "But, it has to be done. I know how much it means to you. How much your friends mean to you. Especially that dumb ass Hayner guy." Axel gave a dramatic sigh, touching his nose to Roxas'. "But it'll give me a chance to work on a surprise I've been meaning to show you for quite sometime." He smiled, a little mischievously. "A welcome home gift, you could call it."

Those words had a small, giddy feeling creeping up to move around inside Roxas. Something he had never been able to feel before and he couldn't help but feel curious as well to such words. He squirmed while on Axel's lap as he tried not to fidget, giving Axel a narrowed gaze while he tried not to smile. "A surprise? What is it? Do I get a hint?" The questions kept coming one after the other.

Axel feigned thought, clicking his tongue. "I don't know. You're pretty sharp. If I give a hint you'll guess, and then it won't be a surprise anymore." He couldn't keep the grin off his face. Roxas was squirming so much, like a wiggly puppy; it was so cute. It was wonderful to see Roxas practically beaming with baited curiosity, so eager. It was something Axel had never seen before. "Although, maybe one vague hint won't hurt. Mmm- no- maybe I shouldn't." He hid his grin, shaking his head.

"Oh come on, tell me." Roxas practically whined. He couldn't help it. The curiosity at being told he had a surprise waiting for him just wouldn't let him hold it in and he knew Axel was only teasing him. "I might not guess, just give me a really small hint. Just something that will be hard to guess at." He slipped his hands down under Axel's shirt as he nearly pressed their lips together to breathe out his next plea. "Please, Axel..."

"Such a big cheater," Axel murmured, amused but won over. But he was going to throw Roxas a little hint anyway. "But alright." He held Roxas nearer as he gave it some actual thought. "Lets see. A small, vague hint. A small hint. A tiny hint." He grinned. "Okay, got it: it's something you've always wanted, but it doesn't exist. You can't hold it, but you can touch it. And tomorrow morning I'll give it to you." Axel grinned his teeth with a chuckle. "Sounds a bit like a riddle, doesn't it."

Roxas pulled back a little as he blinked his eyes once more, but this time in confusion. "None of that makes any sense." Of course after the words left him he realized that must be why it was called a riddle to begin with. Under his breath he repeated the words Axel had spoken, but was just as confused as before if not more so. After a few seconds he gave a frustrated whine as he finally got up off the other's lap to stretch out his legs as he got ready to look for his friend. "You could have given me a less confusing hint."

"You wanted a hard hint, so I did my best." Axel stretched out his long legs, leaning back on the stairs. "Anything easier and you would have guessed very quickly. And that's no fun. Now you have something to mull over until tomorrow." He pushed himself up to stand finally. "Just try not to go too crazy while you try to guess."

"Yeah, yeah." Roxas stood up on tip toes while he reached up to bring Axel down so he could place a lingering kiss on the other's lips. He pulled back after a few moments and dropped back down on his feet completely to grin up at the fire user. "And you try not to go completely insane without me." With those last words he finally let go of Axel and turned away from him only to give a quick wave as he headed off. "I'll catch up with you later. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it."

"Good lu-!" Axel paused in mid-sentence as he remembered something. He dug through his pockets, pulling something small out. "Wait!" He hurried after Roxas, grasping the teen's arm to pull him back as he handed him a small red crystal sphere. "I nearly forgot. This was in your old clothes' pocket. I didn't delete it. I thought you'd want it back, before you- y'know." He knew the significance of the spheres, what they meant, and who had what colour. But Axel didn't question why Roxas had Hayner's sphere; he hadn't before, he wasn't now. Though he gave Roxas a small smile, feeling winded even though he didn't need to breathe. "Good luck."

Roxas took the small jewel in between his fingers and stared at it for a few seconds. He hadn't forgotten about it, but with everything that had been going on it wasn't hard for the sphere to slip his mind. "Thanks." He pocketed it much like he had before and gave Axel another small smile in return. "See ya." With the departing words spoken once more he turned and ran off away from the station.


	33. Chapter 33

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 33

To tell the honest truth, Roxas was getting a little sick of playing inadvertent hide and seek with his friends all over town. He was sure the rest of the town was starting to think of him as rather odd looking around every building and any other place he could find for his best friend when not much earlier he was doing the same for Pence and Olette.

It was when he was moving through the woods to one of the places he hated the most that he was about to stop and turn back. Why the hell Hayner would be hanging around the mansion, that long ago they all thought way too creepy, was beyond Roxas. Sadly, it was the only place he hadn't checked for personal reasons. So, with a few final steps he made it out of the woods and was only a little annoyed to find that he would indeed have to spend his time sitting in front of those large gates, because it was exactly where Hayner currently was.

With a shaky breath, Roxas looked around for a few seconds before he walked over and kneeled in front of his friend. He couldn't help but feel awkward. Wouldn't anyone after seeing what they saw, but he guessed Axel was right. Hayner had caught the two of them as well. It was payback in a twisted way. "What are you doing around here?" It was the first question to pop out of his mouth.

Hayner was slumped against the brick wall of the mansion gate, head leaning heavily back. His eyes were shut, but he was far from asleep. It was easy to tell from the sullen look on his face. A look that was deepened by a lower of eyebrows at Roxas' voice.  
There was no peace at all, even at this place.

"... Piss off, Roxas." But Hayner just didn't have the same energy behind the words as he had with Seifer the first time. He felt too beaten down to start any real fight.

Roxas frowned at that. It wasn't the best start into a conversation he was looking for, but he wasn't about to just up and leave after finding Hayner. "Look, I just came to talk to you, okay? I know you're mad at me, but you didn't really let me get a word in before you walked off." He scratched at his arm idly. "So... uh... can't we just try to talk about things without going at each other's throats?"

"Why?" Hayner started in a slow uncaring voice, never opening his eyes. "So you can tell me you have your reasons but they're reasons you can't tell your best friend. Or, no, wait, you're going to make some empty promises, break them, and then disappear for another dozen years." He turned his head away. "I'm sick of it, Roxas. Go preach to someone else. I just don't care right now."

"I'm not going to disappear again, Hayner." Roxas had flinched at his friend's tone of voice, but still he felt the need to go on even if Hayner didn't want to hear it. "I'm going to stay for good this time. It's not an empty promise. There was just an emergency and I had to leave. It wasn't something I could exactly get out of." He let out a sigh. "Sorry."

"And you're not going to tell me what it is, are you." It wasn't a question, it was a bitter statement. "Even though friends help each other in times of crisis, but you're not going to tell me anything... So I guess we aren't really friends." Hayner's voice quietly petered, and he swallowed thickly.

"A family emergency," Roxas easily spoke up much like he had with the same excuse he had given everyone else so far. "I didn't have time to just up and tell all of you. It was something that happened out of town and I was forced to leave quickly." He shrugged a shoulder, but it was easy to tell Hayner's attitude wasn't really helping with his own. The last bitter words had hurt.

Hayner blinked opened his eyes. He couldn't exactly blame or get mad at Roxas for a 'family emergency', even if it did sound like a hollow excuse. But Hayner had a horrible habit of giving Roxas the benefit of the doubt in the end of every fight, despite his anger and jealousy.

He finally turned his head to look at Roxas, his eyes glossy and red rimmed. Hayner watched Roxas a moment. "... And before?"

Roxas nearly went rigid at the question. He never expected that he would have to come up with a whole separate excuse for his reason for leaving in the past. He thought about telling Hayner exactly what he told him before, but the look on his friend's face stopped him cold. He'd just have to think on his feet as best he could. "Before was different. I was just dealing with a lot of problems and the only way for me to handle them was to leave this town." He shook his head. "You have to admit, Hayner that this place gets a little closed in after a while. Hell, I started seeing things, remember? It wasn't really a good thing."

Hayner gave a quiet scoff. "Glad we were worth remembering to call," he quietly mumbled and glanced away. His eyes first glanced at the tree he'd been glaring at when Seifer had been around. A pang went through Hayner and he immediately turned his gaze elsewhere.

Roxas flinched at that and turned his own gaze down to the grass which looked as if it had been torn up quite brutally. "I never forgot any of you. Just like I told Pence and Olette, I always thought about you guys. It wasn't just hard on you." He couldn't help saying the last part just as bitterly as Hayner had been speaking.

"Ah, that's right," Hayner came back sarcastically, rolling his head from one side to the other. "You have a good new friend now. Some guy from the city that knows everything and can understand you perfectly." He dusted his dirty grass stained hands off, as if he were dusting himself of the entire problem. "I'm sure he knows about everything that's been going on." He brushed the grass off his pants next. "And we're all supposed to wait here in this tiny little back wash town, left in the dark, swallowing whatever BS tidbits you want to throw at us, and accept this new guy that means so damn much to you." Hayner turned his head away. "Sorry Roxas but the world keeps on turning with or without you here. Things can't be just as exactly as you left them- time and time again."

Hayner's words struck a cord in Roxas' new heart and hurt badly. He was trying so hard to mend the fight they had, but Hayner wanted to be a stubborn prick no matter what, and Roxas, being who he was, was quick to snap back with his own hurtful words. "Yeah, that's right. The world turned so much that I came back here to find you making out with Seifer on the couch. You're right. Things can't be exactly the same if that happens."

The words fueled new energy in Hayner, and he staggered up onto his feet. This time there was nothing stopping him from stepping right up to Roxas, glaring at him. "Better Seifer than some red haired, street walker!"

"Screw you, Hayner!" Roxas pushed at his friend's shoulders while a hurtful look crossed his face. "You told me you would lay off of him. I thought at least you would be happy for me. Even Pence and Olette are happy for me. You're my best friend, why can't you understand that I like him and just let things die!" He glared hard at the other teen.

Hayner staggered a little, but he stood his ground. "That was at least a month ago. A month ago, Roxas! A month ago when you said you'd stay. You'd disappeared for a year before. And when you came back I find you with some punk's tongue down your throat. And you wouldn't even tell us where you went. But I let it all slide because I was happy to see you." He let out a shaky exhale. "So I'm afraid you'll have to forgive me if I can't be happy for you, or accept your paper thin excuses the second time around. Because I don't think I can handle waking up tomorrow and finding you've suddenly fallen off the face of the planet for the third time without so much as a note goodbye." His chest rose and fell heavily.

Roxas kept narrowed eyes on Hayner despite the other's words. "You don't have much room to talk. You seemed to keep yourself pretty well occupied while I was gone." Roxas glanced away after his own biting words and finally frowned. "I told you I'm going to be here to stay for good this time and I meant it. There's nothing paper thin about anything I have to tell you. I've just been through some rough stuff lately. I just want to forget about it finally."

Hayner wanted to bite back with a more vicious comments that Roxas was very good about forgetting, but he couldn't hurt Roxas like that; even if he was very mad at him then and there. He let out a slow breath, trying to keep calm despite Roxas' angry words back. "... Seifer was a mistake, alright. I never wanted anyone to know. It was the stupidest thing I've ever done. I regret it." He dragged a hand through his hair, but it still managed to fall back in his face.

Roxas' whole body tensed up at that while his mouth seemed to form a small little 'o' shape for a second. He kept his attention away elsewhere for a few seconds while he spoke up again, finding it safest. "R-Really?" Of course that question sounded stupid coming from him and he finally turned his eyes back on Hayner and tried not to look so guilty. "I-If you never wanted anyone to know then why were you in our hangout?"

Hayner stared at Roxas; why did he have such a terrible feeling just now at Roxas' sudden change in composure. He gave a rather lax shrug. "... Stuff just... happened." It was a lame explanation; almost as lame as the choking excuse he'd made up at the time. "I haven't been thinking clearly lately. It was stupid of me, I know." He bowed his head shamefully, coming down from his defensive anger. He was tired of feeling so horrid; for Roxas, for Seifer. "... I'm sorry you had to walk in on that," the apology quietly left him. "Please keep it to yourself." He glanced at Roxas after the vulnerable words left him.

Roxas looked away again while he raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head. He knew such a secret was something that would have meant a lot to Hayner to just be kept between the two of them, but at the time, Roxas had wanted answers. He hadn't known better. So, he knew he couldn't out right lie to his friend and agree to such a thing. He'd find out eventually. "Um... hmm... what would be your reaction if I told you that Pence and Olette kind of already knew?" He looked back at Hayner while he lowered his hand. "Somehow." That part was obvious.

Hayner's expression went completely blank. He paused for a good long moment. "...What?" Maybe he hadn't heard Roxas right; or what dire consequence he alluded to. He began to pale.

A worried expression crossed over Roxas' own face at how dumbstruck Hayner began to look at what he had just been told. "I-It's not that big a deal! Seriously, Hayner." He hurried to explain to try and snap his friend out of it. "I just wanted to know what was going on with you. I was worried and it's not everyday that I see what I walked in on. So... I thought that maybe... they would have known." Roxas trailed off a little bit. "Especially since you two were just in the hangout like that."

Hayner went ghostly pale, and he began to teeter. "... I- I can't believe you did that." He put a hand to his temple, spreading it to his forehead. He shut his eyes, head swimming; the world suddenly felt like it was spinning.

Roxas continued to watch his friend, but had reached out to place his hand on Hayner's shoulder to steady him. He found it a little odd for his hand not to come in contact with the usual vest Hayner wore, but tried not to think too much on why the other teen wasn't wearing it in the first place. "I told you that it's not a big deal. They were shocked, which is understandable, but they'll get over it. We're your friends, Hayner. We're going to be a little upset considering, but, you still could have said something." Roxas pulled his hand back. "Besides, how was I supposed to know it was just a one time thing?"

Hayner's energy came back full force but in the form of rage. He shoved Roxas back, unable to handle the hurt and betrayal that Roxas would humiliate him like that. "You could have asked _me_ first!" He shoved Roxas back again. "You didn't have to go behind my back and ask them about my personal business!" An embarrassed warmth had spread over his face, down his neck. He felt as if Roxas had stabbed him in the back; he was absolutely mortified. Now everyone knew, and he was never going to live it down.

Roxas stumbled a little when he was pushed the first time, but the second time he tried his best to keep himself upright. He glared at Hayner once again and it seemed as if they were in an infinite loop of arguing back and forth. "I couldn't exactly ask you anything, Hayner! You were the one that decided to storm off, remember? Besides, I wanted to give you time to cool down. You were too pissed off to give me the time of day. Even when I finally came here you told me to piss off. You're never that angry with me. Besides, I didn't go behind your back. I was just worried about you. I wanted to know what the hell was going on."

Hayner's jaw clenched, his hands tightened into fists. Fury took over his actions and he punched Roxas in the face with all hot anger that burned in his chest. "Go to hell, Roxas!" He didn't stop to stay, just took off walking away. He couldn't stand to be around what he'd thought to have been his best friend.

The punch had hurt, but much more then just Roxas' face. He had nearly toppled over, but was able to keep his balance in time and moved a hand up to touch his cheek. It stung and was just something to add onto all of his other healing wounds. Still, this one caused something inside of him to ache horribly because it was his best friend that had given it to him. He could feel wetness behind his eyes, but like every time before he didn't allow it to fall.

Roxas quickly wiped at his eyes in a stubborn way and turned his gaze away from where Hayner had retreated and up towards the mansion. He scowled something vicious as he realized he now had one more reason to hate this place even more.

-

There were few and fewer places left to go now, places that in a small town people rarely went to. But that was the problem with living in a small town, everything felt suffocating, and finding peace in solitude was rare.  
Roxas' words flooded through Hayner's mind as he stalked into the tunnels of Twilight Town. No one but the bored and adventurous stalked the tunnels; it was a good place to get lost. And that's exactly what Hayner wanted to be; it would match how he felt.

 _I was just dealing with a lot of problems, and the only way for me to handle them was to leave this town. You have to admit, Hayner that this place gets a little closed in after a while._

It was true, and Hayner grudgingly agreed inside. Usually it felt quaint and cozy, always so familiar when you knew everyone by name and they knew you. But now Hayner felt like he couldn't put enough distance between himself and those he knew.

Leaving; he almost wanted to. But some how Hayner doubted he'd go through with it. As angry as he always got, he was very good at crawling back. As good as he was at holding grudges.

Hayner cussed out Roxas' good name, running his hand along the wall as he walked. He felt so heavy, the weight of his problems making his steps slow, near clumsy as he dragged his feet. His chest hurt so badly, like his heart had turn to lead inside his rib cage. He watched the floor as he walked, seeing but not seeing, moving deeper into the maze of tunnels. It didn't matter where, just as long as no one ever found him again.

The lights in each part of the tunnel flickered at small points in time, giving the place an eerie, yet, calm feel to it. Most people enjoyed taking the train to the other part of town and didn't bother trying to find their way through the horrid maze, which was why the flicker of lights hadn't been fixed. The colored numbers that stood out on parts of the brick to give away the levels were nearly faded and chipped away. It was part of the reason the place was easy to get lost in.

Since the tunnels were so desolate it wouldn't have been all that surprising to hear no real noise around, but there was a faint sound of something banging in a slight rhythm against brick over and over again. The sound only got louder as Hayner continued to walk and it wasn't until the teen was a few feet away from the noise that a familiar voice spoke up. "What the hell are you doing in this place, pip squeak?" Seifer watched the brooding boy with narrowed eyes as he sat on one of the ledges which over looked a lower level while he stopped hitting his boot against the wall under him.

Hayner felt his throat tighten; his luck was utterly flawed beyond a shadow of a doubt.  
Though usually Seifer's crude words riled Hayner, no snarky come back was thrown back at him. All that befell Seifer in return was a tired glance before Hayner's eyes moved back to in front of him. He didn't have the energy for anymore confrontations; least of all Seifer. So he continued on walking down the tunnel just wanting to pass on through without any new problems.

Seifer raised a brow at the lack of a response back and look that had been on Hayner's face. Still, he wasn't about to let such a little thing bother him. Not after their last few words that had been spoken. Things were supposed to go back to normal which meant he was allowed to bug Hayner as much as he wanted even if the other teen wasn't in the mood for it.

"What's wrong?" Seifer continued on even as Hayner kept walking. "More trouble in paradise with your boyfriend?" After the mocking words he turned to face Hayner's retreating back, letting one leg hang off the ledge while he propped his other up near his chest.

Hayner physically flinched, as if Seifer had thrown a punch instead of words. Though it didn't detour his mindless course, and after a faltering step he continued down the tunnel he walked, leaning heavily on one hand that rested on the wall.

The flinch didn't go unnoticed at all as Seifer continued to watch Hayner. In a way it was annoying to get the cold shoulder from the other teen. The both of them always prided themselves on trying to piss each other off until one backed down first with any petty insult they could find. Hayner wasn't playing the game like he should.

With an annoyed noise, Seifer jumped down from the ledge and wasted no time in walking until he was a few paces behind Hayner. He wasn't going to be ignored. It was the other teen's mistake for coming into the tunnel in the first place. "Yo, loser. I'm talking to you." He flicked the back of Hayner's ear with his fingers.

Hayner didn't seem to notice. But unseen to Seifer, Hayner's brows furrowed at Seifer's obnoxious behavior. The other teen really didn't know when to quit. Enough was enough today. Hayner didn't really have it in him to play their usual back and forth cat and mouse today. He cussed himself inside for not just going home, where there was no chance for anyone to walk in and bug him with his door locked tight.

Seifer was finally getting more then a little ticked off. Before he knew what he was doing he grabbed a hold of Hayner's arm just so he could spin the other teen around to face him rather roughly. "Talk to me, damnit." There was a few seconds of silence after his words before he seemed to notice what he said without some usual horrible name tacked on at the end of his words. Plus the fact he still had a hold of Hayner's arm. He let go and crossed both his arms over his chest as he looked at Hayner with a scowl on his face.

The startled look on Hayner's face melted away and his glossy eyes fell away from Seifer down to the ground. He didn't want to talk, or explain, or throw insults, just to appease Seifer's confrontation. All that stuff they had was over; he'd made sure of it. He didn't have to answer to Seifer's desperate demand.

"... I punched Roxas." But Hayner did anyway. Even though it wasn't exactly what Seifer wanted to hear. Hayner just didn't know who to be stubborn to anymore, or who to be honest with.

Seifer was startled to say the least. "You punched Roxas?" He couldn't help repeating the statement to make sure it was the truth. "You've never punched Roxas." He uncrossed his arms to let them fall at his sides while he tried to get a better look at Hayner's face. "What the hell happened? I thought you were just going to talk to him?" All thoughts of things returning to normal, bickering and arguing, were suddenly put on halt again.

Hayner weakly shrugged. He dragged a hand through his hair. He looked worse for wear, haggard, like he'd lost his best friend in all the world; probably because he had.

Hayner glanced up at Seifer, surprised to see what he thought was concern amidst the scowling confusion. It was strange, nearly awkward, to be consoled by someone he'd just told today in so many words to just screw off. But Hayner's mind decided to completely derail from his problems as he stared at Seifer's blonde hair that was usually covered by his black beanie. He pointed weakly. "... You look better without your hat." What an odd placement for a compliment.

Seifer opened his mouth and then closed it again. For once he was at a loss for words at receiving an actual compliment from Hayner, especially when he had just been trying to get answers from the shorter teen not but two seconds ago. It was a strange twist. Still, it didn't take long for Seifer to recover from the shock and look away as if the words hadn't bothered him in the slightest. "Tch, I look good no matter what."

Hayner thudded back to lean against the wall heavily. His gaze drifted from Seifer's face though not far from the teen himself. "... Sometimes," the comment came off handedly.

Seifer lost his cocky attitude once again to the one comment Hayner threw out. It finally got on Seifer's nerves that Hayner wasn't acting like himself at all. He was too reserved and just down right weird. In the blink of an eye, Seifer slammed the palm of a hand against the brick wall right next to Hayner's head and leaned in close at the same time. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why the sudden compliments? Did that twerp punch back and break something vital up here?" He moved his other hand up to poke Hayner rather roughly in the side of his skull. "Because you're acting like a complete loser."

Hayner's head fell to the side at the poke. He thudded it to rest against the wall. He wasn't all that startled or put off by Seifer's out burst. Once again there was no retaliation to Seifer's anger. "No, I walked away before he could," he pointed out simply. "It feels like he did though."

Seifer dropped his hand and continued to keep narrowed eyes on Hayner for a few more seconds until finally the annoyed expression on his face fell away and he only stared at the other. "What could he have possibly done that was so terrible? Especially to cause you to act as if you have no soul right now." The hand he had dropped reached back up to flick a few strands of Hayner's hair that had fallen away from it's usually spiked back state.

Hayner's brows lowered and he frowned some. He was about to argue that he indeed did have a soul but it seemed rather moot. So instead he watched Seifer's hand and weakly reached up to grasp his wrist. He didn't push the hand away nor draw it near, just held it. "... He told them." Hayner's grip on Seifer's wrist tightened with a twitch before he let go and let his arm fall back down to his side.

Seifer hadn't objected to the sudden contact, but he did stare until it was over and his eyes were traveling back to Hayner's face again. "Told them?" He felt confused since the words were so vague. They didn't really help explain very much and Seifer knew he would have to get Hayner to elaborate a bit more. "Told who, what?" Since the contact was over he rested his free hand on the other side of Hayner's head on the wall much like his other.

Hayner blinked slowly, his gaze falling down between them. There was no point in keeping it from Seifer, he'd find out more sooner than later in the worst of ways. What had been guarded so closely a secret, always denied by Hayner but always affronted by Seifer, was now known.

"My friends," Hayner started slowly, quietly, "... 'bout... you 'n me."

"About..." Seifer didn't even echo the words completely as he tried to go over what he just heard. That was why Hayner was so upset all of a sudden. He was stressing over the fact that every single one of his friends knew something that wasn't supposed to get out at all. It was understandable, but, Seifer just didn't feel that same panic that Hayner's troubled mind had gone through. Maybe it was because of how easy going he was to it all. Who knew?

"So much for your nice bit of normalcy, huh?" Seifer was quick to tease and couldn't hide his smirk at all. "That lasted for all of about two seconds, I'd say." He finally pushed away from the wall as well as Hayner to stand straight once more.

That tease struck a tender nerve in Hayner. That his hard ship was nothing more than a joke for Seifer to throw at him, it was cruel and unforgivable. Seifer could care less what damage was done and it sent a pang through Hayner's already aching chest. "... Shut up." Hayner sent a glare Seifer's way before pushing off the wall to continue walking.

Seifer blinked his eyes at how hard Hayner seemed to take his teasing. The shorter teen was rather touchy and because of it Seifer couldn't act the way he usually did around Hayner. He was tempted to just let Hayner leave, then he would have some peace again without having to worry about an attitude problem, but he'd have to deal with the other at some point. It was one thing that made him move from where he stood.

Seifer was quick to follow Hayner's retreating figure and as soon as he caught up he grabbed the other boy around the middle with both arms to stop Hayner right where he was while he rested his chin on the other's shoulder. "You act like it's the end of the world. Why are you acting like such a baby over something so trivial?"

Hayner tensed, he hadn't expected Seifer to follow, nor keep so close considering their last talk. Still, he didn't fight to get out of Seifer's hold either. Maybe there was something completely wrong with him like Seifer said. "... Don't you get it? I won't be able to live this down. Soon the entire school will know... And I'll never hear the end of it." He sighed heavily, like a tired old man with the weight of the world on his shoulders instead of a teenager with a domestic problem. "Y'know, the whole reason we kept it hush hush before." He gave Seifer's head on his shoulder a slight glare.

Seifer only smirked at how worked up Hayner was getting. "I seriously think you're looking too deep into this. He only told the rest of your group, right?" Seifer didn't even wait for conformation before he continued. "Why the hell would your friends go on to tell anyone else? I'm sure they would talk it over with you first." He shrugged a shoulder while he finally looked away and let his eyes fall to one of the fading numbers on the brick wall across from them. "Stop looking at all the negatives."

Hayner scoffed, and for a moment he sounded like his old self. "Right, because there's tons of positives that can come out of this." He nearly yanked himself free of Seifer's hold for such a stupid comment.

Seifer kept his tight hold around Hayner and finally grinned at the other's snappy words. "Depends on how you think about it." It was that statement that caused Seifer to try and sneak his hand up the front of Hayner's shirt so his fingers could barely linger across the smaller boy's stomach.

Hayner was about to retort sarcastically but the unexpected touch had his words abruptly stopped with a surprised gasp. "S-Seifer! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He grabbed Seifer's hand to shove it away from under his shirt. As if his mind hadn't been spinning enough. "Touching me is not a positive that comes out of my humiliation!"

Seifer only laughed at Hayner's annoyance while he took his hand back only to place it around the other teen right where it had been previously. At least Hayner was somewhat back to his normal self. "What humiliation?" he spoke the question after his laughter had died down. With one quick movement he turned Hayner around in his arms and pinned the shorter teen against the brick wall nearby. "It's not like your friends are painting it all over the walls for anyone to see. It's still just as hush hush as it was before. It's only a few people, lamer. This is what I meant when I said you worry about everything and anything. It's too much."

Hayner gave a low sound in his throat. He didn't appreciate being pushed around and laughed at, but he didn't have his usual energy to meet Seifer head on. So he took it as it came, it wasn't like he had much else to do or go.

"... And you worry too little. But I guess that's what you get when your personality is so shallow." Hayner placed his hands on Seifer's shoulders to keep the other teen at arms length, just in case Seifer had any other funny ideas like before. "Course you'd use this to your advantage. I don't think you realize this'll ruin both our reputations. They'll think you've gotten soft; all lovey dovey over your rival."

"I'm hardly the lovey dovey type," Seifer was quick to defend himself as soon as his own reputation was taken into account. "Besides, you seem to be forgetting who it was that started all of this in the first place." He loosened up his hold on Hayner only a little to let the other know he wasn't planning anything for the moment. "I told you before that I'm not half as worried about anything as you are. No one really screws around with me and my friends are the least of my worries. But, either way, it's not like it matters." At those words he completely pulled away and placed both hands on his hips. "You wanted your normalcy back, so just tell your precious friends that there's nothing going on and you won't have to worry," the words had a bit of bite to them.

Hayner went slack against the wall as he stared at Seifer. That did seem like the easy way out: denying anything and everything, and forgetting the whole mess he had indeed started with Seifer. Still, he didn't feel like he could face his friends now with what they knew and what he'd done to Roxas. He'd screwed everything up.

With a quiet grunt Hayner pushed himself from the wall, staggering a little since his legs felt like noodles. He shuffled towards Seifer. "... Could you just shut your stupid mouth for once?" Without warning he thudded his head to rest on Seifer's shoulder, nearly slumping on the other teen entirely. "Just shut up. And stay."

Seifer was more then a little stunned at Hayner's need to suddenly bury himself against his shoulder. On instinct he placed his hands on Hayner's hips and kept them there as well as the other teen close to him. Even though he had been told to shut up, just like many times before, he never listened to the demand. "Stay? Where else am I going to go? I'd more then likely get lost." Despite how annoyed he sounded, Seifer still leaned down a little to rest his head on top of Hayner's own.

"True," Hayner quietly agreed. "Although... you're probably already lost." The smallest of smirks crossed his lips, but he hid it against Seifer's shoulder.  
He wasn't sure why he let his arms slip up and around Seifer's bare middle, under the teen's coat. How Seifer could wear just a skimpy vest under a sleeveless coat was beyond Hayner. It had him unintentionally touching more skin than he meant. He clung to Seifer's coat from the inside, leaning heavily on Seifer himself. This was all so hypocritical, but Hayner really didn't care at that point.

Seifer didn't seem to mind all that much either and let Hayner be as close as he wanted. They were never usually so cuddly or clingy, but with what had happened throughout the day it was just one surprise after the next it seemed. "I still have yet to know why I continue to go through this drama." The words weren't meant in a cruel way and it was obvious by the way Seifer's thumb barely stroked Hayner's hip under the shorter boy's shirt.

Hayner's eyes flickered shut. At least, for the moment, things didn't feel so terrible. Seifer's carefree attitude was catchy; it made it a little easier for Hayner to shrug some of the weight of problems off his shoulders. It was amazing how calming and infuriating Seifer could be at the same time.

He disturbed Seifer's head, moving his own as he stood on his toes for a second to press a small fleeting kiss to the other's lips. Perhaps it was a small peace offering. Then just as quick Hayner was back on the flat of his feet. "Happy?" Hayner settled his head back down where it had been acting as if the action had never really occurred.

Seifer kept his eyes on Hayner even after the other boy had pulled away from the quick kiss and settled himself back down. He didn't seem to realize he had been asked a simple question until a good few minutes later when his mind caught up with him. "I wasn't the one pouting just a few minutes ago," he couldn't help the quick response back at Hayner, but even after he made sure to follow it up to make it obvious he wasn't after a fight. "But, sure... whatever." He couldn't help pulling Hayner a little closer.

"Y'know," Hayner let go of Seifer's coat, allowing his arms to slip fully around the other's bare middle, "a quicker answer would have been 'yes'." Funny how Hayner felt a bit of his old self perk through the emotional fatigue, here, now. And he'd never admit that he liked Seifer's stupid short vest, since he didn't have to go under shirt to touch skin like the teen did for his. Hayner tried to keep his touch seemingly accidental, brushing his fingers along Seifer's back.

Seifer noticed the touch, but said nothing about it. He only shifted his weight a bit to one foot so he could lean back against the wall behind him, using his shoulders and a boot to prop himself and Hayner up. "Too easy, but if it makes you feel any better then fine, yes." He shrugged a shoulder which only caused his jacket to shift since it was pressed against the wall. He watched Hayner for a few seconds before a lazy smirk spread across his face and he leaned down a little to press their foreheads together. "We're supposed to be rivals, remember?" He shot Hayner's earlier words right back at the teen in more of a teasing way. The complete opposite of Hayner's more serious way of reminding them both.

Hayner feigned an aggravated huff at those words. But it was easy to tell he was anything but angry. "Yeah, we are." He leaned his forehead back against Seifer's. "So, then..." he raised his head up nearer, "why are you kissing me?" He pressed his lips to Seifer's, a slight grin perking the corners of his mouth.

Instead of pulling back, Seifer responded to the kiss. Hayner wasn't the only one whose lips moved up in amusement, though. For just a second Seifer pulled back to barely speak words against Hayner's mouth. "A precaution to make sure you aren't choking again." After those words his lips were on Hayner's once again and his hands were moving up the back of his shirt.

An actual laugh left Hayner, lazy and muffled by Seifer's lips. It felt good, after feeling so lost and dejected. He gave up subtly and let his hands smooth across Seifer's bare back; drawing across his sides to his bare middle to run up a taunt well toned stomach that he would never admit to very much liking.

Seifer's stomach clenched involuntarily under Hayner's touches, but by the muffled noise the taller boy made it was obvious he didn't mind what Hayner was doing. His own fingers ran in small circles along Hayner's back as they continued to move up, pushing the other's shirt up right along with his actions. It was when he pressed harder into the kiss, sneaking his tongue out against the other's lips, that he pulled Hayner completely flush against him, causing it to pin himself against the wall between the shorter boy.

A small sound left Hayner, and he didn't think twice about deepening the kiss. He knew he had left his head space back when he punched Roxas, probably even before a month ago when he'd first pressed his lips with a very confused Seifer. It had all gone down hill from there.

Hayner snuck his hand under the vest and already decided he hated the obstruction. It took him a moment to fumble around looking for the damn zipper without eyesight. But when his fingers hit the metal of zipper he grasped the tag of zipper and yanked it down. Of course the stupid thing decided to get stuck half way down. It had Hayner letting out a muffled cuss.

Hayner's annoyance only amused Seifer like it usually did and when he pulled away from the kiss he found himself letting out a quiet laugh. "Loser." Seifer swatted Hayner's hand away and jiggled the zipper a little. It was an old vest and took a few tries before the zipper finally decided to pull down completely. Seifer wasn't done, though. He freed his arms to wiggle free from his jacket, tossing it aside as soon as both arms were out of it. After he was done he had Hayner captured in his arms again, but his lips found their way to the other teen's neck instead of his lips.

Hayner let out another laugh though it melted into a pleased noise. He was more amused than worried when he realized all their noises echoed; though everyone always accounted to strange noises they heard from the tunnels to 'ghosts'. This amused Hayner more in his state of mind.

Hayner squirmed a bit in Seifer's arms. Though now that Seifer's vest was undone it gave his hands free range to smooth his hand up and down the other's chest. Though he decided to do something much bolder, and perhaps had he not been so out of it he probably wouldn't have done it. Hayner pressed Seifer back against the wall, nearly shoving him with a hand on his shoulder. He gave a curious flick of tongue on Seifer's bare chest at first before he ran it up along skin.

Seifer had wanted to protest when Hayner shoved him away. He had been more then content to continue on as he had been, but it was Hayner's tongue which stopped any words from leaving him. He tried hard to swallow down the noises that tried to escape, but it was a losing battle. He soon found himself squirming against the brick wall behind him while he cussed under his breath.

Hayner's gaze lazily flicked up to look at Seifer. His grin was nothing short of satisfied from what he got from the other. "What's wrong?" He pressed Seifer further against the wall, pinning any squirming he'd want to do. Hayner pushed the vest open more, his other hand running along the exposed skin. "Afraid to make a little noise?" He touched his mouth against Seifer's chest, ghosting his warm breath across skin before he let his tongue slip out to give a slow playful lick.

"S-Shut up..." It was the only come back Seifer could really think about with Hayner's mouth so close to his skin, yet even that came out stuttered and almost as a noise instead of actual words. His eyes were pinned on the way Hayner's tongue moved across his chest and he finally couldn't keep in a quiet moan that he quickly tried to cover up as his mouth snapped shut. He could feel the wall scratching against his back since his vest didn't cover much of his back, but with Hayner as a distraction he didn't mind very much.

"... Maybe you're upset because," Hayner started out slowly, murmuring the heated words against Seifer's chest, "you've been owned..." He raised his head to run his tongue along Seifer's clavicle, dipping his tongue in the hollow of throat. He stepped on tippy toes, pressing himself along Seifer's body so he could press his lips to Seifer's neck. "...by someone shorter than you." He tugged Seifer's vest further off his shoulders.

Seifer didn't fight against having his vest pulled further off. He would have been more then a little crazy to even try. It was mostly the heated words against his skin which had him riled up and scowling down as best he could at the shorter blonde. "Owned? Y-Yeah r-right..." Okay, so he hadn't meant to stutter that last tiny bit, but Hayner was being quite bold at that moment.

"Well." Hayner flicked his tongue across Seifer's throat. His hands smoothed across the other's toned shoulders, digging fingers near kneading muscles before his hands slipped down to push the vest all the way down off Seifer's arms. "If I'm wrong," Hayner raised his head back up to meet Seifer face to face, "feel free to walk away." He gave a rather cocky grin before he ran his tongue along Seifer's bottom lip.

Seifer had groaned at how Hayner dug his fingers into muscles. It felt good for the quick moment it happened considering all the tension that had built up over the day. When Hayner pulled his hands away just to rid him of his vest completely the scowl finally fell away from Seifer's face. He couldn't allow the vest to fall completely to the floor. Hayner had him too pinned. The shorter teen's words had him blinking his eyes until he moaned once more at that tongue along his lip.

Instead of answering, Seifer moved forward as best he could to capture Hayner's tongue in his mouth as he pressed their lips together. Hayner may have been toying with him, but Seifer was still going to get what he wanted in some way.

Hayner did his best not to whimper, trying to take advantage of Seifer's mouth as he ran his tongue across the other's. His hands slipped to Seifer's hips, fingers digging across skin to get there. He drew his tongue across Seifer's teeth, grinning his victory. Seifer's actions were answer enough for Hayner to know he'd won.

Seifer gave a muffled growl against Hayner's lips, feeling the other's grin. They both knew that Hayner had the upper hand, and despite the other teen having a crappy day, Seifer still didn't like it either way. Had he been able to get his hands free he would have grabbed Hayner and switched their positions, but between his vest and the wall he was stuck and nearly tangled. So, he sucked at Hayner's tongue in retaliation before he pulled back and bit his bottom lip with a small smirk on his own lips.

Hayner gave a small hiss to the bite; that was probably going to leave a mark on his lip after. He drew back a bit to lick his own lips. "You're addicted." Hayner's grin was half hazard, his mind was spinning. "Admit it. You can't stop." He trailed his fingers up along Seifer's bare front, following the curve of toned muscles. "Rai and Fuu are idiots, you don't have anyone else... _worthy_ enough." Hayner gave a loose shrug. "Except Roxas." He clicked his tongue. "But everyone wants Roxas." He dragged his fingers down, hard enough to leave a trail of red behind.

Seifer dug his teeth into his lip while the marks were being made on his skin. He couldn't help staring at Hayner's face after the words while his hands fidgeted behind himself under his vest. "Actually, from what I could tell, you were the one that wanted Roxas the most," the words were spoken quietly as Seifer teased. "Besides, I don't have anything to admit." After those words he pressed back closer to the wall to hope and get somewhat free, but he didn't really want to get away from Hayner's hand. He wouldn't admit that out loud, though. "Just because you think you're worthy of something doesn't mean much."

Hayner ran his fingers over the trail he left on skin. "I guess you're right." His voice drifted. "In more ways than one." His hand trailed down to Seifer's stomach, clawing across abs until the waist of pants, dragging them down just a little bit; since Seifer was tied at the moment. "... Jealous?" Hayner glanced up to Seifer's face.

Seifer stilled at the question and the fact that his pants had become a little lower. He opened his mouth, but closed it just as quickly and stared back into Hayner's eyes. The other teen wasn't usually so bold unless it was a random kiss here or there, compared to the first time. It had him wondering how much really had changed in that moment compared to the past month. "Maybe..." he spoke the admittance quietly, almost as if he said it the world would implode. He quickly looked off to the side afterwards pretending it hadn't happened.

Hayner reached up and turned Seifer's head back, pulling it down for a far gentler kiss then they had been doing. He barely pulled back, giving a heavy sigh. "Welcome to my world, _chicken wuss_." He patted Seifer's cheek.

Seifer didn't give a snarky remark to having one of his own nick names for Hayner and his friends thrown back at him. He didn't even move from where he had been forced to lean down. He kept quiet for a few seconds before he gave in and closed the space between them once more to press their lips together for a second time. It was quick, but just as enjoyable and gentle as the first one. "Still want your normalcy back?" He looked into Hayner's eyes as he asked the question after pulling back.

Hayner blinked, not exactly expecting something akin to sincerity from Seifer. "... Y'know, I don't think we ever had it to begin with. Not in this town." He gave kind of a sad laugh. His hand moved from Seifer's cheek to trace across the fine scar that ran down between the teen's eyes.

Seifer went cross eyed at the touch which was a strange thing to see. It wasn't everyday that someone touched that certain part of his face though, so he couldn't help it. Since he was no longer pinned to the wall he finally tugged his arms free from his vest and threw it aside just so he could swat Hayner's hand away. "Quit it." His eyes fell back on Hayner's face and narrowed, but not in annoyance. "Well, at least things aren't dull that way."

Hayner smiled just a little bit. "No... I guess not." He glanced aside down the tunnel; it seemed to stretch on endlessly, fading into darkness where one of the lights had died out. "But some how it still manages to be dull, or at least mundane. The people who stay here for so long start seeing things because it's so boring." He gave a small sigh as Roxas' words echoed though his mind again; it wasn't fair. "... Maybe I should leave too."

"Don't be stupid." They were the first words out of Seifer's mouth at such a thing. He moved slightly away from Hayner so he could move down the wall and sit. "Just because a place gets mundane doesn't mean you should leave, especially if you have friends and family. I could only imagine what they would say if you decided to just up and leave." He ran a hand through his hair just to fidget. "And don't give me any of that BS about them knowing anything and being embarrassed. You'll all get over it."

Hayner stared at the wall since Seifer had moved to sit. He was a little more than amazed he still had it in him to stand on his own. He reached out to pick at the chipping paint. "... You could come too."

Seifer shook his head before he looked up at Hayner. "Rai and Fuu might not be the most ideal friends at times, especially Rai, but either way they've stuck by me. I wouldn't just want to leave randomly and leave them high and dry." He stretched his legs out and poked Hayner's foot with his boot. "Besides, someone has to be here to keep some order in this town, don't they?" He gave a weak smirk.

Hayner gave a slight snort. "Right, 'The Disciplinary Committee.'" He rolled his eyes. "Face it; you're just a bunch of bullies." All the same he sighed, running a hand through his own hair, smoothing the wavy strands back. "Still... you're right. I do have too much here to really pick up and go." He frowned, turning away from Seifer to face down the tunnel, crossing his arms. "... I wish Roxas had felt the same." He kicked at an unlucky rock that had found its way in the tunnels from outside. "He says he's here for good. But, I've heard that song and dance from him before."

Seifer found himself scowling at the last few things Hayner said. Once again they were back on the topic of Roxas, but this time it was a little different and Seifer just didn't want to deal with it. "Who's to say? You did punch him..." He knew the words were cruel, but it was a little annoying to have to hear the same thing over and over again.

Hayner didn't know what to say to that. It hurt considering why he'd run away to the tunnels in the first place. But it also reminded him to whom he was actually talking to. "I suppose it doesn't matter to you whether Roxas goes or stays." He found himself snapping back. "You wouldn't think twice if he was to disappear tomorrow." He glowered at the ground. "... I don't think I could forgive him if he did, or now." He rubbed his brows. "... I can't face everyone at school tomorrow." He thudded his back hard against the wall, burring his face in a hand.

"Actually, it does matter to me," Seifer spoke up in all honesty while he reached over for his vest. There was no real reason for him to keep it off anymore and the most he wanted to do was at least put it on even if it wasn't zipped. "Because if he does leave you'll just be in a horrible mood again. Worse then you were during this whole month." Hayner could take the words any way he wanted, Seifer didn't care. Either way he turned his eyes back on the standing teen. "I still think you're overreacting. You just need to talk to your little lackeys and set everything straight." He shrugged a shoulder. "This will all blow over."

Hayner slid down the wall some. "They aren't my lackeys... they're my friends. Unlike your group." It was a weak come back, but his mind had settled on other things; like what Seifer had said. He looked down to Seifer's coat and quickly snatched it up. He gave it a shake, throwing the dirt off it. Without another thought Hayner slipped it on. It was far too big for him, his shoulders weren't as broad as Seifer's, and the coat tail trailed on the ground. "Hmm, I think I like my vest better." He tugged at the coat's lapels, looking himself over. He glanced at Seifer and gestured to the vest the other wore. "Trade ya." Hayner gestured to Seifer's coat he wore.

Seifer raised a brow at Hayner's sudden need to wear his clothing, but he wasn't about to bitch about it. At least the subject had been changed for the time being and he was just fine with that. "Whatever..." He shrugged off his vest once again and threw it over to Hayner.

Hayner pulled off the coat and slipped on the vest. It wasn't as bad as the coat, though it was still big on him. Though he didn't give Seifer the coat like he'd said. Instead Hayner slipped on the coat as well over the vest. He stretched out his arms, posing a second for Seifer to see. Hayner then crossed his arms and scowled giving his best Seifer impression. "Owned you lamer."

Seifer could only stare at how ridiculous Hayner looked in his clothes that were much too big on him. Still, the impression ticked him off a little and he narrowed his eyes on the other teen as he gave a deadly smirk. "Okay, you're dead." With those few words he was quick to get to his feet to try and grab at Hayner.

"Crap!" Hayner leaped back from the grab so quickly he tripped over the coat. With a yelp he staggered over to the side with a laugh to start running down the tunnel to get away from Seifer. His legs still felt weak but he managed to run without stumbling too bad, though he couldn't stop laughing.

Seifer cursed when his hands met nothing but air as they shot out to grab Hayner. He thought he had a chance when the other teen tripped, but Hayner was too quick to move. As soon as Hayner was off running Seifer was right behind him, following the other blonde's loud laughter. "Come back here, twerp!"

Hayner skidded along the floor nearly smacking into a wall as he made a sharp turn. The tunnel was a horrible maze, and as Hayner ran he knew he was only getting more lost. But he was too amused to worry about it.  
Hayner made another turn much quicker than the last as his strength came back with the quickening of his heart.

Seifer's boots were loud enough against the tunnel's floor to make it clear that he was still tailing. The aggravation had left him though, and a tiny bit of amusement had passed over him also. If anything, it was just exciting to chase Hayner around. It was around one of the sharp corners that he knew he was falling a little behind, though. Hayner was getting quicker, but sadly, there were no shortcuts unless he wanted to chance getting lost.

Hayner glanced over his shoulder, grinning since Seifer was now lagging behind some. He slowed a bit to turn around, back pedaling. "Nya! Loser!" He then tripped over the much too long coat tails. "Whoa!" He flailed his arms but to no avail, he fell back ungracefully on the dusty floor.

Seifer had seen the whole thing unfold and slowed to a stop as soon as he reached Hayner who was a sudden heap on the floor. He was trying his hardest not to laugh, but it was obvious by the large grin on his face that he was failing. He bent down a little to get a better look at the unlucky teen and grinned even more in that cocky way of his. "You were saying?"

Hayner was quick to grab Seifer by the shoulders, yanking him down on the floor with him. He tackled onto the other, pinning him to the ground with an even wider grin. " _You_ were saying?"

Seifer blinked wide eyes up at Hayner. The other teen had gotten the upper hand so quick that it almost caused Seifer's head to spin. He tried to gain some composure back and raised a brow as he stared at the other boy on top of him. "To get off of me or I'll kick your ass."

Hayner wasn't one to listen either. He crawled more on top of the other. "Nnnno, I think I'm good." He straddled the other's middle, leaning on one arm on the ground as he ran the other up Seifer's bare chest. "Comfortable." Hayner leaned down press a lingering kiss on Seifer's lips. "Right where I am." He pressed another quick kiss, grinning just a bit knowing he had the upper hand again.

Seifer narrowed his eyes on Hayner after the kiss ended as he found himself trapped beneath the smaller teen once again that day. "You know, I could just push you off of me if I wanted to." He mumbled the words in an annoyed voice while his eyes moved down to watch Hayner's finger.

"Then I guess you don't want me off." Hayner began to trace his finger across Seifer's chest. It seemed like meaningless strokes but he printed the words: Hayner was here.

Seifer narrowed his eyes a bit more at what Hayner had invisibly printed on his skin. His eyes moved back up to look at the top of the other blonde's head while he squirmed a bit against the dirty floor underneath him. "You're too full of yourself all of a sudden." A slow smirk spread on Seifer's face. "You should be careful..." His hands shot up to grab both of Hayner's wrists and he was soon rolling them over so he had the other teen pinned beneath his own body instead, straddling Hayner much the same way the other had been doing to him seconds ago. "Or someone might knock you off your pedestal." He continued on as he kept Hayner's wrists pinned above his head.

Hayner couldn't help the squeak, mostly because the floor of the tunnel was very cold. He gave a nervous laugh as he squirmed beneath Seifer, arching up, but there was no escaping the cold floor or the tight grip the other had. "H-hey!" He tried to scowl but it came out as a sulky pout. "The floor is very cold you know." Although it helped to be wearing three layers of clothing, unlike Seifer had. "Anyway, dethroned or not, we both know that I'm the one true king. And you're just a fool." Hayner gave a cheeky grin.

"In your dreams, maybe," Seifer shot right back as he tried not to grin as well, but having Hayner pinned and squirming under him caused him to fail miserably. It was one of those perfect opportunities that he wasn't willing to pass up. "Right now I believe you're the fool for letting yourself get caught so easily." He kept a tight hold on Hayner's hands while he leaned forward so his lips were close to the other's ear, breathing out his words. "Looks like I win."

Hayner let out a short laugh to hide his shaky breath. It didn't do much good. "N-no, I let you win. You were getting kind of sulky, losing all the time." Of course he was wishing his heart didn't decide to hammer so hard with Seifer so close, pinning him down.

Seifer noticed the slight change in Hayner's breath and it only egged him on even more. "Really? Is that so?" He kept close to Hayner as he went on speaking. "Are you sure you didn't just let me win because you enjoy this too much for you to admit?" He didn't give much time for Hayner to respond because as soon as the question was asked his lips were on Hayner's ear while he lightly bit down.

Hayner bit his lip to keep silent. He tried to move from Seifer, unsuccessfully arching to no means. He huffed trying to sound annoyed but it came out more as a whine. "N-no." His hands clasped and unclasped uselessly.

Seifer laughed quietly at Hayner's answer. He pulled back, but only to begin kissing towards the other teen's jaw. As soon as his lips neared Hayner's mouth he stopped and his hands finally let go of wrists, but only to clasp both of Hayner's hands in his own against the cold floor. "Now, who owned who?" He didn't wait for an answer, closing the distance between them to press a kiss to Hayner's lips.

Hayner's disgruntled whimper was muffled against Seifer's mouth. He clutched Seifer's hand twinned with his. He soon gave up struggling, giving in to the kiss. His heels dragged along the floor. Seifer was much warmer than the floor, more inviting. Hayner arched up from the floor closer to Seifer, trying to press as close as he could.

Seifer moaned against the kiss because of the sudden closeness and kept himself as near as he could to Hayner. It wasn't long before he made a move and pulled Hayner by the arms while he sat up off the smaller teen. He pulled the other onto his lap, the entire time never once breaking the kiss or letting their hands go, which only now dropped to their sides.

Hayner swayed, disorientated at suddenly now sitting up all of a sudden. He wasn't exactly sure how it happened. He gave a slight amused laugh against Seifer's mouth, dizzy with more than vertigo. He crawled closer on Seifer's lap, pressing as close as he could. Some how he managed to pull his hands away, running them down Seifer's back, happy that there was no vest obstructing the touch as he completely forgot he was wearing the other's clothes.

Seifer gave another muffled noise against Hayner's lips as he felt hands move across his back along with how close Hayner had moved against him while on his lap. Since his own hands had nothing to hold onto any longer he used them to slip up between the two of them, having to work his way through more clothing then usual to slide under Hayner's shirt, and move across the other's stomach.

Hayner let out a startled yelp, digging fingers into Seifer's back. He leaned back just enough to speak, a slight nervous laugh to his voice. "C-cold hands." He gave a shaky breath as he tried to collect a piece of himself. He blinked as he realized something and gave another laugh, though more giddy than teasing. "Wow, some how I managed to get on top again. It seems fated."

Seifer only smirked at those words, although on the inside he felt better to see Hayner laughing then brooding like he had been earlier. He didn't want to admit it out loud, though. So, he didn't. "I'm the one that pulled you up in this position, so I'm still in control." His hands moved from Hayner's stomach to wrap around the other's waist instead.

Hayner slipped his arms around Seifer's neck, lazily resting them over his shoulders. "Right, you keep telling yourself that." He rested his forehead against the other's. "But I guess if you sat on my lap," he gave a slight laugh as he messed with Seifer's hair at the back of his neck, "you'd crush me."

Seifer's eyes fell halfway closed as Hayner messed with his hair. "More then likely. It would be an awkward sight to begin with." He couldn't help but agree before he shrugged a shoulder. "So, it looks like this is the only alternative." He gave a lazy smirk. "It's not so bad."

"Nothings bad when I'm on top." Hayner gave a full out grin at his words. He ran a few fingers through Seifer's hair, so shaggy without the hat. His other hand smoothed over Seifer's toned shoulder before falling down to run up and down his back. "You have no choice but to agree."

"Whatever..." It was the only response Hayner got out of Seifer because of the simple touches that the other boy was giving. After such an annoying day, Seifer was happy enough to just let everything go finally and not give a damn about anything anymore. In his mind it was the simplest solution.

The day had worn Hayner out. Finally when he was able to just sit, he realized just how drained he really was, emotionally and physically. He shut his eyes as he rested his head against Seifer's for the moment. He was exhausted in every meaning of the word, and tomorrow would prove to be no better. But if Hayner had his way he'd avoid the problem altogether, and everyone. This, of course, was going to make school dull, and class time crawl by.  
Hayner gave a quiet but tired sigh, but said nothing about what ran through his mind. He wondered if one could live out their life in the tunnels. No, someone would drag him out, if not his friends than his parents. Damn.


	34. Chapter 34

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 34

Roxas had been in a foul mood ever since he walked back from the mansion into town. He could still feel the sting where Hayner had punched him near his eye and knew he would have a bruise forming there. As soon as he had gotten into town he had gone to the ice cream tender and asked for a bag of ice to put on what might, in the end, become a black eye. When the tender asked him what happened he hadn't told the truth and said it was Seifer before he grabbed the ice and walked away.

It was after that Roxas had gone straight home. He hadn't even bothered to look for Axel. He figured the Heartless was probably roaming around somewhere causing trouble for whoever he was near, or working on the surprise he had spoken about which at the moment Roxas couldn't really be as excited about anymore. He went straight upstairs to his room and twisted his doorknob with one hand while the other continued to keep the ice on his eye as he walked into his room.

It was a long time later before the Heartless himself came home. He felt the malcontent as he stepped into the house. All he had to do was follow the bad mood all the way upstairs to find Roxas lying on his bed with a pack of ice resting on his face. It would have been an amusing sight had Axel not felt such guilty despair from Roxas' heart.

Axel walked over to the bed and peered down at his disgruntled sweety. "Not so good a day, huh?" And that was putting it mildly. He brushed Roxas' damp bangs back as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on the boy's forehead. "Should I wait before asking about the ice pack?"

Roxas squinted his good eye open as soon as Axel had kissed him. He thought about not answering the other's question, but Axel would see at some point. There was no point in hiding the new wound he now had. "Hayner punched me." With those few words he pulled the ice pack down to show off the bruise he was trying to prevent from swelling too much.

Axel blinked, leaning forward to get a closer look at the shiner. He grimaced some. "Bastard, why the hell would he go and do a stupid thing like that?" He sat down on the bed beside Roxas.

"Because, I mouthed off to Pence and Olette..." Roxas finally sat up and placed the ice pack right back where it had been. The thing was freezing cold, but he had no real choice in the matter. "About him and Seifer. He said he wanted it to be kept secret and that I should have asked him first. We argued again and he punched me." It was easy to tell by Roxas' voice that he felt guilty, yet angry at the same time.

"Ahhh." Axel nodded in acknowledgement, his brows rising. "Well, I hope you punched him back." He'd known Roxas for his short temper and quick violent retaliations. Then again, he knew Roxas more for his infamous cold shoulder. Although Roxas was so much different in this world that he never really could thumb him down.

Roxas shook his head. "No, I didn't. He walked away before I could really react at all. It was too surprising. Hayner and I have argued before, but we've never actually thrown punches like that. It hurt more then just having him get mad at me for disappearing at random." He picked at the sheet beneath him with his free hand. "I just sort of stayed at the mansion for a bit longer until I came back here..."

The mansion. Axel gained a rather surprised look. What a strange place for all of that to happen at. He always got such a strange feeling when he had to go there. Had he a real stomach he was sure it would churn at the sight every time he saw it.

"Maybe I should have gone with you," Axel couldn't help but say those words. "Maybe not. It might have gone worse. He would have tried to punch me. And you made me promise to behave. But at least I wouldn't have a bruise." Axel sought out Roxas' hand to hold. "Being human has its flaws, hmm." He ran his thumb over Roxas' knuckles. "He probably likes that Seifer guy, and just doesn't want to admit it. Heh, probably still likes you too. And he's just at war with himself." He gave a whistle. "Complicated drama, even here."

Roxas held onto Axel's hand tightly, seeking comfort easily after what he had just gone through. "I wish all of the drama would just go away." He glanced up at Axel with a raised brow. "Not by restarting my friends like you love to point out so many times." He looked back down at the bed. "Just, normally, but I think that was it. I think Hayner completely hates me. Whether he likes Seifer or not, I have a feeling our friendship is just done for all because of my big mouth..." After those words he threw the ice pack away onto the bed and fell over to plant his face in Axel's chest with a low whine.

Axel wrapped his arms around the pathetically whining Roxas, gathering him up and hugging him tight. "I don't think so. You and Hayner are pretty tight knit. He's just upset because you caught him off guard, adding insult to injury that you've been gone for so long." He ruffled Roxas' hair, trying to perk him up. "He doesn't really hate you. He's just upset. And if a Heartless can forgive you for worse, I think your best friend will too eventually. He doesn't know what you've gone through. All he knows is the mundane of normal life. I think," Axel gave it a bit of thought, "you just have to show him that he still matters. That you never forgot about him. They were your reason for coming back, right? Well- you gotta tell him that in so many words." Axel blew a stream of air to ruffle Roxas' upsweep of blonde hair. "Do what you think is right. I kind of fail as a counselor here. Being a Heartless and all, all I know is how to corrupt." He gave a quick playful bite to Roxas' ear after his joking words.

Roxas gave a quiet laugh at the last few words and small bite. A few tears had started to form in his eyes much like they had after he had been hit by his friend and just like that moment he was quick to wipe them away, but because of the bruise he flinched and had to be more careful. "I thought that once we got back here everything was going to be easy." He gave a small sad smile at his own words. "It seems like normal life even wants to try to bring me down." He shook his head. "I don't really care what Hayner does to be honest. He said everything with Seifer was a mistake, but whatever, it was just the shock. I don't know... I guess he thinks we'll all be against him. Of course if I go see him again I might just get another black eye." That last part was mumbled.

"Don't say all that." Axel nosed Roxas' unbruised cheek. "You love your friends and I'm damn well sure they love you back. This is what normal life is all about. It can't always be about the good life like ice cream, homework, raking leaves, and shutting yourself away in your room with an amorous Heartless for days at a time." He grinned some. "There's going to be a little hardship in there. But it's nothing compared to what we've gone through. This is easy. I know you'll get through it. You have Pence, Olette and even me to help you." He gave a quick kiss to the corner of Roxas' mouth. "I can always go beat him up for you, like a good boyfriend should." He chuckled.

Roxas looked at Axel out the corner of his good eye after the kiss as well as the Heartless' last few words. "Yeah, beating him up, that's code word for setting him on fire, isn't it? I know it is... I don't even know why I'm asking." His eyes strayed over to the bag of ice that was slowly trying to melt on his bed sheets. "I rather like my friends in one piece even if they think the exact opposite of me."

Roxas moved his attention back on Axel and tried his best to change the subject despite the fact it was more then obvious he was still a little upset. "Where have you been this entire time? I didn't see you around the shops when I went to get ice. You weren't annoying people were you?"

Axel shook his head as he smirked. "No. I was off working on that surprise I told you about earlier." He beeped Roxas' nose lightly. "And I wouldn't set Hayner on fire. Even if he deserved it." He quickly cleared his throat.

Roxas scrunched up his nose before he rolled his eyes at how badly Axel covered up his words. "He would never deserve to be set on fire. I'd tie you to the bed before you did anything like that." He dropped the subject after his last words and sighed. "With everything that happened I haven't really thought about that riddle you gave me. My mind was elsewhere." He seemed to drift off as he started to think over it again. "It's difficult..." he muttered quietly while he stared at the ceiling.

Axel glanced out the window, at the soft copper colours that faded into pink, purple and then blue. "... It's always sunset here," he spoke more to himself. But that's why it was called Twilight Town. Some how the colours always seemed brightest in this reality. Not because it was facsimiled to be more brilliant than the one it was copied from, but because they all shared it together.

He touched Roxas' shoulder. "I was going to wait till tomorrow at sunrise to give it to you but- I think sunset could be just as nice." Axel brushed a finger across the boy's cheek. "What do you think?"

Roxas had turned his eyes back down to look at Axel. The words easily had him excited, but he tried not to show it. He was starting to get worse and worse at hiding his emotions though, so it wasn't hard to tell. "What do _you_ think I'm going to say to that?" He grinned. "Of course." He wrapped his arms around Axel's neck for a moment. "So, where and what is this surprise that I couldn't for the life of me figure out?"

"Not here." Axel grinned some, happy to see Roxas' mood was perking again. "You have to walk a bit to get it." He scooped Roxas up from the bed to carry him downstairs and outside. There he set Roxas down again. "You'll have to wait and see though. I'm not going to tell you." He took Roxas' hand and began walking.

Roxas had grumbled a little at being carried around like a child, but when they got outside and he was back on the ground he was quiet again. He didn't mind Axel pulling him around by his hand quite as much. The only thing that bugged him was the fact that he had to walk around town with a black eye. He tried to keep his mind off of it by letting his curiosity keep him busy. "What could it possibly be that we have to leave the house for it?" He knew he wouldn't get an answer, but he still tried anyway.

Axel chuckled. "Actually, we have to go even further." He hurried them through the town; he didn't want to waste sunset. He led them to the train station, and up the steps. "It's a little out of the way. But, it's well worth it." Axel led Roxas inside, and with a little bit of code cheating he paid their fair. "It's late, so we'll have the train to ourselves." He tugged Roxas into the train car.

Roxas was a little confused at a few of Axel's words. Nothing in Twilight Town was ever really out of the way. He didn't argue, though. He was easily pulled into the train, forgetting how small the cars were once he was inside. It had been a long time since he traveled in the tiny compact space. Right away he sat next to Axel and leaned against the Heartless, waiting for the train to be on its way. "You seem to be in a rush for us to get to whatever it is." Although Roxas knew he was much the same. "It must be something good."

Axel slipped his arm over Roxas' shoulder. "It is. I just don't want sunset to be over before we get there." He gave a slight chuckle as he reclined back, resting his head on Roxas'. "It's much better then. Trust me."  
The train started up, moving along its track. Axel glanced out the window at the passing scenery. He had to admit that the train didn't move all that fast, and it would have been easier to teleport through darkness. But they were to live a normal life, and normal people took the train. It was also a good way to build up suspense and excitement, he had to admit.

Axel wasn't the only one who was taken in by the outside world which passed by. Roxas kept his eyes on the window as well as he leaned against Axel during the slow ride, and after a while, started to get a strange sense of déjà vu from the action. It had him narrowing his eyes and quickly shaking his head before he turned his eyes on the floor of the train instead. He couldn't help fidgeting from his previous excitement and having to sit still in one place for more then a few minutes.

"Do you remember back when we were both here," Axel spoke his words quietly, "those first seven days?" He idly ran his fingers through Roxas' hair, toying with the blonde locks that always stayed swept up. "You woke up and it was as if your life before was just a dream. And as the days went on you forgot that dream, and everyone in it." Axel paused to glance outside; the water was always so endless. "And then it came back to haunt you. Turned out that the dream was real and the real world was a dream... And you finally woke up." Axel finally turned his sight from the window back down to Roxas. "... I wanted to help you with your dream that was never really finished."

Roxas had narrowed his eyes a little at each word said, mostly because of the remembrance of the past. It had never been a very good time in his life. The last bit though caught his attention and had him looking back up away from the floor of the train to stare into Axel's eyes as he tried to figure out what the Heartless meant. He had the normal life that he wanted so to him the dream was mostly complete. "You're living here with me in town and I'm finally a somewhat normal teenager. Other then those amazing things, how do you plan to help me?" He gave a tiny smirk.

Axel glanced outside and was grinning again as he looked back at Roxas. "You'll see." He placed a finger on Roxas' nose. "No looking. Just shut your eyes and don't peek."

Roxas tried to frown, but he was too excited to keep up appearances. Instead he only rolled his eyes before he actually shut them as tight as he could. One eye shut tighter then the other which caused him to raise both hands to make for better cover. "Satisfied?"

"Very." Axel leaned forward to sneak a quick kiss from Roxas. "We're almost there."  
And right on cue the train soon slowed to their stop not too long after.  
"Here we are." It was easy to hear Axel was just as excited. He carefully helped Roxas to stand since his eyes were covered. "Keep your eyes closed. Don't worry, I'll guide you." He stepped behind Roxas, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders to guide him out of the train. "Be careful of that first step." He continued to lead Roxas out of the train station, leading him down steps without sight was the hardest; both amusing and aggravating.

There was a soft sound in the background, that grew louder the closer Axel lead Roxas. It went from white noise to a gentle lulling roar. Finally Axel stopped, halting Roxas at the same time. A gull decided it was going to let everyone know how it felt there and then before its wings could be heard, and it flew off.

"Hmm," Axel near purred the thoughtful noise. "That should be clue enough to where we are." He gently slipped his own hands on Roxas' over his eyes. "I don't know if you ever remember this place, at all. But DiZ never finished what he started. So that's why your wallet was stolen, and you never got to come here because it never existed. So, I decided to help finish your dream." Axel gently pulled Roxas' hands from his eyes.

Roxas blinked his eyes open as soon as they were free and what he saw was exactly what each small sound he heard pointed to. It was a perfectly blue ocean that was tinted orange by the sun, and so much sand that it seemed to go on for miles. All Roxas could do was stare in awe at something he and his friends had spoken of visiting time and time again, but reality had kept them from ever going.

"You..." Roxas started out, but it was incredibly hard to get his mouth to work with words. "You... did this? You made a beach... for me?" In a way it was amusing, considering how much Axel wasn't all that fond of water, and Roxas couldn't help a bit of quiet laughter along with a few stray tears as he quickly turned around and tugged the Heartless down a bit so they were more level. "I love you so much." His lips were on Axel's in an instant after the words as an obvious show of thanks.

It was hard for Axel not to grin against Roxas' lips. He gave an enthusiastic kiss back before he pulled back to pick him up under the arms and give him a quick twirl round. "A beach, for you. And not just any beach. It isn't an exact replica of the other Twilight Town's beach, but a whole new unique beach for your town; our town." He touched his nose to Roxas'. "Our home." He gently brushed away those few happy tears on Roxas' cheeks with his thumbs, keeping extra care for the bruises under one eye. Axel gave a gentle laugh. "I've worked on this since I found this world still up and running."

"That long?" Roxas couldn't help how surprised he was with the question. Axel had told him he had been hiding out in the town for quite some time, and that was even before he had been separated from Sora. Still, the smile never left his face and he hugged Axel around the neck again since he was settled back on his feet. "It really means a lot to me, especially when you would go to so much trouble to try and make it something special."

"Even a Heartless needs a hobby." Axel placed another kiss on Roxas' lips, slipping his own arms around him. "Let me tell you, it is not easy to build a beach from scratch." He laughed. "Especially when I'm no programmer. DiZ has some whacky code, so I improvised. It's a lot easier to make something when you're apart of the program. That's why I have such a skill with it." He kissed Roxas again. "I'm glad you like it. Twilight Town was just missing a little something. Now it's here." Axel reached up to take Roxas' hands in his to pull them from his neck so he could stand straight once more. "So, would you like to be the first couple to take a romantic stroll across this beach?" He grinned down at Roxas.

Roxas returned the grin with one of his own and it was easy to tell that every little thing that had been bothering him earlier was completely lost and gone from his mind for at least the moment. "Of course." He tugged a little on Axel's hands to get the Heartless to start walking with him since he was eager himself to move along the beach and enjoy the place for the very first time.

Axel followed Roxas' eager pulling to the beach. The sunset was growing dark; golden orange was now turning to rich blue and violet as it was turning to night. "Soon the stars will come." He pointed to the sky. "And the moon. And it'll all reflect on the water." He smiled at Roxas as they walked. "It should be very beautiful."

Roxas turned his attention to the sky and blinked. In all the time he was in Twilight Town he could never remember watching the sky change or seeing the stars. He had either woken up or just spent his time dreaming and when he came back he had been too busy with Axel to care. He couldn't help being a little amazed and eager at the thought of seeing such a thing while he walked with one hand in Axel's own. Already, just as the sun was at that moment, there was something peaceful about the image and Roxas couldn't help looking back at Axel to give the other a small smile. "You know, you're really romantic when you want to be." He couldn't help teasing and laughed a little after his words.

Axel shared in the laugh. "I'll take that as a compliment." He gave Roxas' hand a squeeze. "And if you're saying that, it only means that you've been romanced. I feel accomplished now." He lifted their hands so he could kiss the back of Roxas' hand. "And I didn't even need to bring flowers. I just had to make you an entire beach." He laughed quietly, giving Roxas' wrist a kiss before he lowered their hands again. "Not everyone can say that their boyfriend has done that for them."

"That's because no one has such a unique boyfriend like I do." Roxas' smile turned into a grin at his own words. "So good looking, so _very_ tall and with a need to constantly burn things. I'll have to say that you're one of a kind." Roxas let go of Axel's hand only to bend down to pick up a seashell that was near his feet. He looked it over, twisting it in his hands while he continued speaking. "My favorite part is the fact that you're all mine." After those words he looked out at the water and tried his best to skip the small shell, only to fail miserably and watch it fall heavily into the water. "Damn."

Lanky arms slipped around Roxas' shoulders as he was hugged from behind. Axel muffled his laughter against Roxas' hair. "Yeah, I think that's my favorite part too." He leaned down to rest his chin on Roxas' shoulder. "That after everything is said and done, that we can share all this together, and manage to be happy. Everyone who said we couldn't or shouldn't," he nuzzled Roxas' neck with a soft sound, "I'm glad we proved them wrong."

"From the Organization to this moment." Roxas raised both his hands to rest them on top of Axel's arms as he stared out at the water and the sun that was nearly gone. "It seems like so long ago when it really wasn't that far back at all. I guess we've just been through so much that it just seems like a long time." He smiled a little and rested his head against Axel's own. "Thanks, for helping me through all this. For bringing me back..."

Axel smiled, genuinely smiled. "I said I'd never forget you." He pressed his head back against Roxas'. "This is the life we should have gotten from the start. Just two bad news teenagers in a no where town, living life the way we see fit." He turned his head to kiss Roxas' cheek. "One stubborn brat and the obsessive stalker pyromaniac who loves him." He gave an amused sound. "And we can live out our lives as boring and mundane as we want it to be." He gave that a little thought. "You could be a shoe salesman when you grow up. The door to door kind." He tried to hide his new laughter.

Roxas growled a bit and tried not to laugh as well. Instead he elbowed Axel playfully before he squirmed out of the other's grip. As soon as he was free he turned to look at the Heartless with a grin on his face. "Oh yeah? Well, you better watch yourself, because you might end up as an arsonist." He back stepped as he spoke and soon enough he was near the water. His grin got bigger and he moved up and down on the heels of his feet which were nearly covered each time a small wave passed by.

Axel grinned his teeth. He snapped his fingers and a lick of black flame flickered at the gesture. "I'm already an arsonist." He took a step nearer. "But if you're not careful, you're going to be a very wet shoe salesman in a second." He tried to make a grab at Roxas.

Roxas was quick on his feet despite the water and jumped back with a laugh. The fact that Axel tried to grab at him gave him the perfect opportunity to latch onto Axel's hands while they were still stretched out and yank the Heartless near the water with another small laugh. "Gotcha!"

"Ack. Noo. No, no, no." Axel gave a nervous laugh as he tried to pull back from Roxas' yanking. "I don't do water very well. I tend to go pop-fizzle." Though Roxas' pulls were persistent, and sand wasn't a very good ground to keep one steady. "It looks very cold, and wet. Two things I am not." He gave another nervous laugh.

"Of course it's cold and wet." Roxas continued to grin while he pulled. "It's water. If it was anything else then I'd worry that you messed up somewhere." He backed up a bit more, at least trying to get Axel's feet in somewhat, but the Heartless was pulling back just as hard as he was pulling him in. "You're not going to fizzle, maybe smoke, but not fizzle." He couldn't help but tease. "Besides, what's the fun in water if I can't torture you with it?"

"Yeah, and I have fire, but I don't see myself torturing you by barbequing you every now and again." Axel's laugh became more nervous than before. "Besides, I'm wearing my clothes, and then we'll be riding home soaked." He was completely ignoring what things he could do digitally, playing up normality. "You can swim. Go ahead, splash around." He sucked in a squeaking breath as water splashed on his boot; even though he couldn't feel it. That wasn't the point.

Roxas loosened up his grip somewhat, but still kept his hands on Axel's wrists. "It wouldn't be as fun just splashing around by myself." He glanced down at the water that had touched Axel's foot and the small waves which were dangerously close of coming near again. He finally let go of Axel to reach down and cup a bit of the water between his hands. As soon as he had some he stood back up and let it sift through his fingers to fall back to the sand as he spoke. "There's nothing to be so nervous about."

Axel nervously scratched his cheek. He glanced from side to side before a devilish look crossed his face. Without warning he scooped up Roxas into his arms. "Gotchya!" He tromped along shin deep in the water. "Ohh-that's cold water!" He then tossed Roxas in with a grin.

Roxas didn't have a chance at all and fell in right where he was tossed with a bit of a flail of arms and legs. It caused him to make a splash and the water to move about for a while until it settled again. The calm didn't last long because soon he resurfaced, spitting out saltwater. Blonde hair that usually spiked up was now slicked down in an unusual way. Roxas didn't even wait to catch his breath. He was already turning his attention on Axel with narrowed eyes. "Axel..." the name was drawn out in a deadly way and without any other warning Roxas tried to hurry over to the Heartless to try and tackle him in.

"Oh c'mon sweety- it was just a joke!" Axel staggered back quickly to avoid the attack. "You wanted in so badly- I gave you a head start!" He laughed as he backed up along the shallowest of water, wary of Roxas' soaking wrath. "Besides, you look so cute in the 'drowned rat' look." He laughed through his teeth; oh he was going to get it. He back pedaled faster.

"Flattery isn't going to get you out of this, _baby_ ," Roxas mocked with narrowed eyes. He shook some of the water out of his hair, but still it refused to go back to normal which only annoyed him more. He kept still for a few seconds, watching Axel try to back away. Finally, a crooked grin tugged at his lips and instead of continuing to run after the Heartless Roxas moved his hands under the water and was soon running them along the surface to cause a good amount of water to go flying at Axel at full speed to splash him.

"Ah!" Axel shielded himself with his arms. "Splash me will you?!" He stepped back into the water so he could cup his hands into the water and splash Roxas right back. "Take that, _darling_!"

Instead of being annoyed like before, Roxas let out a loud bit of laughter as he tried to move away from the sudden splash. It didn't do much good and he still got even wetter. He didn't seem to mind, but didn't try to splash Axel back. He shot the Heartless a playful grin before he was diving underwater to try and keep himself hidden for the moment.

Axel blinked and looked around. "H-hey! That's cheating." Water was anything but his element. Even fake digital water; was close enough to the real thing. "Swimming in the water is not fair." He back stepped as he looked around for Roxas under the water. It was getting really dark, so it was hard to see anything when the water looked near black, save for the reflective glimmer of a peeking moon. "Ah man." He felt doomed.

It was beside Axel that the water shifted a little more then usual compared to the usual waves that continued to move. Although, before it could really be noticed Roxas was quick to jump out, creating a bigger splash then when he was dumped in. He grabbed onto Axel's arm to try and yank him off balance and into the water since he couldn't necessarily dunk the Heartless, while he tried to keep his own balance as well.

Axel flailed but fell with a yelp, taking Roxas with him as he splashed into the water. There was a subtle sizzle as he disappeared under the water. Quickly he resurfaced, his usual red spiky hair soaked down on his head and over his face. He shook his head hard throwing water every which way, but his hair came out horribly shaggier and he combed it back from his face with a hand. "Godamnit I hate water." His teeth chattered. Soon steam started to rise from the Heartless and it caused Axel to blink. He gave a weak laugh. "Pop-fizzle-steam."

Roxas watched with obvious amusement while he tried to push back his own hair. Axel's misfortune at being fire oriented only caused him to have to quiet a good bit of laughter that wanted to escape, knowing it would only annoy Axel more. "S-Sorry..." He waved his hands as he tried to control his laughter, but it didn't work. Even slapping his hands over his mouth didn't help and in the end he settled for turning away from the Heartless to let it all out instead.

"Brat," Axel huffed away some of the steam. He growled. Taking advantage of Roxas turned he tackled into him and shoved him back under water. "HA!" He laughed. A little bit of watery revenge.

Roxas had been caught off guard, so he hadn't been able to get away and was easily pushed under once more. His arms were the only thing free and were flailing around above as he tried to struggle. It was after a few moments that he latched onto Axel's hands and pulled the Heartless away from his head so he could resurface and cough up water to take in air. "Damnit, Axel!" Despite the words he was still laughing while he rushed into the other's taller body once again to try and knock him into the water. Axel fell back with an 'oof', but he didn't go under water without taking Roxas with him. He clung onto Roxas, dragging him down into the water he didn't like much. Then just as quickly he sprung up to the surface, grabbing up Roxas in his arms. Spitting out some water Axel gave a laugh. He didn't give Roxas much time to catch his breath before he tossed Roxas back into the water. "Haha! Watery vengeance!"

Roxas had actually let out a squeak as he was tossed back in and once again he came back up looking even more like a drowned rat then he had the first few times before. He had completely given up on his appearance though, and only shot Axel a look that wasn't as murderous as he had intended it to be. "You're such a cheater. You're taller and bigger then I am. You're able to throw me around. The most I can do is yank you in and splash you." To prove his point he cupped his hands to splash some of the water near him at the Heartless while he grinned.

Axel gave a shrug; his grin was less than humble. "What can I say, I was blessed." He pointed at Roxas. "It serves you right, anyway. Yanking a fire orientated Heartless into water." He dragged a hand through his sopping hair, brushing it back out of his face, he tried not to laugh at the very wet and disgruntled Roxas; failed. "Truce?" He extended a hand.

Roxas was hesitant, as if Axel would try to pull him under again, but in the end he took the other's hand to shake. "Truce..." He used Axel's hand to pull himself over to a more shallow area of the water since he was having a hard time at getting there on his own. His clothes were much too weighed down. As soon as he was satisfied with where he was he let go of Axel's hand and proceeded to shake himself dry as if he were an animal, right beside the Heartless.

"Charming." Axel raised a hand to save himself from a few of the flying droplets. "C'mere." He grabbed Roxas by his sleeve and yanked him over into a cuddling embrace. "Ahh, warmth." Although Axel was still more naturally warm, Roxas was far warmer than the water they stood in. "You're soaked," Axel pointed out and laughed as if it were something new. "You look adorable when you're wet and grumpy." He couldn't resist giving Roxas a few kisses here and there.

Roxas leaned away from the few kisses he was given if only because they were ticklish along with the bits of water that still ran down his skin. "You think I look adorable no matter what I'm doing." A small smile came over his face after his words and he turned his head to give Axel a quick kiss. Small drops of water fell from the tip of his nose while he did to be included in the press of lips, but he didn't seem to mind which was obvious by his quiet laughter as he pulled away. "See? It's fun to play in the water."

"Mmm, I'm more of a lounge on the sand in the sun kind of guy. It's warmer." Axel cuddled Roxas closer, slipping his hands under the boy's shirt to get at the warm skin underneath. "But I suppose the rare occasional romp in the water can't hurt." He pointed out to the water, dark as it reflected the sky. "It looks like the moon is out now."

Roxas turned his attention away from Axel to look out towards the sky. It was true. The sun had finally, completely left and in its place was a bright full moon along with stars which speckled along various places. It seemed that they had been playing around for a while. Roxas couldn't help staring at the sight. He was used to sunny days, or endless nights with a moon shaped like a heart that had yet to be completed. It seemed that he was still getting used to normalcy.

"You were right." Roxas started to speak again quietly as he continued to stare. "It really is beautiful." His gaze traveled away from the moon and to the stars which he tried to count one by one in his head with no real luck. "Even better when it's a reality." His smile grew a bit.

Fingers ran through Roxas' sopping hair, brushing back the blonde mess. Axel rested his head on Roxas'. "It's beautiful because you're here, to see it." Axel chuckled after such sappy romantic words left him. But it couldn't be helped. Being with Roxas on such a perfect night made him believe each cheesy phrase that wanted to leave him. With Roxas the water didn't seem so wet and unpleasant to stand in; the air didn't seem so cold on his damp skin. "... You always made everything more bearable, more beautiful, when you were around, Roxas." Axel moved just enough so he could look down at Roxas' face. "Organization XIII, being a Heartless in a human world... You always made me feel like there was a reason to exist. In one form or another." He brushed a trickling droplet from Roxas' temple that fell from his hair.

Roxas had turned his gaze back on Axel during the Heartless' words and found that his breath was soon caught in his throat. He hadn't expected such a sudden speech from Axel and it easily had Roxas blushing a little in a bit of shy embarrassment. After everything that happened, he still didn't understand how Axel could say such things when he still felt so guilty for so much. "I'm nothing great..." He finally mumbled out as he glanced away off to the side, feeling too shocked to say much else. "You're the one that always tried the most out of the two of us..."

Axel turned Roxas' gaze back at him with a few fingers at his cheek. "You cried for me, when you thought I died... No one has ever cried for me. Not even you in my previous life." He stroked Roxas' cheek with a thumb. "It means everything, even forgiveness." He touched his forehead to Roxas'. "We can forget all the hurt. Start again."

Roxas stared right back into Axel's eyes after the words. Without responding he was quick to close the space between them and crush his lips against Axel's own as he wrapped his arms around the other's neck. He didn't care at all about how soaked either of them still were at the moment. He just wanted to keep reminding himself that this was real and that Axel was right. They really did have the chance to start over just as they had been trying. Axel gave a soft sound in the kiss, bruising Roxas' lips for a moment before his kiss became gentler. He rubbed Roxas' arms, trying to assure what worry he could feel in the other's heart, while trying to warm him from the cold night air as well. He kissed Roxas a few more times, soft and affectionate, giving a playful tug to Roxas' bottom lip after. Axel gave a slight smile when he parted from Roxas' lips. "Let's go sit on the beach. I'll cheat and make us a blanket to sit on."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Roxas was quick to agree. As much as he didn't mind staying huddled near Axel, he was also still shivering despite the other's warmth. It would have been best to just get away from the water completely. Roxas dropped his hands and linked them with Axel's own to pull the Heartless higher up across the sand so they could find a decent spot.

It wasn't long before Axel chose them a spot and called up a blanket with a snap of his fingers. He sat down on it, kicking off his now soaking boots. He rubbed his legs and gave a shivering sound. Now that he was out of the water he could heat himself up with his own unnaturally warm temperature; though it didn't help that his clothes were soaking wet. "Maybe I should make us a fire too. If I'm not too water logged to still create fire." Axel gave a weak laugh as he rubbed his arms next.

Roxas had plopped himself down on the blanket as well and removed his hoodie and sneakers only. Despite the rest of his clothes being drenched, he still didn't think it smart to take any more then that off. "You could try it." He couldn't help grinning at Axel's words, finding the entire situation still a little amusing. "We're not going to get dry any quicker otherwise and it probably won't be very fun to sit on the train ride home like this."

Steam rose from Axel's arms; it would be better if he had no water on them to interfere with his attempt. "Man... I hate water." He summoned one of his chakram from the trailing tattoo down his arm. He kept it fairly small, nearly half its size. It spun lazily before Axel as he rubbed his hands, trying to warm them up. "Always so wet." He flared his hands and the chakram spun quickly until it sparked black flame that carried and gathered atop it. The weapon soon slowed, a camp fire of sorts burning on top of it as it spun lazily. Axel shooed the weapon to hover near the bottom of the blanket. "I'm completely cheating today." Axel gave a guilty grin as he stuck out his hands to get warmed by the black fire.

"Nothing wrong with that at the moment," Roxas smirked as he responded to Axel's words. He held out his own hands near the flames as well as allowing his feet to draw near to warm them also. The entire time his eyes watched the weapon before they trailed back to the flames, entranced and comforted much the same way he would be whenever he used his own new blades. The feeling caused him to smile a little and he leaned against Axel while he continued to watch the fire flicker. "My day started to go so downhill, but, you've managed to make me forget about everything else. I feel a lot better..."

Axel pulled Roxas onto his lap, combining body heat for extra warmth. "Good. I'm glad I could." He hugged Roxas from behind, enjoying the heat given off the warm body over the fire, even if Roxas' clothes were still soaking. "Now you and your friends can come to the beach whenever you want to. You can slip off to have a day in the sun on the weekends, no need to wait till summer again. A nice break from home work." He rubbed Roxas' arms, trying to warm the other up as well.

Roxas easily cuddled back against Axel's chest while he wiggled his toes which were dangling near the sand. "And you can come with us, except next time I promise that I won't yank you into the water. You can sunbathe as much as you want." He glanced back at Axel. "Pence and Olette really have taken a liking to you, which is good, because I don't think I can handle all of my friends bitching to me about you and how much of a punk you are." He grinned.

"Those two are far more easy going. Olette is a kinky romantic and Pence is just happy that I'm making a grump like you so happy." Axel rolled up Roxas' sleeves but then thought better of it. "Here, take off your shirt and I'll make us another blanket." He gave that a second thought, glancing across the long stretch of abandoned sand. "Actually, you could take off all of your wet clothes off. There's no one here but you and me. You can put them near the fire to get dry."

Roxas grinned at the suggestion. "You're just trying to find a reason to get my clothes off." Still, he didn't waste any time in squirming in Axel's hold to rid himself of the rest of his wet clothing. Where he had placed his hoodie the rest of his clothes were soon to follow with his socks falling on the pile last. With all of his clothes off Roxas couldn't stop his teeth from chattering despite being near the fire.

"I would never do something so under handed." Axel relieved himself of his damp clothes as well, tossing them by the fire. He called up a blanket to pull over his shoulders. He pulled the chattering Roxas close, consuming him in the large blanket as well. It was so much nicer and warmer without the obstruction of cold, damp clothing. "Mmm, see, isn't this better."

Roxas' teeth stopped their chattering almost instantly. The combined heat that he usually got from just being so close to Axel along with the large blanket did help. "Much better," he nearly purred the words as he cuddled closer to the Heartless and turned his eyes away from the fire to look up at the stars again. "What do you think will happen now?" He couldn't help the question from leaving him. "Despite what happened with Riku and Sora there are still the other Organization members. You think they'll forget about us?"

Axel gave a sound between surprised and thoughtful. He hadn't expected Roxas to bring all that up. But the future was something they now had to consider. "Honestly? I doubt they ever will. But, who knows, maybe Sora and Riku will take a few of them out." He rubbed Roxas' sides, and rested his head on the boy's shoulder. "But the computer itself is guarded by my Heartless. If I can infiltrate a world like that mouse's, I think we're pretty safe." Axel gave a brief chuckle. "With luck they'll never find us, and they'll move off onto other things. And we'll be left to our own devices here for the rest of our lives." He touched a lingering kiss to Roxas' bare shoulder.

Roxas smiled and turned his attention away from the stars so he could give Axel a quick kiss on the cheek. "I hope so, but you're probably right. There's no way the others could get to us. We were safe when you brought me here before, besides, they're all too obsessed with Ikurx to worry over much else at the moment." He turned his gaze away again to look out at the water. It took a little longer for him to speak again, but his voice was distant. "I wonder if Demyx is okay..."

"He is," Axel was quiet to answer. "I can feel it. Ikurx, he's taking care of him." He let out a quiet breath. "Hopefully Demyx will take care of Ikurx, too. He's a good kid, despite where he's from. Hopefully none of the others get their hands on him. Everything could go to hell if someone like Saïx gets a hold of him." His mood sobered as his mind considered all the loose ends they'd left. Issues he hadn't considered, and debated bringing up right there and then. But it was their first day here, Axel wasn't sure he wanted to complicate things more than they turned out. "They'll always be after Ikurx... as long as he or Riku exists."

Roxas gave a weak laugh at that, but it felt a little forced. "It'll be never-ending then I suppose. Of course..." He trailed off for a few minutes as he thought over his next words. "It's all up to Ikurx if he ever wants anything to do with Riku or if he just wants to be his own person. After what happened I think he despises Riku as much as he's allowed to. You're right... he's better off staying near Demyx." His toes pushed at a bit of sand as they stuck out from the blanket. "It's always troubling... to be a Nobody." He couldn't help but sympathize with Ikurx since he had once been in such a predicament himself.

Axel nodded in agreement. "Doubtful that Ikurx can help himself like he did you. It's lose lose, in a sense." One of his hands sought Roxas', running his long fingers over the other's that were so much smaller than his. "Although, Roxas... there's a few things that we have over looked, and need to consider."

Roxas blinked his eyes away from where they had fallen down to his toes. "Things?" His attention turned immediately on Axel and he couldn't help the instinct to tighten his hand around Axel's own. "Like what kind of things?" He rested his head down on his knees which only caused his still wet hair to try and cover an eye. "I thought everything was okay, for us, at least."

"Well..." Axel was hesitant to continue. "They are... but... you have to consider, nothing lasts forever. You're human now." He brushed the wet messy strands of hair from Roxas' face. "You'll age, grow up. And that's great." Axel gave a small laugh. "I'll still love you even when you're a grumpy old salt, yelling at the kids to get off your lawn. But," he brushed a few strands more off Roxas' face, keeping his hand at the boy's cheek, "Heartless don't age. We're just tools of the Darkness. And... I don't know." Axel glanced away, dismayed. "I don't know if I can just sit back and watch you d-... leave." Axel swallowed; an unnecessary gesture for a Heartless, though his true form was disguised. "... Your friends... your world... I suppose it wouldn't be all that hard to program 'aging' into it."

Roxas felt like his insides had turned to ice at the sudden subject. Getting older wasn't something he had ever thought about. As a Nobody it wasn't something to worry over. You were only a shell of your former self. Age ranked right up there with feelings. It didn't matter. Yet, the subject was right here, brought out into the open, now that he was suddenly human.

Roxas gave a shaky laugh as he tried to answer. "Geez Axel, I'm only sixteen. It's not that big a deal..." The words sounded hollow to his ears though, and his smile fell before he turned his head to look back out at the water. "One of the cons of finally being human, I guess. Not everything can be perfect. There's not much I can really do about it..." He looked back down at the fire that continued to warm them as the thoughts started to trouble him as well.

Axel's hold around Roxas tightened, as if time had gone by so quickly and his human would turn to dust there and then. "It doesn't matter what I am, I know your feelings wouldn't change. It's still me. But... if it means I can't grow old with you, that we both can't be cranky old amorous men together," his laugh was small and sad, "then... I don't want to be what I am. I wouldn't be able to stand by and never age a day as you got older and then..." His voice petered off. "That would just be too cruel, Roxas. I'm sorry... I should have thought of all this sooner."

Roxas' stomach dropped a little at those words. Under the blanket he rested his hands on top of Axel's arms and ran fingers along tattoos that he could find by memory instead of sight. His touches more gentle then they usually were. "But...we're already here, Axel. We've already decided that this is how things are going to be." He spoke just as quietly, "you already said that you were going to let Ikurx stay with Demyx. Besides..." His voice lowered, "it's dangerous."

Axel's head rested on Roxas' shoulder again, burying his nose and lips against the small, and what suddenly seemed now to him, fragile shoulder. He cussed himself inside for not thinking about this problem first before jumping straight into their happy little ending. Paradise would run forever, it would out last Roxas, but being a Heartless, Axel would out last it. The computer would eventually tire from being on for so long with the program continuously running on its out dated system. It would lag, and soon shut down, and the world here would cease to exist.

Axel shut his eyes tighter, shaking his head against Roxas' shoulder. "... You can stay here." the words barely left Axel. "I'll just ask that one favour from Ikurx."

"B-But..." Roxas started to stutter at first. This was all so sudden and he couldn't think of the right words to say. Finally, his eyes narrowed and his usual quick temper caught up to him at how reckless Axel always was. "Idiot, even if you are able to become human the Organization will come after you because they always find Ikurx afterwards." He shook his head from side to side. "I can't let you go walking to your death like that." His eyes narrowed further.

Axel tilted his head up, just a little so he could crack the slightest of grins up at Roxas. "You will." He placed a quick kiss to Roxas' lips before he had time to answer. "Because you love me." Of all times to be a smart-aleck.

Roxas only huffed at those words, but didn't protest much. This was the only way Axel would get what he wanted and no amount of arguing on Roxas' part was going to stop him. It didn't mean he couldn't try. He was stubborn like that. "You aren't going to let me go with you, are you?"

Axel simply shook his head. "No. Hayner would never forgive either of us if you left again." He sat up straight. "Actually he probably never forgave me from the start. And I can't take you away just right after you got back. This is your home." He placed either of his hands on Roxas' cheeks. "You have some place to belong." He brushed Roxas' cheeks with his thumbs. "And I want the heart I have to beat for you. Just like yours."

Roxas placed his hands on top of Axel's own while he leaned forward to rest his forehead against the other's. "You better come back," the words were spoken childishly and almost held the same desperate tone like he had spoken in the street of the dark city. His voice lowered and his hands closed tighter around the Heartless' own. "Promise you'll come back?"

Axel felt a sad sort of smile tug on his lips. He pressed a quick little kiss of assurance on Roxas' lips. "I always come back. I promise, this time, I'll come back again." He tried to smile just a little more. "But... I don't have to leave just yet. You're just sixteen. It isn't like you're sixteen going on ninety. We did just get here. It would be horrible to just run off so soon." His thumb brushed against Roxas' cheek. "I want to enjoy all this for a bit longer."

A relieved look came over Roxas' face at that. He let his hands fall away so he could wrap his arms around Axel's neck and press even closer to the Heartless. "Good, because I'm not willing to let you go away just yet." He smiled a little. "Besides, we still have school to deal with first. I'm sure you'll find it incredibly boring, but you'll survive."

"I don't remember ever going to school." Axel kept Roxas close, smiling a little himself. "But considering all we've gone through, I think boring will be a refreshing change of pace. Although I'm sure you'll keep it interesting for me." Axel nosed near Roxas' ear. "School seems almost pointless, but, I'm sure it'll be an experience one way or another. I'm sure there are reasons why you like it."

"It will probably just be another excuse to be around my friends and you." Roxas playfully bit Axel's ear in return before he continued speaking. "I'm not really sure. All I remember of school is Olette talking about some work we had due and that was it. That doesn't really make it seem so enjoyable otherwise." He thought over it and shrugged. "Sora went to school when he went back to the island, but, by that time I was pretty dormant. So, I didn't pay attention to much." His smile returned. "It will be an experience for the both of us."

Axel grinned more, drawing just a few fingers down Roxas' bare spine, lingering before it drew back up. "I know there are teachers and desks. Hmm, I think I look a tad bit older than you. But I don't want to be in any class without you." He traced meaningless lines over Roxas' skin, over shoulder blades. "I want to sit beside you. Pass silly notes to you during lectures. A few love notes." He gave a playful kiss to the tip of Roxas' nose, smiling after. "Maybe?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can work out something." Roxas couldn't hide his grin. It was hard for him not to shiver under the quick touches to his skin and in the end he let out a small content noise. "It wouldn't be any fun if we couldn't do any of that. We'll probably end up being the worst trouble makers in class, but it's nothing new for you and you've gone beyond bad influence." His grin grew after the teasing words before he pressed a kiss to Axel's lips.

"Mmm, most likely, definitely. I have no doubt." Axel pressed another kiss. "I'll make you cut class, make you forget to do you homework, just because I'll want you all for myself." One of his hands slipped between them, drawing along Roxas' chest slowly before it drew a small heart. "But I think I deserve a little privilege. Heh, our teachers will think I'm a bad seed, poisoning such a sweet nice boy." Axel's hand drew up to Roxas' shoulder, following down the boy's arm. "With such potential to be the greatest shoe salesmen in all of Twilight Town." He bit his lip to stifle his laughter as he twined their fingers together.

Roxas used his free hand to pull on a few strands of Axel's hair for the comment, but still he ended up laughing as well. "Well, at least we know that we'll never be bored." He leaned in once more and bit at Axel's bottom lip playfully before he pulled back to speak again. "Besides, no one knows that I'm not such a nice, sweet boy anymore. Never was." He moved down to rest his head against Axel's chest, almost burying himself under the blanket while he nuzzled the other's neck at the same time.

Axel pulled the blankets near, tight around them both. He gave a pleased sigh, now warm in their little blanket cocoon; the memory of cold water furthest now from his mind. He gave a soft laugh. "Oh I don't know. You seem pretty nice," He ran a finger along the rim of Roxas' ear, "and especially sweet to me. So kind, innocent, kind to all, a big heart. Not selfish or bratty at all."

"Hmm..." Roxas made a low noise deep in the back of his throat. "Have you been hanging around a different Roxas?" He couldn't help but tease while he shut his eyes and got even more comfortable. "I seem to remember completely different words coming from your mouth when we first saw each other again. Apparently I was an apathetic bastard." Despite his own words he smirked.

"Funny how we can go from one extreme to another. That's the funny thing about the heart: it can go from one extreme emotion to another. Hate to love. Bitterness to affection." Axel let his gaze wander from Roxas to the glimmering inky water before them. There was a tint of dark blue unlike Demyx's home; which they had left to the dogs. "Anger makes you do strange things... But love makes you do even stranger things." Axel ran his fingers through Roxas' drying hair. "It makes you get up after you've been kicked down, ready to take another punch." He fell silent, eyes rising to the stars; did each one have a name? "... Sometimes I wonder... had I said those few words sooner, would it have turned out better than this?"

Roxas tensed up at those thoughts, but he didn't pull away. His eyes opened, staring at nothing but the edge of the blanket he was huddled under. "They had no chance of being said sooner. We were always stuck in a loop of being told that we weren't allowed to feel. Friendship was the only thing we could really grab onto and even that was rocky." He shut his eyes once more and tried to relax again. "You can't really think too much about what ifs. They'll make you go insane. We have what we wanted and all because we can finally feel."

Axel lifted a hand to try and rub subtly at his eyes. His Nobody had done so much and received so little. He felt bad for him, insane because it was still himself. Roxas was right, it was maddening to ponder 'what if's. But it was all he had before; it was his reason as he was now, a Heartless, to implore for his old what ifs.

But Axel didn't say anymore on it. He just rested his head on Roxas', and tried not to think on anymore of it, despite his natural instincts as a Heartless. He just hugged that heart which was his but never to be the Darkness', while his own true heart never beat. "... I love you," he murmured against Roxas' hair and indeed left it at that.


	35. Chapter 35

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 35

Not a piece on the board moved in their twisted game of love and loathing for both self and other. No one dare moved since Axel disappeared into the portal minutes ago, with Sora's blessing, to the Darkness to save his everything.

Riku remained a distant structure, a cold visage, staring at nothing with his mind dislocated and his heart forgotten. Sora stayed furthest from him, eyes pinned at where the portal had now long disappeared.

It was Ikurx who made the first movement, once again, in what was left of their dismal scene. He crawled back to Demyx, clumsy with his keychain clutched tightly in his hand. Once there he clung to Demyx, staying a barrage between the Heartless and everyone else in the room; despite the swaying bodyguards of water that still remained. Ikurx wanted to plead for Demyx to wake up, to take them away, but Riku's presence stole any bravery or energy to speak his voice.

It was once again as it had been before the eruption of raw fighting emotion had come between them all; a stalemate. Though this one was far more morose; a heavy weight on hearts, even for those who had none.

It was Riku who broke their silence, with a grave distant voice announcing. "... He's safe now."

With those words Sora was quick to snap his head back around to look towards the source they came from. After everything that happened that same look of betrayal came over his face that had been there moments ago. He didn't know how else to feel over what he had seen in the small room they were in. "Why...?" The one word left Sora's lips in a cold breath before he could stop it while he kept his eyes on Riku the entire time.

A quiet groan beside Ikurx was the only thing that stopped the question from being answered. The body that had once been still twitched before glowing eyes opened only barely, but closed just as quickly. Still the actions seemed to rouse the dancing water around and the clones finally fell to the floor with a splash as Demyx's concentration was used more on trying to move then keeping them around.

Ikurx's trembling hand fell to place fingertips on Demyx's lips to silence him. He didn't want to draw attention to them anymore than what had been done; although it was too late. Ikurx went about slipping his arms around Demyx's shoulders, lifting him from the ground as gently as he could, propping him up against himself to sit as comfortably as was able. "Sh-shhh." His eyes couldn't have been wider, despite his warnings such farce relief washed over him that Demyx was conscious now.

Riku ignored the interruption, he could feel Sora's desperate gaze on him that demanded an answer with no procrastination or delays.

And so Sora received the truth he desired; frigid and quiet. "... He deserved it."

Sora shook his head back and forth at such an answer. He couldn't believe Riku's words. "He didn't deserve it at all!" Sora shouted before he had the nerve to stop himself and a small hiss followed along with his voice which was near threatening. "I didn't deserve that, Riku! _We_ didn't deserve any of that!" He blinked still glowing eyes hard which had yet to return to their dulled out color. "You were supposed to help me..." His voice finally cracked. "Not hurt me..."

"Oh, but you hurt me, Sora. You cut me deep without consciously knowing it." Just as quickly as the bitter emotion in Riku's even words came, it went. Monotony returned to his voice. "You hate me _and_ yourself. You hate yourself so much that you left us both. No amount of love would ever bring you back. So... why bother?" There was a loose shrug of shoulders beneath Riku's thick hooded coat. "We had our happiness. But you could never love enough to stay mine," the bitterness slipped back into his voice, like sharp infectious venom. "Now you're gone. You've left me with a shadow of the Sora I remember. You took your light and love and you've given it to someone else." The crinkle of glove came as Riku's fingers curled into tight fists. "... Someone else is touching you, kissing you, taking every little intimate piece that should be _mine_. That's 'why'. Because we're damned in all directions, Sora." Riku thrusted out his hand and gestured to 'all' with a splay of angry fingers. "... Nothing I've ever done was good enough for anyone, least of all to _you_." Of course that 'you' wasn't Sora, it was Roxas.

Each word cut deep into Sora. To have Riku say such things after everything they would say to each other; after so many words of comfort and so long together. It hurt in so many ways and as a Heartless Sora could easily show that anguish better then anything else as black tears streaked down his face, but were barely seen amidst his darkness. "I never wanted any of this to happen, Riku. I-I couldn't control him. I couldn't control Roxas... but that doesn't mean I don't... that I..." He closed his mouth, not able to say what he wanted. It just wasn't there, as if the words weren't in his vocabulary any longer. All he could do was hang his head and claw at the wooden floor, leaving marks.

"But I bet you can hate me." Riku interrupted with far sharper words.

Sora flinched which only caused tears to drip onto the floor. He didn't want to answer such a harsh question. After everything Riku had done he was afraid of what he might say. He hung his head lower and without answering, he spoke on quietly. "It's not my fault. I don't like feeling like this. I hate feeling hollow and empty. As if all the happiness has been sucked right out of me..." He finally raised his head, but his gaze was past Riku instead of on the other teen. "Why would I _want_ this? Why would I do this to us?"

"... Because you love Axel." The hatred in Riku's words was echoed by the sudden frenzy his shadow twisted, like a tormented soul, about his feet.

Sora's eyes finally returned to Riku at those words and he couldn't help the narrowed gaze he gave the one person that he had always known to be his friend and more. "No I don't!" He almost growled, but instead, a quiet hiss left him. His aggravation was apparent with such words and the entire situation in general. "H-How could you even say that? Just because..." His claws tightened into fists on his knees. "Riku, you're stupid!"

"You were always so childish, Sora. You never wanted to face reality... playing with wooden swords, believing that on a tiny wooden raft we'd see mystical worlds with but a jar of fresh water and a coconut thinking that was enough rations for three." Riku's scoff was dry and disbelieving. "It's time to grow up Sora. It's time to stop believing in 'once upon a times' and 'happily ever afters'." His hand went to his hood that was still up, giving the edge a tug. "... Your half could never love me, just like mine could never love you."

Sora's eyes widened at those last few words and he suddenly felt cold. More then usual. The darkness around him shifted to move around him in some twisted form of comfort, but all it did was make him feel even worse then he did at that very moment. His gaze shifted over to Ikurx for a brief second, watching the Nobody with pained eyes, before he quickly let his gaze fall back down to the floor. He had nothing to say to any of that. The hurtful words were too much.

"... S-Sora," Ikurx's voice shook hard, some form of feigned fear. "... I'm... I- I never wanted to hurt you. You've-you did...-did mean so much to." He was so hesitant to use 'me' as a tense. Riku was so very different than himself; yet some how in some perverse sense they were the same. They were two different identities. Ikurx couldn't speak for Riku anymore than Riku do the same for him. Why did it all have to be such a needlessly lost cause? "... I never knew... anything." The love and hate that criss crossed each other, it was so hard to see where one ended and the other started. "I wish I could feel. To some how make up for what he- I, we, have done. But I can't. I can't love anything." Ikurx slowly shook his head, letting it hang low; but there was no disappointment to feel either. "And I can't really hate. I can only give what I don't have: unity." He rested his head atop of Demyx's. But soon Ikurx's eyes fell on his other half. "... Reality can only take us so far. Reality is like the sun, you fly too close and it'll burn you, and you'll fall. Dreaming is how we conceived the idea to fly to begin with."

"Pretty talk for an empty half," Riku's words were callous. "Empty passion. How sad."

Ikurx didn't look hurt by the cruel words; he indeed had no heart to feel no pang. Although that probably hurt more. But not much else began to matter anymore; for all of them. "... I may not have a heart, but I pity you. You're emptier with a heart, than I am without one." He then went back trying to rouse Demyx back into consciousness, with gentle shakes and pats to the cheek. He could feel Riku's growing rage, the shadows growing and twisting at his feet, but the cloaked teen made no movement from where he stood.

Demyx responded to each try Ikurx gave at waking him. His eyes fluttered open and shut every now and then and he continued to give annoyed groans at being pestered. He was perfectly happy with just laying there as he was after being stabbed by a keyblade, but he knew Ikurx wouldn't be satisfied unless he got some form of response. "I'm fine..." The words were hoarse, but all the same they were spoken.

Sora continued to tremble even after everything said. His mind was vaguely aware of the fact Demyx had actually woken up and spoken, but he just didn't care. His own mind was a very fragile thing at the moment. Caught between control and completely giving into the darkness that had a hold of him now that he just wasn't himself. He just couldn't take it anymore. Why did he always have to be the strong one? "It may be empty, Riku..." He started out quietly, but his voice was harsher then it ever had been. "But at least he tries."

Those words caused Ikurx to stare at Sora. There was something terribly sad about him receiving a compliment while his other half was scorned. Something very pathetic.  
Ikurx held Demyx's shoulders a little tighter. He refrained from speaking or moving again. Demyx spoke and was conscious, which was enough for Ikurx for now.

Finally, like some unnatural shadow, Riku's cloaked figure turned to face Sora. The hood still casted dark to cover his face save for all below his nose. But Sora could feel Riku's gaze even if his eyes could not be seen; as warm and kind as a frozen waste land. There were no more smiles that were meant just for Sora anymore; that along with their carefree laughter had been left on their island. "... It seems even the brightest light can be snuffed out."

Those words were the final snap on Sora's mind and it was obvious by the way the darkness lashed at the air around him. A low growl emitted from him that was only echoed around the room. In an instant he was launching himself off the floor from his legs to move as fast as he could towards Riku. The look on his face wasn't one of hatred, but only one of pure hurt and despair. Claws were out as if ready to strike, but the instant Sora reached Riku both hands were only used to rip down the hood on Riku's cloak. "It shouldn't matter! None of that should matter, Riku!" He nearly screamed at the other boy. "So many times I forgave you! Why can't I get the same in return?! Why?!" His voice choked on the last shout and he nearly fell back down since his body couldn't hold him upright.

Without the obstruction of hood, dull oceanic eyes were revealed but kept on Sora, narrowing now that the light hit them, hurt them. Riku grabbed Sora at his sides, keeping him on two legs for the moment. He pulled Sora nearer, ignoring he was letting his face near such dark, wild creature's. "... You never forgave me for defeating you." He leaned closer to Sora, ignoring the distraught spasms that still left the Heartless boy. "... For bringing you to that farce world, to distract you as Naminé re-arranged your memories to put you back together again." Riku's arm held Sora to free his other, taking the edge of Sora's scarf to tug it down; no more barriers between them. "... I talked to you while you were in that white chamber. I waited for you while you slept. I cried and begged for you to come back. Love never convinced your other half to come back. Darkness did. And it woke you up." Riku's voice fell to a jaded whisper since now they were so unbearably near. Pain for the memory flitted through Riku's stoic expression. "... I waited a year for you, Sora, a year, a year to forever if I hadn't forced Roxas back. So don't ever try to say I don't 'try' for you."

"I'm not Roxas!" Sora couldn't help shouting the words back in utter frustration and defeat. "I'm Sora! S-O-R-A!" He choked on more tears as he stared into dull eyes that were just as broken as his own. "What he does, what he did, has no bearing on what I've done or what I choose to do! Just... just because I tried to help you... to help Kairi... I was forced to deal with this! To deal with the punishment of having another half!" His eyes shut halfway and it seemed as if all his sudden energy drained from him in an instant. His legs shook from standing upright for so long even with Riku's tight hold. "I-It's not my fault, Riku. And I'm still so very scared..."

"R-O-X-A-S. His name is your name, Sora, re-arranged. It's all the same at its core." Riku's gloved fingers touched Sora's cheek, mocking the usually tender action, brushing through the dark tears but never brushing them away. "I can't help you... if you won't help yourself." Riku leaned forward and bridged that small gap between them to touch his lips to Sora's; it was hard to tell whose lips were colder. This was nothing like their warm and playful kisses, each one that held those three words each time lips were pressed. This was a kiss shared by two dark creatures, with no heart, no love, between them. "... So unsalvageable now, Roxas." Riku drew his arms away from Sora, letting go; in more ways than one, of all the little broken pieces of themselves.

Sora didn't even try to hold on or cling to Riku as he was dropped. He fell easily back down to the floor as trembling legs gave out on him and he was forced to use both hands and knees to keep himself from falling on his face. Wide eyes stared down at the floor between them, but it wasn't long before they shut tightly to try and block out everything around. There was nothing left to say and he was just sick of fighting it.

Demyx was gently set down once more so a pale and blood splattered Nobody could crawl over to Sora's side. Despite better instinct to not go near either, especially Riku, Ikurx was driven forward.

A gentle hand ran through Sora's dark hair, petting along his head to try and sooth the despair; as useless as placing a band-aid on a wound that needed sutchers. But it was that part of Riku in Ikurx that always tried even when hope was useless; the part that always failed. But what light Riku had lost was in Ikurx; however small it was.

A long shaky breath left Ikurx. "... I exist... because he loves you. He gave up on himself, to save you." His hand fell to brush away what dark tears he could on Sora's cheeks, soon lifting up the Heartless boy's head, cupping his cheek sincerely. "I'm proof that the hopeless can have hope and that you mean everything to him. Even though he's, I , we're far apart... we'll always be together." Ikurx rested his other hand on Sora's other cheek even though it still held the keychain. He leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Sora's forehead. Despite all their horrors, angst, and conflict, Ikurx leaned back to smile at Sora; perhaps being a Nobody meant that none of it could scar your heart to hinder a smile in the bleakest of hour. "... We're all under the same sky. Remember?"

Sora wiped a quick claw under both his eyes to get rid of the tears that still fell. He blinked up at Ikurx after the action as he let the words run along in his mind. It was strange to be comforted by one half, when the other seemed to suddenly detest him so much. Still, staring into those same eyes that were more welcoming then what Riku's had become, Sora couldn't help taking comfort in the words. He could still feel the tears falling but it didn't stop him from falling forward to bury himself against Ikurx and clinging so tightly. He gave a small nod before a hoarse response came from him because of all his earlier shouting. "Yes... I remember..."

Ikurx wasted no time in hugging Sora, always willing to offer a kind comforting embrace to those who needed it most; like he had Demyx in that alley. Despite Sora's Heartless form there was something that felt so very right holding him, near, and tightly in his arms. Sora fit so perfectly in his arms; it made so many lost pieces click into place. But this wasn't his, not for the half, Ikurx the Nobody, but Riku the full Somebody.  
Ikurx pitied Riku more, for having so much yet always thinking he had so little. He pitied Roxas who wanted nothing but his own identity. He was a lot like Riku, always thinking they had to fight to get what they wanted; hating more and loving less.

Ikurx wondered if he could ever go back to Riku, if only for Sora's sake. Sora; who meant more than the countless lives of others to Riku. The light and purpose to any and everything. It would mean curing a dark insanity that spread in Riku, and ending a terrible cat and mouse game that Ikurx had with the Organization.  
But- at the same time, it meant leaving Mister Demyx, who never had anyone. He'd given so much to Axel, and at the same time he'd allowed Axel to be with the someone that wasn't him.  
But what good was a friend who couldn't feel.

Ikurx glanced at Demyx before he rested his head on Sora's. "... You'll never be alone. Not you, Sora. Ever."

Those words only caused Sora to cling tighter if only because they were hard to believe. He was sure that at any moment the only person that wanted to be close to him would be ripped away from him and the final link that he had with Riku would be torn away. The words he had spoken earlier were true. He really was still scared of everything. He would never be himself again and the person that had been by his side had finally given up on him. He was never meant to be a hero. He was only a boy.

Demyx watched the scene while propped against the wall. It was hard to tell what to do any longer. The one person that most of the Organization had a strong dislike for was being held by the Nobody that was needed by them all. Demyx wasn't sure how to respond to it, especially not with Riku in the room. All he could do was stare with a concerned expression, especially after Ikurx glanced at him.

"I can help." Ikurx pet his hand down Sora's hair. "I can bring back just a little of what you've lost, what I've taken away. Maybe make up for what I've done to you." He frowned just a little at how desperately Sora clung to him. "I can bring Her back for you, Sora." Ikurx tried to look at Sora's face. The Heartless' dark tears had seeped into his pale shirt, but Ikurx didn't notice or care.

Riku's stoic figure finally moved, going rigid with what Ikurx suggested. His form tensed, and he turned just enough to stare down coolly at the two huddled on the floor. "... Kairi." Such intense jealous and guilt washed over him at her name; it flooded his senses with its intensity. It seemed his half was taking life, while his other was giving it back; bitter irony.

"Kairi..." Sora echoed the same name while he finally pulled away from Ikurx. His claws still clung tightly to the Nobody's shirt, but his face could be seen better. "She was angry at me." The quiet words were spoken with more sadness then usual. "I-It was my fault that she was hurt..." He shook his head back and forth. "If you can bring her back then won't she just continue to feel all of that? I'll just keep hurting her..."

"I- I don't know." Ikurx didn't remember Kairi as strongly as Sora. There was always such a bitter feeling, a sour taste in the back of his throat when he thought of her and heard her name. "She's your friend. Friends forgive you." He rested a hand over Sora's, trying to assure him some how.

Riku cut in with a scoff. "Then let her stay dead, Sora. If you think pining over you is worse than death, let her continue to stay a dead pretty butterfly under a pin on the wall." He narrowed his eyes, pinning Sora down with his gaze. "... Or you can go run off to live with her. Happily ever after. That's what you two always wanted. The perfect little couple. Pretty girl and happy boy; the way it _should_ be."

Sora's hand clenched under Ikurx's own. "I don't want that..." He continued to speak quietly, but his eyes had hardened. Finally, he turned his head and met Riku's gaze again, trying his best to be brave as he stared up at the other teen. He remembered a hazy memory, covered up by the darkness, that wanted to take his him completely, and knew it was something that had made them both happy at one point. "She's not the one I shared the most important thing with, Riku, but she is our friend. J-Just because I can't give her what she wants doesn't mean she deserves death..." He trailed off quietly.

Riku was quick to crouch down, perching on the balls of his feet beside Sora. He took the Heartless' chin with but a few fingers, making Sora face him. He kept Sora's gaze with his own. "Then say it." Those simple few words that Sora had always said without hesitation, meaning every word so deeply but with such a light cheerful smile on his face. Those few words could make or break them now.

Sora kept wide eyes on Riku after the demand. He didn't try to pull back while he tried so hard to get his mouth to move. "I... I..." He bit down rather hard on his bottom lip causing blackness to seep through his skin. He only gave a flinch at the pain before he looked at Riku with sorrowful eyes. "I can't." He tore his hands away from where they were near Ikurx to grab onto Riku instead. "I'm sorry, Riku... I just can't and I don't know why." He just felt so hollow inside.

So that was that then. Sora couldn't love, and what had been a brilliant light was now nothing but despair and dark trepidation. They were truly lost.  
Riku's head lowered in sorrowed disappointment.

"You have a heart" Ikurx quietly spoke up. "You can feel. It doesn't make much sense that you can't love Riku anymore. You're not a Nobody. Heartless-" But his words were choked off as Riku's hand grasped his throat so very tightly. Mercy was one of the few things Riku showed, least of all to himself.

"... You did this. You destroyed what should matter most to 'us'... without a second thought to any of the consequences." Riku didn't watch as Ikurx tried to pry the cold vice grip on his neck, he simply kept his head bowed and squeezed tighter.

Sora watched with a horrified expression on his face that soon only melted into something sad. It was true. In a way Ikurx was to blame for everything. Riku's other half had been the one to split him from Roxas in the first place. He should have been angry at the Nobody for such a thing, and in the back of his mind he did feel a certain hatred try to creep up on him, but the scene before him had him in more of a panic then anything.

"Riku, stop it!" Sora was quick to reach up to try and pry the other's grip off of Ikurx. "Don't hurt him!" It was no real use. The other's grip was much too tight and Sora didn't want to bury his claws into Riku. Even after so many harsh words he still didn't want to hurt the other teen.

A rush of water was the force that pushed Sora back and nearly slamming into the wall before a second burst shot forth to try and hit its mark on Riku to get the unstable teenager to let go of his other half. The source of the blasts came from the other side of the room where Demyx had slid up the wall, using the small puddles on the floor that the clones had left behind as he watched with narrowed eyes.

Riku hadn't expected the hit, his mind too focused on his torment, he'd forgotten about Demyx. In his shock he let go of Ikurx and fell back with the hard jet of water. Ikurx stumbled forward on his arms to the floor with the force of Riku's hand pulled from his throat. He stared wide eyed at Riku and Sora, his hands curling into the water, digging nails into the floor.

"Why did you hit Sora!?" The words flew from Ikurx on impulse as he gawked at Demyx in horror. "He- He was trying to help me!"

Demyx was startled for an instant. He didn't expect the question or to see Ikurx stare at him in such a way. He suddenly felt horrible for it, but he wasn't willing to tell the Nobody the truth of why he hadn't cared about who his attack was aimed at. "They'll both try to hurt you, Ikurx..." They were the only words he spoke and they were spoken quietly.

Sora flinched as he moved around. The rush of water had been strong and had hit him square in his side, nailing him dead on. As he sat up thoughts of retaliation immediately went through his mind as violence was his first instinct. He pushed it all back as soon as he caught sight of Riku on the floor as well and ignored Ikurx to crawl over to the other teen to make sure he was alright as well.

Black water trickled down Ikurx's forehead down his face from his hair as he stared at Demyx. Disbelief had etched itself across the Nobody's face. "S-Sora... would never." Riku yes, but Sora, he just couldn't fathom it. Ikurx turned to watch Sora help Riku. Nothing would result well from Demyx's attack if Ikurx could judge anything by what he'd watched Riku do.

Ikurx clutched his chest; a horrible pain, where his heart should be. Everyone was always hurting everyone else. Why? This wasn't love, this was cruel sadism. "... This isn't right!" Ikurx's voice cracked.

Riku stood up, the dark water rolling off his coat to plip onto the floor, never splashing as it disappeared into his shadow. He raised his hand to wipe his cheek with the side of his hand as his dull eyes set on Demyx. With careful steps he walked towards the Heartless. "So, you care about _my_ Nobody." He verbally brought forth the observation that had been of little interest until now.

Demyx tried to push himself further against the wall while he glared at Riku. He had known the moment he threw an attack at Riku that it was considered suicide, but he hadn't cared. The words spoken to him only caused him to narrow his eyes further as he called forth his sitar in a splash of black water to his side. "I'm the only one that doesn't treat him like he's just some toy to be thrown around."

Sora watched from the floor where Riku had once been with eyes that were only half opened. He silently agreed with Ikurx's desperate shout, but said nothing out loud himself. There was nothing to be done. Riku would never listen to reason any longer.

"Since when has the Organization treated anyone like 'people'," Riku spoke with even distaste. He raised a hand but Way to Dusk didn't appear for him to grasp. No, it was something far more metaphysical this time. It was the very darkness in Demyx's heart, his being at its core which Riku delved into with his power over the darkness. It was so easy, like it had been with Saïx, to control the very essence of a Heartless when they were raw darkness itself. "Since when has the Organization cared for anyone but themselves?" Riku curled his fingers, toying with the darkness he now manipulated in Demyx's still heart. "You died Demyx. You and all the other bastards of that Organization. You think that masking your intentions behind 'sincerity' will hide your greed? You want what my Nobody can do; otherwise you wouldn't care less who or what he was."

Ikurx shook his head, a new look of horror on his face. It was as if Riku's words had drained the energy straight from his bones, his insides, taking with it his memory of how to move. Why wouldn't Riku just stop this- why did he have to hurt everything that mattered? Why did he need to challenge every kind word that was spoken? "N-no! He asked me. He asked! I could have said no!" He finally slammed his fist into the floor boards; he couldn't take this. He couldn't watch a part of himself hurt Demyx, not again. "Stop it! Please-STOP!"

Demyx almost slid back down the wall at the painful and cold feeling that washed over his very being in that instant. He was aware of Riku's harsh words, but it was hard to focus on anything when it felt as if his soul was being tortured from the inside out. One hand clutched tightly around his weapon while the other ran fingers down the wall to support himself. He continued to glare at Riku, but the pain was obvious in his expression. "I don't care about what he can or can't do. He's as much a person as the rest of us. I have nothing to hide at all..."

Much like Ikurx, Sora had enough as well. He had flinched at the Nobody's shouts while his eyes widened once more to the scene. The Organization was their enemy, but still Sora couldn't watch such torture. It was maddening, especially to see such a dead look on Riku's face. Without a word he scurried from his spot on the floor and over to Riku, not giving the teen much chance to respond to Demyx, so he could cling tightly to the teen's back. The tight embrace was the only thing that held him up as he held tightly around Riku's waist, but he refused to let go.

"Riku, please... stop..." The small plea left Sora's lips muffled against the other's back, but he didn't seem to care. He just wanted all of this to end just as much as Ikurx did and in the end he always felt the need to take the blame. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I hurt you. That Roxas hurt you. I'm sorry that I can't say what I want to say so badly..." He choked on tears again, but wiped them away as his own darkness swirled around to clash with Riku's own shadow. "I didn't mean to hurt us. I didn't mean to do this to us. I'm sorry, Riku, just please come back to me. Please stop this..."

Riku watched as his vision blurred, Demyx's crumbling image grew fuzzy. He didn't realize the reason until he blinked, tears falling, clearing his vision. But the tears wouldn't stop; they continued to fall down his cheeks to leave clean streaks from the black water that still lay there.

Riku's brows furrowed, his fingers growing lax and soon he relinquished the hold he had on Demyx. His hand fell, a faltering gesture as Sora's words, his plea, finally reached their mark; his clouded heart. What was he doing? What had he done? With no light to guide him he felt so abandoned inside himself; alone despite Sora's desperate clinging embrace. Alone.  
He felt like that small child he had once been when the darkness had first taken him; that same gripping fear and realization of just how alone he had been. Sora had taken up arms against him then, now Sora was taking him in his arms. ...Despite not being able to say he loved him. It went beyond a greater word than love. And it touched Riku.  
Sora was and would be, always, the better part of him.

With a shaking hand Riku reached back and gripped any part of Sora he could. It was his scarf that his fingers grasped. "...Okay," the words left Riku like a tortured child complacently agreeing.

Sora nearly jumped in shock at actually getting through to Riku as well as the small tug to the scarf that now was only loosely wrapped around his neck. He blinked teary eyes up to look at the taller teen to make sure he had heard right, but from his own point of view it was hard to look at Riku's face. Still, he didn't let that bring him down any further. He easily clung tighter to Riku and buried his face in the other's back once more. "Riku..." The name came out in a relieved whisper.

Demyx continued to watch with a bit of caution. He was still uncertain as to what Riku would do even though the hold that the teen had, had been let up on him. At the moment things seemed to be somewhat stable and it gave Demyx the opportunity to move away from the wall to make his way over to Ikurx. The stunt Riku pulled had only aggravated previous injuries that were using the darkness to heal so his movements were slow. As soon as he was near the Nobody he kneeled down and looked at him with concern. "You okay?"

Ikurx stared at Demyx as if the Heartless was something as surprising to see as a ghost. Had he a heart it would have surely cracked his ribs for how hard it would pound in his chest. He wasted no time quickly crawling nearer to Demyx to cling to his shirt, too afraid that one bump or ill touch would break the Heartless beyond repair. "You're okay," Ikurx quietly squeaked. He nodded dumbly to Demyx's question anyway. He was amazed Demyx held such concern for him after everything that had happened to himself. "You're okay, I'm okay." Ikurx was a disturbing amalgamation of calm and hysterics.

"...You should go." Riku spoke to Demyx and Ikurx without looking at them. "...There's nothing left for you here."

"But, Riku..." The quiet words left Sora as he looked up at the other with questioning eyes. He stopped short of saying anything else when he soon realized there was nothing else to say. Their whole reason for needing Ikurx was gone. Roxas and Axel had disappeared again and there was no telling if there would ever be hope of finding the two again. Not after what had happened. It had him resting his head back down as he tried to keep himself on steady legs to continue clinging.

Demyx held Ikurx tightly since the Nobody had taken to latching onto him as tight as could be. He heard Riku's words and was easily persuaded to just get up and go. They had no other reason to stay and he didn't want to chance getting on Riku's bad side more then they had. If the boy was letting them go then they should go. Without a word spoken he lifted a hand away from Ikurx to create a portal nearby, waiting until it opened before he looked down at Ikurx. "He's right. Come on, let's go."

Ikurx gave a small nod; it took him a moment to find strength to get his limbs to move. He didn't dare let go of Demyx as he stood, and helped the Heartless up as he did. He gave a daring glance back at Sora, at Riku. Was there no going back? Riku needed what he'd lost, but he needed Sora more. But even as Ikurx watched the one broken half cling to the other, he couldn't find the guilt he should have felt. He couldn't.

"... I'm sorry, Sora." Ikurx weakly spoke as he helped Demyx to the portal. "... I'll bring Her back. Someday, I will. I'll fix what I've done... Some how."

Riku didn't watch as either disappeared into the portal. He stood there as he was, long after the portal shut after Ikurx and Demyx. "So this is it," the words were quiet, as if he hadn't used his voice in days. Some how he managed to turn around in Sora's clinging embrace, and without much delay he captured Sora's dark form in his arms. Riku quickly crumbled, sinking down to the floor to his knees, keeping Sora close. He held Sora tightly; fingers clung to Sora's clothing pulling him closest as possible. He had destroyed what little of Sora he had left, bending what will and fight Sora had left until it almost snapped truly giving him to the Darkness. Riku couldn't have loathed and feared himself more.

Riku squeezed his eyes shut forcing more tears to fall, this time on Sora. He pressed his head closer to Sora's, rubbing against it, nuzzling Sora's spiky hair just to see if anything felt the same as it had once ever been. Riku choked on a sob, his entire body shaking as it gave into the action. There was no fixing this. There was no right, only wrong. There would be no more of Sora's silly faces to cheer up his heart, no more of Sora's giggles, no more blushing kisses and endearing touch, no more soft smiles that were meant just for Sora and Sora alone, Sora wouldn't dance and twirl light heartedly anymore, no dance at the school, no more Destiny Island, no more home. It was as if Sora died and left him forever, when he was still there in his arms alive; a piece of him. The tears wouldn't stop, the sobs muffled against Sora's hair. "…I do forgive you."

Sora had kept completely still the entire time Riku had collapsed and started to cling to him just as tightly as he had done before. Only the usual small twitches came from his body, but they weren't enough to disturb either teen. It was only Riku's words that caused Sora to finally let out a small sound that was meant as some form of acknowledgment. He could feel Riku's distress mixed with his own and he wanted to help stop it. Even if he couldn't say those three words.

"Riku, please don't cry..." Sora spoke the words softly as he finally moved to pull back. He didn't pull away completely, finding comfort in the fact Riku finally wanted him close once again. He only lifted his head away so he could stare at Riku's face and frowned more at the tears he saw on such pale skin. "I'm sorry, Riku. I didn't mean to make you cry." He reached up with one hand to wipe the dark streaks away, but stopped as his hands touched the other's cheek, frowning when he looked at his own claws. He quickly pulled his hand back and glanced back at Riku once more. "Sorry..." He felt the need to keep apologizing even though Riku said he forgave him.

Riku weakly shook his head. He took up Sora's hand that pulled away and lifted it to rest back against his cheek. He didn't care about the claws as he nuzzled the palm, wiping the clear tears unintentionally there. "...I... you didn't make me. I'm- I'm crying for you, Sora." His voice cracked and he swallowed thickly as he swallowed a sob. It was hard to stop now that he'd started, when his entire world had ended and he had nothing but husks of what mattered most. "I miss you," Riku choked on a sob between his words, "Sora." His light, oh god how he missed it. "I miss you so- so much." He clutched Sora's hand in his as his head lowered in defeat to another distraught sob.

Sora gave his own pathetic whine at hearing such sadness come from Riku. He wished he could feel everything he once felt again. He wished that he didn't feel so empty inside where every good feeling had once been. Watching Riku only made him want to try harder to at least do something to help.

With another small noise Sora used his free hand to lift Riku's chin up with a few fingers. He stared into the other's eyes before he leaned forward to press their lips together. It was a small kiss and much like the gesture Riku had done in such a mocking way much earlier, it was cold and nothing like shy kisses in a school bathroom. It was the only thing Sora had. Without words he had nothing else and he only hoped that Riku could understand that as much as he did.

It was after a few quick seconds Sora pulled back and blinked dulled, blue eyes up at Riku. His hand stayed near the other's chin, but twitched in nervous reaction. "I'm still here, Riku. I'll always be with you. I'll never leave you no matter what." He finally dropped his hand and looked away to their hands that were clasped. "Even through the worst..."

Riku couldn't help but feel cheated; the kiss was as cold and dead as everything else felt. True, the attempt in the meaning was there, but it left nothing but guilty disappointment in Riku. "...I know you will." Even though it seemed like a mocking memory of Sora that stayed with him; like some kind of dark twitching ghost, haunting him. It was something. A little something that kept Riku rooted, at least for the moment.

"...I don't know what to do anymore." Riku stared at Sora with a desperate look. His throat danced with an uneasy swallow. "...It can't be over." He hesitated like a small child, worry furrowing his brow. "C-can it?" He grasped the front of Sora's shirt. "...We've lost... haven't we?" He searched Sora's face for anything, answers that he both needed and didn't want to hear.

Sora turned his gaze back on Riku and kept their eyes locked before he slowly shook his head. "No, we haven't." He spoke the words softly. His free hand moved in a playful way up and down the other teen's front, moving from his chest to his throat, using only one claw at a time. "As long as we have each other then it's never over. We haven't lost." They were the most optimistic words Sora had spoken in a long time, but it was easy to tell he meant them by how easily the sad look had slipped off his face for just that moment. He looked back up into Riku's eyes as his free hand finally slipped around the other's neck. "Okay?" He tilted his head to the side as he watched Riku with a curious look.

Riku gave a tired blink. In a strange way Sora almost sounded like his old self, even if there was no positive smile behind his words. "...It feels like we've lost." The tears had stopped but he felt no better. There was nothing left to fill what he'd sobbed out, nothing but empty optimism and Sora's companionship. "We've lost too much... and gained nothing. I- I can't go on like this." He shook his head before pressing the heel of his palm into his eye, fingers dragging through drying hair. "...We don't know who to fight anymore. You let Ro- him go. I let mine go too." He dragged his fingers over his face. "We've lost, Sora. We've..." he shook his head letting his hand fall, "lost."

Sora only shook his head, refusing to believe such words. He wanted to try so hard to bring Riku out of his despair even if, inside, he couldn't feel anything but that same sadness. "No, that's not true." He pulled his hand free and placed both on Riku's cheeks, forcing the other boy to look at him. "We can find a way." He leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together while he shut his eyes halfway. "Please don't give up on us, Riku. Please don't give up on me." His body gave a quick spasm and he shut his eyes tightly as his next words shook. "Don't give up on Roxas..."

Riku gave a small start at Sora's last words. Roxas. He'd nearly destroyed that part of Sora for good. Had Roxas been lost to the Darkness, who knew what permanent damage might have been done to that part of Sora's heart. Sora could have been lost to him forever.  
It wasn't fair being able to hate that part of Sora so easily.

All the same Riku gave in, letting his head lean heavily on Sora's, enjoying the touch on his face; the little tenderness given after his demented rage. A small sound left Riku as a few tears slipped down his cheeks. "Okay," he ever so quietly answered. Riku gave a shaking breath. "I'll try... for you, Sora. I'll try." He had no clue about the method; there was no convincing Roxas after what he tried to do to him. But he'd try anyway. Beg, plead or beat him into submission forcing him back like before. There had to be some way- something. Anything.

Sora let out a relieved noise and for a moment every single tremor that went through his body seemed to stop. He opened his eyes to stare at Riku before he leaned a little closer to give the other teen a small nuzzle for his words. It was the most and least he could do. His hands fell away from Riku's face to wrap around the other's neck as he went back to clinging as tight as he could.

Riku was eager to hold Sora again, though it was as comforting as hugging a cold lifeless body, Riku's off kilter mind welcomed it all the same. He tried to remember what holding Sora before was like, fitting that perfect image to what he hugged now; some how it held Riku together. "...I don't know how I'll get Roxas back. Not after what happened here. It'll be near impossible." His voice petered away as he buried his face against Sora's shoulder.

"I let him go." Sora spoke up just as quietly as before as he kept himself close against Riku as the other held him. "I'm sorry, Riku. It was the wrong thing to do, to let Axel go after him, but I was scared of what was happening." He shook his head a little to clear the sudden remembrance and tried to continue on. "We'll find him. If you try then he'll understand what's right." Sora clung tighter before his next words. "You did say he was me after all, right?"

"...The worst of you." Riku found the words falling from his mouth before they could be stopped, but after he shook his head, rubbing his aching brow against Sora's shoulder. "He has everything he ever wanted; the 'right choice' isn't what's on his mind... like Axel said: our wrong is his right. He wants what we want. We both can't have it. One of us has to lose." A shudder wracked through Riku. "...And he-he doesn't lo-...care about me. There's nothing that we can offer that would change his mind. He'll never give up his heart... now that he has one. A meaningless existence as someone else." Riku let out a sarcastic noise. "Who would want that? No one." Even with good sense seeping back in Riku could see the hopelessness of their situation.

Sora had flinched at the first few words Riku had spoken. It was a continuous reminder of how much Riku and his other half just couldn't get along and how there would always be a part of him that Riku couldn't stand. After the other teen was finished speaking Sora pulled back a bit, obvious hurt played across his features, but it was nothing unusual anymore. "He had a life away from me..." Sora started out quietly. "Can you blame him for wanting that back? Axel was his friend and all he could do was watch him die." He couldn't help defending Roxas. He supposed it was the cause of being one with the other half for so long.

"I'm not saying what he's doing is right, but he just needs to understand that there are so many other people that care about him." Sora lifted his eyes again to stare back at Riku. "Even if he doesn't want to listen the first time it doesn't mean you have to give up on trying to make him understand." He dropped his eyes again to fall between them. "Especially if we mean so much to you, Riku..."

Riku kept silent after Sora spoke. It was silly to think that Roxas would buckle to anything said, even if he was a part of Sora, a strong and stubborn half at that. But Riku didn't want to crush what little spirit he and Sora had gained just now. Any little grain of doubt would be the last crushing weight to break them. And they were hanging from such a tenuous thread.

"You do." It was hard to admit if Roxas was in that agreement. Roxas was always considered a separate identity than Sora, yet when it boiled down to it Roxas was Sora. By any other name; a rose is a rose, and thorns were thorns.  
But anymore of this and Riku was sure they'd find their end, and the Darkness would truly have what it fought so hard to attain. There had to be a way to fix this without trying the impossible and breaking themselves.

Riku raised his hand to brush it along Sora's cheek; a cheek that was always warm and soft, now it was lukewarm. He looked at Sora's dull blue eyes missing the vibrant blue that always smiled behind girly lashes. Riku's hand fell down to Sora's chest, and he fingered the clothing before his hand stilled. He could feel what was left of Sora's heart beneath his palm; straining to keep under the tyranny of dark despair inside.

"Sora," Riku started very quietly, "what if I give you half of my heart?"

Sora's eyes narrowed at the question. It was the last thing he had expected and he was almost afraid of what Riku was getting at. "No, Riku... that sounds dangerous." He shook his head a little before he placed his hand on top of the one that was still on his chest. "Besides, you can't do something like that. There's no way..." Sora himself didn't sound so sure, but Riku had already been through enough. They both had.

"I can control the darkness, Sora. At it's very core. At its heart. ...That's what I was attempting to do to Demyx." Riku splayed his hand on Sora's chest so he could link fingers with Sora's hand on his. "And I am darkness, Sora. If I can control other's, I can definitely control my own. I could take a piece of mine and give you what you're missing. It- it would help you... at least until we can get Roxas back." Riku's fingers squeezed Sora's. "My heart has always been yours, Sora, always. Now, a part of it really will." Riku's other hand brushed back Sora's dark bangs so he could rest his forehead against Sora's unrestricted. "Please, Sora. Let my darkness bring your light back."

Sora thought of protesting again, but the desperate words stopped him as he stared back into Riku's eyes. He squeezed Riku's hand much the same as a sign that he was slowly giving into the small plea. It was the only other choice they had left until they could make things right again. "Okay..." It was his turn to finally speak the small quiet word back to Riku.

A small kiss was pressed on the bridge of Sora's nose. "I love you." Despite the hurtful emotions in his heart Riku did, and it was that little piece inside that Riku knew they still had a little hope left. His free hand rested on his own chest where his own heart tangled deep with darkness lay. It wasn't hard to find the purest half of his heart, his love for Sora kept his heart still tangible, though his sincere conscious will was quickly fading. Riku willed the darkness around his heart, gathering the rawest of it to coil about it. His other hand around Sora's tightened, bracing for what was to come.

The raw darkness was focused, honed to a fine razor edge and he plunged it straight into his metaphorical heart. Riku grit his teeth to keep whatever tortured sound wanted to leave his throat. He could taste his own tainted blood, but he swallowed it along with the pain, his eyes blanking out.  
Riku turned his own shadow against himself inside, digging its beastly hooks into the division made to rip the two crystalline halves apart. He slumped forward like a puppet with its strings cut. His hand pulled from his chest, fingers curled. Dark mist swirled from Riku's chest, curling with a frenzy at first before it settled to flow in circumference to let the severed half of his heart slip out between them.

The twisted darkness that surrounded Sora was the first thing to latch onto the bright crystal that hung between the two teenagers. It was the will and drive behind what had forced the bright half out which caused the swirling mist to force the heart towards Sora as blue eyes looked on in near fear. With a forceful push and an anguished cry of pain from the smaller teen, the severed half was given to its new owner. Inside the twitching Heartless two halves locked to become one as feelings lost were given back from such a selfless act.

The darkness began to retreat away from the sudden light that the Keyblade Master was starting to show once more. Sora's head fell down to rest on his chest after such a painful intrusion and color started to come back to him slowly. The dark mist that had surrounded him disconnected itself from the teenager and slowly disappeared amidst the darkness of the city. Spasms had stopped while the small body sat as he was on the floor and the hand that held Riku's own so tightly slowly lost its inhuman claws.

Riku's arms fell weakly and watched with dull eyes at Sora's transformation back. Even the darkest shadow could not exist without the brightest light. And in the numbed state of Riku's mind he knew that he'd done the impossible, and brought back what he'd missed so dearly. The pain and loss, it was all worth this.

His light was back.

Without hesitation Riku clasped his free arm around Sora, hugging him as tight and near as his waning energy would allow. It was beautiful, so beautiful, this warmth and this light. _Sora_ was back. They were going to be alright. They really were going to be okay now.  
Riku slumped, his eyes falling shut, stinging from both the light and new tears. The darkness about him misted and curled from his person at the loss to his heart, each flare fading before another trail curled from him. But even as Riku's consciousness was growing darker, he knew everything would be alright as long as Sora was near.

Sora's own eyes opened as Riku's slipped closed. The tug at his body had startled him and caused him to finally come to. He didn't struggle against the hold around him. He knew there was no reason to. All he did was cling right back, wrapping his own free arm around Riku's neck. "I'm back, Riku." He spoke the words quietly against the other's neck, voicing the exact words that ran through Riku's mind. "I'm okay now. You helped me. You really were there for me." After so long a smile finally found its way onto Sora's face and it was that which he moved to nuzzle against Riku's cheek. "We're okay, see?"

The smallest of smiles made its way on Riku's face at the nuzzle, he could feel Sora's smile, a real smile, on his cheek. Riku clumsily ran a few fingers through Sora's hair sightlessly. He leaned heavily on Sora but managed to weakly nuzzle him back. The sharp pain in his chest was dulling, the darkness licking about him slowly subsiding to the light he held and held him back. "... I missed you," the words barely left Riku.

"I know..." Sora kept his voice quiet. He was afraid to pull away. He never wanted to leave Riku after knowing what had happened to the other all because of what he had been forced to become. He reached up with his free hand to pet it through Riku's hair since it was still free of the hood after he had ripped it away, what seemed like forever ago. "Everything's okay, though. I'm alright." He finally pulled back, but kept his hand right where it was as bright blue eyes stared at Riku. "And I love you." He could feel it now where all of the hollow feelings had once been.

Riku pried his eyes open, blinking tired heavy eyelids to glance up at Sora. He wondered if he'd heard right, if what he saw was truly as real as it seemed. His throat tightened and he couldn't speak. He just sunk lower to submissively press his face against Sora's chest. Underneath his cheek he could feel the wonderful beat of his and Sora's heart as one. Riku couldn't stop the quiet sobs that left him. Sora was back; he was really and truly back. He wasn't going to be alone anymore, fighting alone. He had loved enough, for the both of them.

"Again- please say that again," Riku's whisper cracked.

Sora smiled once again, but it was much more genuine this time around. He continued to pet his hand through Riku's hair as the other teen rested against him. "I love you, Riku." He spoke the words without hesitation and without even a stutter much like so many times before as a Heartless. He could feel the small shakes that went through the other's body and he couldn't help the shaky laugh that escaped his own mouth. "Oh come on, Riku, don't cry. I'm okay now. Everything's okay now." He gave a gentle nudge to the older boy's shoulder, trying to rouse him. "You're not supposed to cry or else you'll make me cry."

Riku shook his head against Sora's words, burying it further against Sora's chest. He gave a weak noise both happy, amused and exhausted beyond all else. "You always cry." He was able to crack the smallest of smiles after the teasing words, the small sound of amusement something between a chuckle and a choked sob.

Sora pushed once more at Riku's shoulder at the teasing words. "I do not." Despite the smile on his face and his try at defending himself he could already feel the stinging behind his eyes and quickly tried to wipe at them before Riku could catch him. "You don't know what you're talking about." He gave another shaky laugh, being too much in a good mood at hearing Riku's own small bit of laughter and feeling so alive again.

Riku's arms slipped around Sora's middle, clinging to him as if his very existence depended on how near Sora stayed. "I do. I've known you since we were little, and you always cried at the littlest things. Like if you thought someone was mad at you, or in sappy movies." He gave a wet sniff as his fingers clung onto Sora's clothes.

Sora blinked his eyes not really caring any longer if the tears fell. At Riku's words he seemed to realize exactly how much they really did know about each other. It caused him to blush a little that Riku could point out the exact moments he let his guard down in such a way, but it was also flattering that the other teen loved him enough to notice the little things. "Maybe..." He quietly agreed.

With careful hands Sora reached down to pull Riku away from him so he could lift the other teen up to face him. As soon as they were face to face he gave Riku a shy smile before he leaned in to press their lips together in a quick kiss while his hands moved to take hold of Riku's own and squeeze. Everything about the small touches was warm and inviting unlike before.

Riku blinked causing more tears to fall. It was so startling to go from nothing to everything they used to have. It washed such relief over Riku, drowning out the guilt and despair he was suffocating earlier. It had more tears spilling down Riku's cheeks, but this time for happiness' sake.

Riku relinquished a hand; the darkness that made his glove misted back sifting back into his sleeve so his bare hand could feel Sora's blushing cheek. He gave a weak chuckle that was more of a relieved sound when he felt the soft warmth now, unlike before. "You're all here." His fingers moved to touch Sora's lips, drawing across them before falling to Sora's chin; black skin no more, just warm pinks and peaches on Sora's face. "...The Sora I remember. I never forgot. I tried. The Darkness was-without your light... I was lost." Riku brushed his fingers across Sora's cheek, as if he were foreign and fragile. "You have pretty eyes, Sora." Riku found himself giving a small soft smile, a little teasing but mostly sincere; awed by the sight of brilliant blue eyes again. "Prettier than the girls back home."

Those words only caused Sora to blush harder. He was used to small endearing words, but such bold statements still had him shying away every now and then. He just couldn't help it. "Riku..." He nearly whined the other teen's name in embarrassment as he tried to glance away. "There's nothing special about them. They're just blue." He tried to move the focus off his face with the words spoken, but he couldn't help glancing back at Riku and smiling once again. "Thanks, though..."

"... And lips," Riku quietly added, hoping to add to Sora's very cute embarrassment. "Now that they aren't black anymore, I can see... Prettier than a girls'." He couldn't help going on, his mind in a high elated state; happy for once. Something he'd nearly forgotten what it was like. "Actually, Sora, I think you're prettier than all of the girls back home." He paused a moment to give a very tired sly look. "Maybe even the Princesses of Heart." He thought about it a moment, glancing away. "Yeah, I think prettier than the princesses." He looked back at Sora with a weak teasing smile. "By far. I'm sure you could have been one...-if you were a girl."

Sora only blushed even worse at each thing said. He was sure he was completely red by now, but Riku just wouldn't stop. "Come on, Riku. You're acting stupid." The insult was childish and stupid itself and it was obvious Sora had meant no harm by it since he still couldn't stop smiling even as he looked away. "You're making it sound like I'm just as girly as the girls back home." He raised a hand to push it weakly against Riku's chest as he tried not to laugh and look serious. "Stop trying to embarrass me."  
Riku gave a weak shrug. "I like embarrassing you. You blush and then smile." He took up Sora's hand on his chest to place the other's hand on his shoulder so he'd have nothing obstructing him as he pulled Sora even closer in an embrace. "Besides, I can't help the truth. Though I said you were 'pretty' not 'girly'. There's a difference." Not really, but Riku wasn't all there to debate. He made a pleased noise when he gave Sora a hug, needing to know if this wonderful moment was still real. All of this, it felt so good, to talk as if nothing had changed; about silly, goofy little things. Riku could feel the tears start again, but he didn't care. "Of course... I know your secret. So, you may be just as girly as the girls back home."

"S-Secret?" Sora couldn't help stuttering the one word on impulse. He wasn't sure what secret Riku could have known that he hadn't already shared with the older boy. They knew mostly everything about each other. If one knew something then they told the other ever since they were small. Of course there were a few things Sora could guess he might have kept from his friend, but they were mostly stupid things that didn't matter much. "What secret?" He tried to read Riku's expression to figure it out, but came up with nothing.

Riku gathered up a lock of Sora's hair that rested at his temple. "That you know how to braid hair." He couldn't help but grin just a little at the confession of that knowledge.

Sora stuttered even worse then the first time. "I-I... that is... well... um..." He tried to get his thoughts in order so he could answer quickly, but he didn't exactly know how without admitting the truth. His eyes darted back and forth between Riku's fingers and the other's face before they fell away completely. "No I don't." He denied it completely.

Riku toyed with the lock of hair, tilting his own head as his grin spread just a little more, speaking matter factually, "Selphie taught you."

Sora snapped his head back up at those words. "How did you find that out?" His eyes widened at his own slip up. He quickly brought his hands up to slap them over his mouth as he looked at Riku with a horrified expression for a few seconds. As his hands slid down the blush returned to his face and he tried his best to look calm again. "I mean, no she didn't."

That had Riku actually letting out a laugh, a genuine laugh. The look on Sora's face and his actions were just too priceless. It was very Sora, the innocents and light hearted attitude Riku sorely missed. Riku let go of Sora's hair to stifle his laughter behind his hand, though it did little good. "Y-you told me." Riku tried to steady his voice and calm the laughter. "You also said I had 'pretty hair'." After he gave his head a shake to sway and toss back his long silver hair. Though the gesture made him dizzy, he still managed a sly grin.

Sora pouted as his face seemed to be caught in a permanent red state. "I've never said anything like that." Although he didn't deny any if it being true at that moment. He still couldn't remember saying it. The fact that Riku was teasing him didn't help and only made him more embarrassed. He looked away again and tried to hide his face by bowing his head. "When did I say all of that, anyway?"

"You were half asleep when you were talking to me. I guess... maybe you thought it was a dream, and that's why you don't remember." Riku gave a short chuckle. "I promised you could braid my hair anytime. You're the only one I would trust enough near my hair." He raised a hand to run it through his silver hair, fingers getting caught in a tangle from the black water. He grumbled at the matted hair before brushing it back over his shoulder. "I must admit I wish I'd caught you braiding hair with Selphie." He tried to keep his laughter in again. "That would have been something to see."

Sora watched Riku out the corner of his eye. He wanted to continue denying it, but it was obvious he was just caught and no amount of arguing was going to get him out of it. It was better for him to just give in. Instead of answering Riku's last few teasing words he reached a hand out to pull at the other teen's arm, giving him a stern look that looked more like a twisted form of a pout as he pulled away and forced Riku to turn around with his back to him. "You're lucky I love you so much." Those were the only words he spoke as he let go of Riku's arm and started running his fingers through long hair to try and sooth the tangles out.

Riku blinked but he gave in, giving a good natured chuckle. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He took that moment to relax, exhausted to do much else. It might not have been 'manly' to let Sora mess with his hair but it was nice to have someone get the knots out for him. It felt very calming, very nice to feel very gentle and tender fingers running through his hair, especially after all they'd been through. "And I wouldn't have you any other way," he quietly added, keeping still for Sora.

Sora finally smiled once again as his embarrassment slowly eased away. "Well, that's good to know. At least I don't have to be afraid that my knowledge of braiding hair will drive you off." He gave a quiet laugh as he continued to work out each small knot that he came across, making sure not to pull too hard whenever he found a particularly messy spot and smoothing it down gently with his fingers before he moved on.

Riku gave a soft sound of amusement as well. "Hmm... Maybe that's what you should do when we get back home; be a hair dresser." Despite the teasing the mention of home brought a small pang to Riku's chest. Though they were 'better' for the most part, nothing was completely fixed. It was just a make shift band-aid on an even bigger wound. But at least the idea of returning home wasn't as far fetched as it had felt just minutes ago.

"Very funny." Sora pulled a little on Riku's hair just to show the other teen just what he really thought of that idea before he went back to being gentle. "I'd like to keep some of my dignity in tact. Only Selphie was supposed to know I could do this in the first place and I wasn't even willing." The blush came back, but Riku couldn't see so he didn't care. "It didn't really bug me, though." Over the course of speaking he had removed all of the knots that had tangled up Riku's hair, but unconsciously he had begun twisting a few strands to attempt braiding it to keep his hands busy.

Fatigue had Riku's eyes slipping shut. He never realized that having someone tend to his hair felt so soothing. The last time he could remember someone messing with his hair was when he was little and his mother would always try to comb the mess of knots out of his hair and he would always fuss making it quite the painful experience. He hadn't let anyone touch his hair since then.

"When you have a gift you have a gift," Riku quietly teased.

"Hmm..." Sora smiled softly at Riku's quiet words. "I guess so." He shrugged a shoulder while he continued to twist the strands, suddenly aware of what he was doing and not really minding all that much. "As long as you don't mind it then I guess I don't mind it either." His fingers stopped at the end of the small braid he had made in the middle of Riku's hair, at a sudden loss. He didn't really have anything to keep it in place with, so he was forced to let it go to more then likely come undone later.

Riku made a quiet sound of acknowledgement, lulled by whatever Sora was doing. At the moment he didn't really mind all that much if Sora was doing something as horrific as braiding his hair, he was too content to have much of any worries. "We'll both need jobs when we go back. And if hair is your passion after wielding the keyblade, who am I to stop you." He gave a lazy chuckle.

"You would never." Sora continued to run his fingers through Riku's hair to try to braid more small pieces here and there. The fact he had nothing to hold it together didn't seem to detour him very much. "Because then you wouldn't get such special treatment such as you are right now." He gave another quiet giggle before he leaned down to kiss the top of Riku's head before he continued on with his work.

Riku's acknowledgement was delayed the second time but eventually he gave a small 'mhm' in response. "Although I fear your ability with the scissors. I'd just hope you don't wield them like you do the keyblade." He gave a soft snicker at the mental image of the disturbing damage that could be done. "...As you can tell, I don't trust anyone with scissors near my hair."

Sora huffed a little at Riku's inability to trust him. "I wield the keyblade just fine." He pulled on a strand of Riku's hair. "I've never tried to cut hair before, though. My mom always just trimmed mine here and there." He let go of the other's hair a moment so he could tug at his own bouncy spikes. "I could probably manage." He turned his attention back on Riku. "I like your hair the way it is, though. You don't really need to cut it." He finished off the last little braid he was playing with and finally moved away, walking over to kneel in front of the other teen. "All done!" He smiled.

Riku was resigned to open his eyes; he'd grown quite content just sitting there with Sora playing with his hair. But now Sora had moved. Riku wasn't sure if he should fear what Sora had done to his hair.  
Slowly Riku blinked open his eyes, keeping them heavily lidded as he looked at Sora's cheery face. Sora looked as if he'd accomplished something as amazing as world hunger; it had the corner of Riku's lips perking. "So... how many braids did you put in my hair?", Riku tried to sound like his usual stand offish self, but he just felt too much for Sora there and then to feign anything.

Sora actually held up a hand to begin counting his fingers as he tried to remember how many braids he had started to twist into Riku's hair. "Well... let's see." He looked up at nothing in particular. "Umm..." After a few seconds he seemed to realize what he was doing and a small blush crept over his face, knowing that he seemed much too excited over what he had just done. He quickly dropped his hand and looked back at Riku with lowered eyes. "J-Just a few I think..."

Riku gave a soft chuckle at Sora. He raised a hand to run through his hair to feel the damage done. It wasn't as bad as he thought, just a good few thin braids. "Mmm, not so bad. I suppose I'll live." He lowered his hand, leaving the braids in.

Sora smiled once more and his embarrassment left him much like before. He leaned forward to press a quick kiss to the other's lips, laughing a little at the same time. When he pulled back he looked on into Riku's eyes and it was then that a sudden thought occurred to him. He just couldn't shake it off after seeing those same eyes not too long ago. "Hey, Riku..." He started out quietly since they were still so close. "What about Ikurx? You need him just as much as I need Roxas, don't you?" He reached a hand out to place it on top of Riku's own. "He's your Nobody." Those words spoken out loud seemed to make the situation a complete reality. "Why did you let him go?"

Riku blinked his eyes open a little wider at Sora's question. He opened his mouth and then closed it. He really hadn't expected Sora to ask such a deep question out of the blue. Especially when the whole intense moment they'd all been through felt like it had happened more than days ago rather than hours.

"... Same reason you let Roxas go," Riku's gaze fell to their hands as he finally quietly answered.

Sora kept quiet at those words while he looked down at their hands also. Slowly his grip tightened around Riku's fingers and after a while a silly smile spread across his face as he tried to make light of a sudden tense conversation. "It's kind of weird, don't you think? To know that you have one too. I know I used to think that about my own situation. It was hard to get used to it." He reached his free hand out to poke a finger against Riku's forehead. "It seems we'll always be a little unique don't you think so, Riku?"

Riku glanced up at the finger before looking back down again. "Kairi had one too. There was a whole organization of Nobodies, and lots of Dusks. We're not all that unique," his voice petered off at that. "... My Nobody only exists for the Organizations' last resort. To bring them back. Just a tool. A thing." His eyes fell half shut. "What's so unique about that?"

"Stop it..." Sora poked at Riku's forehead once again and tried his best to scowl at the other teen, but it came off as just another pout. "There's no reason to be so down, Riku. I don't know about the rest of the Organization, but Roxas, Naminé and even Ikurx I suppose, they were all born differently, right? Our lives have been far from normal and that's what makes this unique." He dropped his hand and tried to smile once again. "Besides, we won't let them continue to use him like that. You need your half just as much as I need mine. We'll save him don't worry, Riku."

Riku blinked. He raised a hand to tap Sora's forehead back. "We may save him. But," Riku drew his finger down Sora's nose, "who will save him from us?" He tapped the end of Sora's nose. "What gives us the right to stop them from having what we have? ...What if a part of you doesn't want to be you anymore and wants to love someone else who isn't me? Can we really change it? And... what if a part of me wants to be... else where?" Riku slowly shook his head. "...I'm just not sure of anything anymore. What's right, what's wrong." His hand brushed against Sora's cheek.

Sora shook his head. "We've always done the right thing. The Organization, their Heartless, they're the ones who are doing everything and anything wrong. We're only trying to help Ikurx. It would be so much better then living a life being pulled around by so many people. What else is there for him?" He looked away after those words, but still kept his face near Riku's fingers. "We need to make Roxas understand it too. He needs to know that he doesn't have to fight to be happy or to feel. Nothing is as bad as it seems..."

Riku slowly shook his head. He doubted it would ever be as easy as 'talking' to Roxas. So instead of arguing it further Riku grabbed Sora's arm and suddenly pulled him off kilter to take into his arms once again. "I don't want to worry about that right now." He kept a tight hold on Sora despite any argument he made. He'd lost a lot but gained so much more, too much at once, he just wanted to enjoy what he'd thought he'd never gain again.

Sora had almost given a startled squeak at being tugged. He hadn't been expecting it, but was able to keep his mouth shut in time. He instinctively wrapped both of his arms around Riku to cling to the other's body as he nuzzled his head against Riku's chest much like he would usually do in such a situation. It was comforting and just like Riku he also missed these little moments. It felt good to have them back.


	36. Chapter 36

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 36

It had now been near a month since Saïx had been back. A month since he'd told his three cohorts to stay and wait for his return while he personally saw to it to retrieve Riku's Nobody.

The time spent prior to Saïx's leave had been spent tainting entire worlds, a sadistic enjoyment that never truly got old. But that was a primal existence brought on by their Heartless nature. They wanted what they always had, to be whole. And like before Saïx had found each and every one of them, promising them their desires in exchange for Xehanort's reinstatement. An inversion of their place and promise when they had been in the Organization; twisted, but all they ever had was blind loyalties now. Saïx had amalgamated the few left into a following: Luxord, Xaldin and Xigbar.

A bar of a long conquered planet had come to suit their needs, acting both as head quarters and personal lounge. Being Heartless none found it obscure to wind down with a stiff drink, it was something all three appreciated and most importantly had in common.  
With Saïx gone the three had taken to entertaining themselves with bar games with a personal dark twist. Gambling had become a personal favourite amongst them, any sort of competition would do. The wager itself? Hearts. Hearts they had captured themselves with their own personal darkness. This included their minor Heartless minions; the stronger the heart or minion, the more it was worth.

"Oh come on!" The aggravated words were shouted near the back of the bar where few of the tables sat away from the usual stools. It was obvious by the annoyed voice that one of those games were going on right at that very moment and Xigbar was on the losing end of it. The once known Freeshooter stared across the table, past shot glasses and glass bottles, at Luxord who seemed to be acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. "That's the third damn time you've won. I knew this was one of the worst ideas. You're cheating, just admit it." He threw his cards down on the table not caring where they landed.

Luxord hadn't even bothered to look up at such an accusation, keeping somewhat cool if only narrowing his eyes. "Maybe you should just learn how to play better or you could always go back to raiding the bar." He gave a quick snap of his fingers and from under Xigbar's sleeve a few cards made themselves present to move back towards the pile on the table. "And I'd say you're the one cheating. You just seem to fail at that as well."

Xigbar narrowed his own eyes and seemed about to snap back, but thought better of it. A boring game of cards just wasn't worth it and he barely had any good Heartless left to fork over. He only shrugged his shoulders instead. "As if." The words were mumbled under his breath, but both Luxord and Xaldin would still probably hear.

"Controlling the deck," Xaldin spoke coolly to Luxord as he held a card between two fingers, "only proves you're playing with loaded dice." He flicked the card from his fingers to land on the messy discards Xigbar had thrown on the table. "Not only do you know our hands, but you change your faces." He gathered the rest of his cards in a pile, setting it neatly back on the table unlike Xigbar. "A fixed game to start." He then decided this was as good a reason as any to pour himself a stiff drink.

"I'm afraid that I don't need to have control over any of the hands to know exactly how to win." Luxord took hold of all of the cards once more and finally gave both of the other Heartless his full attention while he went about shuffling the deck. "It just means you both need better skills at the game. Some more then others." He shot Xigbar a quick glance before he looked down at the deck. "I take it the two of you fold for good, then?"

Xigbar scowled while he reached over to yank the bottle out of Xaldin's hands. He didn't seem to care whether the other Heartless had been done with it or not. "Yeah, whatever, I'm done. Still think you're a lousy good for nothing cheater." He leaned back on the legs of his chair and propped his feet up on the table before he took a swallow from the bottle.

Xaldin glanced at Xigbar's uncouth behavior with distaste. With a simple gesture he sent a gust of wind under Xigbar's legs to push them off the table, back far enough to topple backwards on two unsteady chair legs. "I'm done as well."

The sudden gust had been the last thing Xigbar expected and it had him nearly spilling half the bottle he held all over himself. Before his head could collide with the floor he was quick enough to stop the chair in mid-air while he was still seated on it. As soon as he leapt off of it to glare at Xaldin his control over it was gone and it made a loud noise against the wooden floor beneath as it finally fell. "What the hell, man?!"

"I'm in the presence of children..." Luxord mumbled quietly to himself among the banter that was going on. It wasn't anything unusual and at most was always shrugged off. It just came with having to be around the same people for most of their existence.

Xaldin took a calm drink from his glass. "I've told you before, feet on the floor or you'll end up on the floor." He gave Xigbar a glance before he set his drink down. "You've come this far and you still haven't learned tact nor mannerisms." He leaned back calm and comfortably in his chair. "I think you're only upset because you have nothing left worth wager, leaving you out of the game, _Braig_." He coolly looked to Luxord and then to Xigbar once more. "Why not make things a little more interesting and wager something of far more value: like your own heart."

Xigbar had kicked his chair up and back into place so he could take a seat once more, but the last words had grabbed his attention. "Easy for you to say, isn't it? You still have enough to wager off for now. I'm the one that's lost everything so far." He leaned forward in his seat, but didn't dare put his feet up like before. Instead he rested his elbows on it so he could lean in and give a shit eating grin to Xaldin. "If you're so full of yourself, _Dilan_ , then why don't you do just the same?"

Xaldin gave him a rather unimpressed look. "And what, pray tell, would I do with your shotty dark heart?" Amusement crossed his face as he raised a brow. "Perhaps a door stop for the door to Kingdom Hearts? Rather unnecessary now." He looked back to Luxord. "Besides, we don't have a big enough game to ride such an important bet on. I've had enough of card games."

"Shall we make a real bet then gentlemen?" Luxord waved the cards away and rested his hands under his chin as he watched both of the bickering Heartless carefully. "If the two of you are so bored of silly games then we can certainly move onto bigger and better things."

Xigbar moved his eyes back on Luxord and waved the bottle he was still holding around to emphasize his next point. "Oh yeah? You mean just so you can have another chance at screwing us over again?" He nearly huffed as he leaned back in his chair once again on both back legs, but kept his feet off the table this time around. "Yeah right, I don't think so."

"I assure you that I won't 'screw you over' as you like to put it." Luxord glanced over at Xaldin as Xigbar had taken to the bottle in his hands again. "I'm talking about making a bet on Saïx's return. It's a worthwhile bet. If he succeeds. If he doesn't. He's been gone for quite a while, who knows what's been going on as of late. It wouldn't hurt to put a little wager on his life."

Xaldin glanced from one to the other. Betting on their 'leader' was voice enough for treason. Especially when back in the Organization he and Xigbar had been in the Organization far longer than Luxord. As number Two and Three, they had been something akin to law enforcers

But that was a life time ago, and they were far different creatures from Nobodies.

"Very well. Sounds entertaining." Xaldin leaned forward in his chair, interested. "What is the premise?" The corner of his lips upturned in a smirk.

Luxord dropped his hands back down on the table so his full attention could be on both Xaldin and Xigbar since he seemed to have their interest. "It's very simple. There are a few easy choices we can bet on. First," He held up a finger. "Saïx makes it back here alive, in one piece and with that wretched Nobody that he went after. Two," Another finger joined the one. "He comes back, but without the prize and we all know the reasons for that. He just outright lost to whoever got to it first. Last," A third and final finger came up before he dropped his hand completely. "He dies. Although this is the one we would certainly know about it's still one we can bet on. He certainly hasn't returned yet. There's always a chance."

Xigbar dropped back down on all four legs once again and raised a brow at the sudden bet. "So, you're saying we take our chances on whether our _fearless leader_ succeeds, lives, or dies?" He finally set the bottle aside and shrugged a shoulder before he settled back in the chair. "Sounds interesting enough to me. Sure, why not?" He draped an arm over the back of his chair.

"Because you currently have nothing of value to wager aside from your own heart." Luxord answered for the other Heartless. "We just went over this, but we can certainly go over it again I'm sure." He looked back to Xaldin and ignored the dirty look Xigbar gave him. "Well?"

Xaldin nodded. "It's a dangerous bet, but one that's finally worth attention." He splayed out a hand in gesture. "Well then, shall we all bet our hearts then? Keep the game, heh, engaging." He rubbed his fingers together with interest as he narrowed his glowing eyes, watching Luxord before he looked to Xigbar. "Anything less would be cowardice."

"Yeah, I get it." Xigbar mumbled under his breath, but he couldn't help the sly smirk that came over his lips despite his own grumbling. "Funny considering you're the one that didn't seem all that interested in collecting my heart in the first place. When I win this little bet here, your heart is the one that's gonna be used for a door stop."

Luxord rubbed at his temples for a brief moment. "Surely the two of you can stop this back and forth for more then just a few seconds." He turned his eyes back on Xaldin as soon as he dropped his hand and narrowed his gaze. "Betting our own hearts seems like a fair enough price to me and it already seems like the two of you have agreed as well. So, it's settled and the both of you should know that I can't possibly cheat my way through this one." The words were mostly meant for Xigbar, but the other Heartless didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Good. Then it's decided." Xaldin swept aside the clutter from the table with a gust of wind. Once clear a small swirl of dark wind denoted a new gambling board with three new sections marked with large numbers in the section for each. Xaldin pointed to the first marked with '1'. "Succession." He then pointed to the one marked '2'. "Retreat." And last the one marked '3'. "Death." He raised his hand, turning it with a flick of his wrist to bring about a black poker chip with a red heart printed on either side. A symbolic betting chip for his own heart. He gestured to the board with a sly grin. "Ladies first."

Luxord held out his hand to bring about his own chip and kept it between two fingers as he looked across the board laid out on the table. With a quick toss he sent the small chip towards the third mark of Death where it landed to stay. He raised his eyes to Xigbar after he was done. "Let's hope you have better luck this time."

Xigbar kept his chip held up above his finger so it could spin around while he kept a narrowed gaze on Luxord. "Yeah, well you don't seem to have much confidence in the guy, do ya?" He finally gave a lazy smirk as he looked back down at the board and pushed his chip over to the Succession mark where it finally dropped with a slight spin. "I'd rather not have the guy go berserk on me if he finds out what we're doing right here and now. Besides, how hard could it really be to bring back one little Nobody?"

"You seem to have lost count over how long we've been waiting..." Luxord mumbled, but didn't speak the words out loud enough for Xigbar to really hear. If the other Heartless wanted to be ignorant, then who was he to stop him?

And with a final clack Xaldin set his chip on the middle number '2'. "I have faith, but even the mighty fall, retreating back to the fold to lick their wounds." That said each numbered section gave a bright glimmer one after the other taking the chips with them to set the bets in stone. "There. The bets are set. There's no changing them now, gentlemen. I hope you are confident in your choices." Xaldin drew back his hands to fold them on the table business like.

"There's never been a time I wasn't confident in a bet. It would only be foolish to make a decision and be unsure, especially with such a high price on the line." Luxord stood up from his chair. He had no reason to wait around with the other two Heartless. He was only waiting for the one moment where he knew that he had won the bet. He took only a few steps away from the table to walk to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools to grab one of the few remaining bottles that still had liquor.

"Yeah, sure. What he said." Xigbar leaned back once more and took up the bad habit of placing his feet up again. "Of course, this only means we're going to be waiting around again to know the outcome of this little bet. Who knew that trying to capture a Nobody could be so boring..."

Xaldin sent a stronger gust this time under Xigbar's legs to throw him back from the table. "I doubt you could do any better, _Braig_." He decided to step away from the table as well, rather tired of putting up with Xigbar's brash behaviors. He slipped his arms behind his back as he walked; his patience was beginning to wear thin as well. "But I believe we should consider our options, not only with Saïx's outcome, but our own. Now that our hearts are on the line, two of us will have the unfortunate future of becoming lesser minions to one."

Xigbar didn't catch himself in time like he had before and fell back against the floor along with the chair. He let out an annoyed groan as he rubbed the back of his head, but shrugged it off when he caught Xaldin's statement. In an instant he was sitting up to look up over the bottom of the chair at the other Heartless' back. "Tch, as if. I don't plan on becoming anyone's minion. It's bad enough we have to listen to what that crazy bastard says."

"With how well you do at gambling then you more then likely won't have much of a choice." Luxord spoke up while he turned around on the stool to face both Xaldin and Xigbar. "It's a fate that will have to be dealt with I'm afraid. You were in on the bet just like the two of us. You should have known what was in store the moment you put your heart on the line."

Xaldin raised a hand to his temple, pressing it in slight annoyance. "Braig's tactic to anything is to shoot it. You can't expect much from that; a mindless gun toting twit with nothing much more in his head than _Space_." He turned so he could face either Heartless now. "Time and Space." He gestured to Luxord with one hand and Xigbar the other. "Fitting, since your hearts will be mine." He grinned.

"Getting a little ahead of yourself there aren't you, Dilan?" Xigbar hadn't bothered to get back up. He kept as he was on the floor, watching over the chair the entire time. "You lost just as many bets as I have. Don't think that you're some high and mighty winner. It's just plain cocky of you to stand here and claim some kind of victory when nothing has happened yet."

"He's right for once." Luxord seemed mildly disturbed he had admitted such a thing, but kept speaking anyway. "You won't own anything until we can be sure of Saïx's fate." He turned back around on the stool to face away from the two once again. "Although I'm pretty sure death easily awaits him."

"We'll soon see." Xaldin walked over to Luxord, snatching the new shot he poured straight from his hand, downing it in one go. "And soon I hope. We're running low on 'spirits'." He handed Luxord back his empty glass before he walked off boredly.

Luxord shot Xaldin a dirty look for the stolen drink. He kept silent about it though and poured himself what was left in the bottle. "If we get too bored we could always go to a different planet again. Although, even I must admit I'm getting a little tired of constantly conquering. It's been pleasant to wind down while we wait." He waved his hand over the bar table to bring about his cards in a row of seven. If all else failed there was always solitaire.

Xigbar had finally gotten off the floor to walk over to the nearby dartboard and had pulled out the darts that were buried deep inside from the last time they had been used. "I bet you we could have found the Nobody on our own with no problems." He threw one of the darts only to miss and hit the wall. "I mean, it's just supposed to be some kid, right?" He threw another one with the same luck and scowled. "Just grab it and go." He threw the last one, but slowed it in mid flight so it aimed straight towards the center and hit on impact. "Bulls-eye!"

"I suppose having one eye handicaps the depth perception. Still, using your power only ruins your reputation as a sharp shooter." Xaldin yanked one of the darts from the wall using his dark wind. It flew back to him and he grasped it on its return. He twirled the dart in his hand. "I've grown rather fond of this place as well, Luxord. I think the losing Heartless should be responsible for stocking the bar back up. And not with cheap liquor mind you. Quality, vintage, the good expensive stuff, straight from your own personal stash." He gave the dart a throw and it landed near Xigbar's in the center circle. "Seems only fair, right?" He rested a hand on Xigbar's shoulder giving the other Heartless a sly smile.

"Show off." Xigbar nearly mumbled the words, but knew that Xaldin would hear him anyway. "You're only saying that because you're so incredibly sure you're going to win. I'm telling you that it's going to come back and bite you on the ass." He shrugged his shoulder away from the other's hand only to walk over to the dartboard and pull the darts out once again. "But, whatever, if it means more drinks. Sure."

It was then that a large portal from the darkness appeared interrupting the quaint bar scene. From the churning shadows stepped Saïx, nearly falling in his steps as he walked out. He had never looked in worse shape, the glowing markings across his dark body almost faded. He limped further into the bar, the portal closing and disappearing behind him.

Saïx said nothing as he limped onward, his hand clutching over his heart where one could assume was the worst of injuries. There was no one else to be seen, so there were no words needed to see that the solo mission he attempted had failed.

Xaldin watched Saïx head towards the door, most likely to head towards his own private chambers. The wind Heartless gave either of his cohorts a knowing glance. Victory in defeat; how lovely.

Xigbar merely scowled up at Xaldin as he threw the darts right back into the board, not caring where they landed this time around. It didn't need to be said that himself and Luxord had lost badly, especially not in front of Saïx whom the bet had been about. Xigbar moved his gaze back on Saïx and couldn't help voicing his first thoughts on the other's retreating figure. "Yo, man. What the hell happened to you?"

Luxord rolled his eyes, knowing that the outcome of such a question wouldn't be good. Xigbar never knew when to just keep quiet and let things be. Still, he couldn't help being curious himself since he had lost the bet as well. The cards in front of him disappeared while he turned on the stool to watch Saïx as well.

Xigbar earned himself an icy narrow of eyes from Saïx. "An unexpected turn of events; sadly. Despite losing half of himself, with the Darkness, Riku has become a foe unmatched. I had the unfortunate pleasure of running into our old comrades. Namely that fiery bastard. Then there was that damnedable mouse with that witch Nobody wench." He flinched, black dripping between his fingers, his mouth. He spat the blood away, wiping it from his mouth. "Although the Keyblade Master has been reinstated, I still have him 'collared'. Our old friends Marluxia and Larxene will be 'helping' us in exchange for his safe keeping."

Saïx took that moment to look from one Heartless to another. He narrowed his eyes more, baring his teeth as he spoke. "It's time for a change of plans." His ears slicked back. "Time for you three to earn your keep. I'll brief you on a new mission later." He turned to then leave the room again.

There were no other words spoken as the three allowed Saïx to take his leave this time around. It was only after the wounded Heartless was completely out of sight that Xigbar gave a low whistle as he kept his gaze on the spot where Saïx had once been. "You know, Xaldin, Luxord might as well have won. He looks like he's about to keel over at any moment." A twisted grin spread across his lips and he tried not to laugh.

Luxord didn't seem to share in Xigbar's humour despite the words spoken as he kept his eyes on the same spot. "It's rather interesting everything he told us, don't you think? Although, I wonder what in all the worlds would possess him to enlist Marluxia and Larxene's aid. Keyblade Master or not, it's just asking for trouble." He finally looked away as an unimpressed expression crossed his face. "It seems such a simple task was just a bit too much for him."

"Simplistic or not, a deals a deal. And I do believe I've won." With a quick twist of wind the three heart chips left on the table flew with speed to be caught into Xaldin's hand. "And your dark hearts are mine to collect." He gave a pleased smirk at his victory. "The other problems can be dealt with after I have my winnings."

Xigbar's grin fell away at the reminder of who exactly won and his scowl came back. "Damnit, you know you got lucky, that's all there is to it." He waved a hand around in the air as if it would help make his point clearer. "If it weren't for all of those distractions and what have you I'm pretty sure I would have won this whole bet."

Luxord finally moved off of the stool and walked over to the other two Heartless. "Well, that's not how it happened is it, Xigbar?" He ignored the glare sent at him for his words and kept his attention on Xaldin as he continued to speak. "We both have to pay the consequences for our losses and that's all there is to it."

Xaldin handed each their respected heart chips. "If you would be so kind as to autograph these, it will make the deal final." A long thin pen appeared that he plucked from the air and then offered between the two Heartless. "I'm glad you're taking this so well, Luxord. I'm sure either of you will come to appreciate me as your new master." His smile was perhaps a little too devious with his words.

Luxord took the pen first, not giving Xigbar a chance to grab at it. "I have no reason to fight it as much as Xigbar does. You won fair and square. I'm a man of my word." With that the pen in his hand was covered in blackness as he began to sign the small chip he held. As soon as the final act was given he tossed the chip back to Xaldin and handed the pen over to Xigbar.

Xigbar snatched the pen away while he continued to scowl. "No wonder your Nobody was defeated by a child." He mumbled the words as his own darkness began to mist around the pen much the same. He didn't seem to care that his own end had come by that same exact child. It seemed to have slipped his mind. "This was such a stupid bet." Even with those words he still signed the chip and threw it over to Xaldin as well along with the pen.

The pen disappeared and Xaldin caught the chips. Dark wind swirled about his hand holding them and soon the chips disappeared in Xaldin's keep. "A fine end to a good month." He let one hand fall behind his back while the other gestured to Xigbar. "And since you've decided to be such a sore loser, my dear Braig, you can be the one to restock the bar."

"Gee, what a surprise..." Xigbar spoke in sarcasm. He shrugged a shoulder after the words and tried to act as if he wasn't bothered by the sudden chain that Xaldin had on him. "Whatever, sure." He walked away from the two and over to the bar moving his hand across the counter top to cause a few portals to open as he made contact with the surface. With each portal opened case after case of bottles appeared to settle themselves down while the Heartless finally stopped behind the bar and started to grab what was in each case.

Luxord watched with mild interest since Xigbar hadn't put up much of a fight to having been told what to do. He only guessed it was because he didn't have much of a choice any longer. With a small smirk he turned his eyes back on Xaldin and shook his head only slightly. "It's obvious you're enjoying this way too much. I wonder if it's only because you get to torture him."

Xaldin gave an easy chuckle. "Perhaps. I suppose it can't be helped. It's in our nature." He glanced at Luxord. "I'm sure I don't have to tell either of you to keep all of this quiet. If Saïx was to learn that someone else held more power over you two than him. Well, I'm sure there are far worse things than death. And we don't want anything to happen to your heart chips." Xaldin smirked.

"I think we're smart enough to know not to tell Saïx such a thing." Luxord glanced over to the exact place the other Heartless had retreated to. "Especially if he found out what the stipulations for the bet had been. It wouldn't help us anyway." He turned his attention back on Xaldin. "It would be a pretty certain death wish."

"Speak for yourself." Xigbar put in his two cents once more while he continued to stock the bar as the cases became empty. He had taken the liberty of stealing one of the bottles while he was stocking to drink from it as he put the others away. "I'm not the one that was sure he was going to die at any given moment." He glanced up at the other two Heartless with one glowing eye. "But you don't have to worry. I won't go running off to tell him anything."

"I would hope so," Xaldin mumbled more to himself. He watched Xigbar play stock boy before he glanced where Saïx had disappeared as well. "Saïx will be out of commission for a while. So, we have some time to ourselves while he rests and recuperates from his grand adventures outside. So," he drew out that one word, "what to do." He then looked at Luxord next; the Heartless wasn't doing much of anything useful for the moment. "And what to do with you."

Luxord raised a brow at those words, but didn't seem much shaken by them. "Pity. You have all of this power and it seems you're at a loss as to what to do with it. I should have expected as much." The words were obviously made to mock the other Heartless, but Luxord's expression still never changed as he kept his eyes on Xaldin. "Of course knowing you, you'll surely think of something. I just hope it doesn't involve stocking more shelves."

"Braig has that covered." Xaldin gave a brief smirk Xigbar's way before he looked back to Luxord again. He gave him a slight grin. "Indeed." He raised a hand to barely tilt Luxord's chin up with the tip of a claw. "I'm sure I will think of something." His hand lowered so his other could tug the sleeve straight of his dark kimono casually. "Perhaps later away from a prying eye." He didn't try to hide the smirk.

Xigbar only made a rude hand gesture for Xaldin to see before he went back to putting bottles away.

Luxord watched the quick exchange then turned his attention back on Xaldin and gave a small smirk of his own. "Some would call that smooth I suppose. If I hadn't been the one to bring up the idea for this amusing bet then I would think you planned everything this way." He reached up and tugged Xaldin closer to him so he could speak in a lower voice to the other Heartless. "Let's hope _later_ doesn't take forever to get here." He let go of Xaldin and turned around to head back over to the bar as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Xaldin made a low sound of amusement in his throat. He followed as well to the bar, taking a seat on a stool. "Careful, Braig, or I'll make you call me 'Master' when Saïx isn't around." He gestured towards Luxord as he spoke to him. "I suppose you can bartender for now." His eyes fell half lidded as he continued, "Until later." Of course Luxord bartending was nothing new, he had a certain talent with drink mixing, unlike both Xaldin and Xigbar who only knew how to pour something hard, straight; ice was optional.

"Yeah right, like that will ever happen." Xigbar had moved over for Luxord so the other Heartless could stand next to him behind the bar counter since he had been chosen as the official bartender for the time being. "The last thing I'm going to call you is Master, especially when I rank above you." He went to take another swallow from the bottle he held, but it was yanked out of his hands by Luxord. "H-Hey!"

"Sorry to say, but our ranks were lost to us as soon as our Nobodies died. Come up with a better excuse." Luxord set the bottle out of reach of Xigbar on the counter top and ignored the look he got for such a thing from the other Heartless. Instead he went about picking through the drinks that had been stocked so he could get started on one for Xaldin. "At any rate, I do wonder what exactly Saïx has planned for us. I don't blame him for being rather annoyed considering everything he told us."

"We all felt the Keyblade Master plunge into Darkness with the return of Roxas." Xaldin narrowed his eyes at the mention of the traitor's name. "Some how his light has returned, but without the help of Roxas himself." He lightly tapped his finger on the bar counter running all of it through his mind. "Sora, Roxas, Axel, Riku, Mickey, Naminé, and along with Marluxia and Larxene- following a carrot dangled by a string in front of their noses." He scoffed. "He surely can't count on their loyalties." His fingers stopped their tapping. "Saïx may have brawn, but he has brains as well. The odds must have been stacked against him if he was to come back empty handed and in such poor shape. We can't jump into this with egos, thinking we can do better, especially when it was only one little boy who ended each and every one of us last time." He watched Luxord mess around with the liquor. "We should assume the worst and act on it." Xaldin's gaze flicked up to Luxord's face. "Saïx would be best to treat this as a full out war: the dark against the light. It was our very hearts our Nobodies sought. And if it wasn't for Sora, we would have found our others and be whole by now."

"And the worst would be that we meet our ends once more without getting what we're here for." Luxord pushed a tall glass Xaldin's way that was filled nearly to the top with a simple concoction he was able to mix up while he listened to the other Heartless speak. "Although, I'm very curious about this entire situation. It's true that Roxas is back, we all know this, despite Sora being away from Darkness again. Does this mean that the Nobody we've been seeking is still in Axel's hands?" He looked back and forth between the other two. "Saïx did say he had a run in with our dear old friend." The sarcasm was more then obvious in his voice.

"There's no telling where that damn Nobody is at this point." Xigbar spoke up before Xaldin could while he threw the now empty cases aside on the floor. "We've all felt his source of power a good plenty of times by now, but we've been forced to stay on the side-lines. Whoever has him is lying low right now, that's for sure." He turned around to lean his back against the bar counter, but still kept up the conversation. "Besides, who cares about those damn traitors? They can just die together this time."

Xaldin drew his fingers up and down his glass, seriousness taking his expression. "We can't let ourselves get distracted with the minute details. That Nobody must be our prime objective. Everything else can wait until he is obtained, used and tucked away." He took a moment to lift his glass and take a drink; ah, Luxord did have a talent with more than just cards. He set the glass down to speak. "Unfortunately we don't have any leads, as Braig so delicately pointed out. All we can do is sit and wait for him to give away his position with that illicit gift of his. Then it's nothing more than a pitiful race, a free for all, and a glorified tug of war." Xaldin glanced from one to the other before he slipped a few fingers together half steepled. "I think all three of us," he glanced back at the door before looking back, "all _four_ of us, can do better."

Those words had Xigbar turning his head back around to give Xaldin his attention. He had heard the cover up and gave the other Heartless a rather bored look as he tried to figure out what was going through his mind. "I don't see how you can think that. There's not much else that can be done. What you've decided to call a war is pretty much riding on what happens to that Nobody. So, it leaves us no choice but to play that twisted game of tug of war, don't you think?"

"Not necessarily." Luxord shook his head while he leaned one hand on top of the counter. "You should never settle for less. If there are other more productive ways to go about obtaining what we all want then why hesitate to use such methods?" He shrugged a shoulder as he finally pushed the bottle he had taken from Xigbar back over to him. "It's a simple thought."

Xaldin gave Luxord a rather brief grin, a devious perk of lips before his serious expression returned. "Method. Tact. Ploys and plots." He took a longer drink from his glass this time. "I'm sure there's a far easier strategy and one that will illuminate confrontation and competition." He looked over to Xigbar with interest; the man was smarter than he let on. "A little cloak and dagger."

Xigbar had grabbed hold of the bottle as soon as it was near him once again, but didn't drink from it just yet. He was still interested in Xaldin's words. He looked back and forth between both Luxord and Xaldin before a twisted smirk spread across his own lips. "Something that will get us what we want in seconds flat, eh?" He finally shrugged a shoulder while he looked away from the other two. "Sounds like a pretty good deal to me." He finally took a long drink from the bottle he held.

Xaldin nodded, looking to Luxord since Xigbar was busy attempting to drink himself into a stupor; which took plenty, considering they were Heartless. Not that they hadn't spent a month or so liquoring themselves up. "We have the means to take what we want; we just have yet to find the method. Pin point the Nobody's location before he lets it known to every two bit shadow that calls themselves Heartless."

"It's the only snag that we seem to have." Luxord watched Xigbar for a few more seconds until he got disgusted with the scene and turned his attention back on Xaldin to continue the conversation. "Of course it wouldn't be surprising if the Nobody hasn't left some form of trail behind where he's been. As much chaos as we've been told about so far there's sure to be something that will lead us right to him aside from the obvious, simple as that." He gave a quick snap of his fingers.

Xaldin was about to take a drink when something donned upon him. He set the drink down and leaned just a little closer over the bar counter. "Perhaps it's as easy as knowing who has him last. Knowledge that I'm sure our grand leader has." He rubbed his claws together as he carefully thought things over. "Why bother with something as grandiose as a full on assault like our old friends, when simply snatching the fail safe from the shadows would be so much easier. This mission requires stealth." A cold bitterness entered his tone, "Which is perhaps the only reason that scheming bastard _Ienzo_ has what he has."

Xigbar gave an annoyed noise at such a thing as he set the bottle he held back down on the counter. "He just got lucky. That's all there is to it." He finally turned around completely to face the other two and be in on the conversation once again. "Saïx is too busy licking his wounds clean right now. How in the hell do you suppose we get such vital information out of him when he's so ready to bite our heads off if we so much as speak two words to him?" He shook his head. "We don't even know when he's going to actually come talk to us about anything. We could be here for another month for all we know."

"How noble of you to volunteer yourself to go speak to Saïx, Braig." Xaldin gave Xigbar a heavy lidded smirk.

Xigbar blinked more then a few times as he tried to process what exactly he had just been told. It took him a while to realize his words had been twisted and when he did he scowled at Xaldin while he nearly leapt over the bar to point a finger in the other's face. "Wait a minute! I did not say I would do such a thing. If you have a death wish then you go talk to that unstable animal."

Luxord watched with a small bit of amusement. Xigbar was always pretty easy to rile up every now and then. "I don't believe it was a request, Xigbar. I believe it's an order."

Xaldin tucked either of his clawed hands into his bell sleeves, giving Xigbar a stern looking. "Believe it, because it is. We don't have time to sit here and wait for wounds to heal. We've done enough sitting here. It's time to actually accomplish something."

Xigbar leaned back again and looked back and forth between both Heartless. It was more then obvious Xaldin wasn't going to back down from his order and Luxord was only going to go right along with it. Either way he was forced into being the one to talk to Saïx. "Damnit..." He mumbled the curse none to quietly before he finally made a move to hop over the counter, landing on his feet. "Screw you, Dilan." They were the last words he spoke as he made his way in the direction Saïx had retreated.


	37. Chapter 37

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 37

In the darkness of a broken down city two figures continued to cling as tight as they were allowed after what seemed like hours of stress on their entire bodies. After the questions over what to do about the two stray Nobodies had been asked Riku would have no other worries coming from Sora and silenced him by keeping the other teen as near as he could. It didn't matter that they were still alone in an old abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. They were together and okay again, that's all that mattered to the both of them.

After a while Sora had dozed off against Riku's chest as was obvious by the way his hold had grown so slack around the other's waist. He hadn't had a decent sleep in a while and found it so easy to just wind down and fall fast asleep as he was in Riku's arms. Even if there were so many other important things to worry about, his body just wouldn't allow it without some type of rest.

Riku leaned heavily on the wall he'd dragged them to. His eyes had started to fall shut, lowering little by little. It seemed inevitable that his body felt the same as Sora's in matters of sleep. If Riku wasn't going to sleep when he should then it was going to make him. The stress of what he'd done on his own heart, he shouldn't have been conscious at all. But with Sora whole again Riku had found his energy to keep going in the one that mattered most.

But now with Sora sleeping there wasn't anything now to keep Riku going. Sora's slow sound breaths were lulling, helping Riku drift off as well when he had no energy left to fight it.  
The memory of when he'd visited Sora while the boy slept outside fell into his mind. He remembered how sleepy Sora was, so much to the point he believed Riku when he told him they were still on Destiny Island. He'd confessed so much to Sora, and yet some how they'd still managed to fall on the silly topic of weddings and braiding hair. That was Sora for him. Innocence to a fault.

Riku cuddled Sora just that much closer, Sora's words spoken back then flitting through his mind; _stay with me until I fall asleep, Riku._ Riku rested his cheek on Sora's head. "I will," the whispered words left him. And with an exhausted breath, Riku let himself drift off to sleep for the moment.

The two teens were undisturbed and left for a much needed rest on both their parts for a good long while, but the peaceful moment would be short lived. A certain individual that had broken away from the group long ago would finally find them once again after feeling the darkness that had been forced from the abandoned building.

The door to the building had been pried open much further so not only one, but two people could make their way further in and lay their eyes on the scene. One look at the smaller figure huddled up to Riku gave the wrong impression of what happened, but the thought wasn't voiced out loud just yet. Instead, ears dropped low at the thought of having to wake the two teens much like before. It was upsetting, but it had to be done. A keyblade was banished, having been out after such a long fight, and the hand which had held it reached out to shake both teenagers awake.

Riku's hand slapped Mickey's on defensive instinct, his eyes snapped open but he gawked when he saw who it actually was who woke him. "M-Mickey?" He stared at the mouse as if he were seeing a ghost. He'd nearly forgotten Mickey's existence with everything that had gone on. It felt like a life time since he'd seen Mickey's face. Riku's brows furrowed, caught between several emotions that wanted to take him. "W-where have you been?" He sat up more, disturbing Sora against him. "We needed you!" All that happened, it might have gone so much better had he his close friend Mickey there to keep him grounded; Mickey's light had often been the beacon that helped Riku find his way in his own darkness.

Sora had easily been disturbed between Riku's movements and his words. He moved both arms away from the other boy and raised a hand up to wipe under both of his eyes as he tried to get rid of the groggy feeling that still had a hold of him. "Riku?" His friend's name came out in a curious tone until he turned his head to look at what had the other's attention. "Mickey! What happened? Where were you?!" His eyes had widened as soon as they caught sight of the mouse and his tired tone disappeared.

Mickey looked back and forth between the two boys as he was asked question after question. He couldn't help shaking his hand which had been slapped away, but it didn't hurt too much. "It seems Axel and Roxas weren't the only ones that were in this city." He placed his hands behind his back while he kept his eyes on the two. "I was led to one of the other Organization members who turned this city into what it is now while the two of you ran in here."

Riku was taken aback. " _Another_ Organization member?" He shook his head, lost. "Who?"

"Saïx," another voice spoke up behind Mickey, soft and feminine. It had the hairs on the back of Riku's neck standing on end. "He's the one that did all of this." The blonde girl stepped forward, her hands clasped together, she looked sadly at either of the boys on the floor.

"... Naminé." Riku began to pale, staring at the Nobody girl. He suddenly felt very small. He then became very aware of Sora's touch, the smaller boy still on his lap, so close against him. It left him feeling uncomfortable and guilty, as if it were wrong to touch or be near Sora at all. Sora had been the reason for _her_ end; she had loved him. It felt like being caught in a guilty crime of bastardizing her memory by Kairi's very ghost.

Sora's eyes widened further at the face he saw connected with that one voice. He didn't think he would be able to speak up much like Riku had, but if he could he was sure he would only echo the girl's name much the same. Sora didn't seem to notice the worry that played out on Riku's face and kept right where he was on the other teen's lap. It was the clearing of a throat from Mickey which had him snapping his head back over so he could stare at the mouse instead.

"It was Naminé that led me to him. She knew about everything that has been going on in this city for a good while now and was able to take me to Saïx." Mickey gave a quick glance to the girl before he looked back at Riku and Sora. "He was in pretty bad shape, but for good reason."

Sora could only nod his head numbly to everything that was said. He still couldn't get over the fact that Kairi's Nobody was standing in the same room with them. If that was the case then maybe there was a small bit of hope for Kairi. He couldn't help voicing it out loud as he looked back at Naminé with hopeful eyes. "What about Kairi? What happened to her? How did you get free?" The questions came tumbling out as soon as he found his the will to speak.

Riku cut off Naminé. "A Nobody is created when a strong willed person turns into a Heartless." He turned his gaze away, unable to bare the sight of Naminé; she was living proof of the cold murder he'd done. "You know that, Sora." Riku pushed Sora off his lap; the guilt was just too much. "K-Kairi's… she became a Heartless." He pushed himself up to stand, walking away a few steps.

Naminé watched Riku sadly before she looked back to Sora. "Riku's right... When Kairi changed I -I was just me again. I woke up somewhere else, some how I ended up here. I ran into Roxas, he- he has a heart. A real heart." She was truly bewildered at that. "He wasn't just a Nobody anymore. Saïx was after him. It was Kairi's tie to you Sora that I was able to direct him to safety." She slowly shook her head. "So much has seemed to have gone wrong. I'm so sorry, Sora."

"And what about Roxas?" Mickey had taken to looking around the broken down building while words were spoken among the teenagers so he could get a feel for what happened. The mention of the other Nobody had caught his attention and he couldn't help voicing his own thoughts. "You're no longer a Heartless, Sora. Which means things must have been fixed between you and Roxas." He turned his gaze back on Sora after he finished speaking.

Sora turned his attention on Mickey from where he was now kneeling on the floor since Riku had left. The surprised look left his face and only a sad expression took its place. He didn't exactly know how to explain things, but he tried his best. "Not really. Roxas is still gone and Axel too. We let them go." After those words he got up off the floor and walked over to Riku, wanting to be near him after everything that happened and feeling an even bigger need then ever before to never leave his side.

Naminé chewed her lip but eventually turned to walk over to Sora. She reached out and took the boy's hand in hers, squeezing it with concern. "What happened between you and Roxas that put such a rift between you?"

Riku watched with a cool expression, trying his best not to make Sora and Naminé's touching hands the focus of his gaze; but it was something he couldn't tear his eyes away from. Jealousy and shame mingled together in what heart he had left. "Roxas loves Axel," Riku stated plainly before he forced himself to look away.

Sora didn't seem to think anything about the fact Naminé had taken hold of his hand. Still, he could almost feel Riku's gaze watching carefully, and the way the other teen had spoken the words had him giving the girl another sad smile before he pulled his fingers back from her grip. "It's true. Roxas wants his own life away from me. He wants his own identity. He doesn't think he can be loved this way." He dropped his gaze away from Naminé. It was easy to tell that such a thing still upset him as well.

Mickey narrowed his eyes at hearing such a thing. He still didn't understand the situation very well as he looked back and forth between Sora and Riku. If Roxas was still torn away from Sora then the worst should still be in effect, but Sora seemed to be his usual self. "If Sora was never able to rejoin with Roxas, then how did he escape the Darkness?" He voiced his exact thoughts, hoping to get an answer from either of the two.

Riku tensed up on the question but he didn't answer. He wasn't sure what Mickey would think on the stunt he pulled to heal Sora's heart. The least thing he needed at that moment was another speech about what more he couldn't and shouldn't.

"... I'm sorry, Naminé," Riku spoke up, changing the conversation for the moment. "I know that won't make up for what I've done in the least, but I am so very sorry. Kairi was my friend too. Her heart betrayed Sora's, and mine betrayed them both." His head hung low as his fists tightened.

Naminé shook her head. "It was a tragedy, yes, but... Vexen knew everything all of you felt, and planned the worst to happen." She walked over to Riku and rested a hand over his heart. Under her palm she noticed something strange, there was something different, a change she could feel through Sora's heart about Riku's own. Still Naminé managed to smile just a little. "I forgive you, Riku, if only because I've felt the love Kairi has for you, and Sora." She glanced at Sora before she looked back up at Riku. "Both of your friendships meant everything. I know that she wouldn't want you to feel guilty about what happened now that she's gone. It was just as much her fault." Naminé retracted her hand, drawing it back to her own chest. "Ansem the wise wasn't lying when he said that hearts are unpredictable. So please, find it in your heart to forgive yourself Riku, and, please, Kairi too."

Riku opened his mouth and then closed it, glancing aside. He didn't know what to say to all of that. It was like hearing the words from Kairi herself, yet it wasn't Kairi. It had Riku backing up until his back hit the wall to lean against. It was a bit too much to bare all in the span of one day. Riku found himself looking to Sora. Sora, who had the good nature to forgive anyone without second thought; especially Riku. All of it left Riku feeling a little more than dazed.

Sora's eyes were quick to lock with Riku's own as soon as he could feel the other's attention on him. He tried his best to smile, anything to help Riku feel better. He walked over with concern in his eyes and stopped in front of his friend, taking the other boy's hands in his own and keeping them held tightly while he started to speak up again. "She's right, Riku. There's no reason to continue feeling guilty about something if you've already been forgiven." He squeezed their hands together and smiled a little more. "Stop beating yourself up over it. Besides, Ikurx said he could probably help us, and bring Kairi back to us, remember?"

Mickey's ears perked up at that. The name Sora had just spoken was unfamiliar, but for some reason he had a sinking feeling he should know, and it made things even more confusing. It was true that he had found Naminé in the city, but the girl had yet to tell him very much, considering the Heartless problem. He was still learning what was going on as the teenagers spoke. "Ikurx?" He looked over at Naminé for a brief moment before he looked back at Sora and Riku, searching for answers for anyone that was willing to give them.

Sora seemed to realize his slip up because at that very moment he flinched and quickly turned around, letting go of Riku's hands in the process to scratch at his head. "Uh, yeah, Ikurx." He glanced around the room they were in as he racked his brain for some kind of explanation for the Nobody that would make the most sense. "He's... uh... a person." It sounded better in his head.

Riku groaned at Sora's quick wits. "Brilliant, Sora." Though some how Sora's horrible explanation had lightened the mood, at least it had for Riku. He stepped forward and ruffled Sora's hair. "I can definitely see why the universe is so safe with you on the job."

Naminé blinked, smiling she covered her mouth with a hand to stifle a giggle. Sora and Riku, they really were quite the pair.

Sora squinted an eye as his hair was ruffled. "Yeah, well it's not really far from the truth." He shook his head once Riku removed his hand and ran his own through each spike on top to straighten it again even though the action wasn't needed. "I'd like to see you try and explain things better then that." He dropped his hand and grinned up at Riku. "At least I'm quick enough to think of something."

Mickey shook his head. "Well, someone better explain something and a little more detailed then that, please." Despite his words he couldn't help smiling as well. It was a nice change to see some semblance of humor around the room after everything that had happened to the two teenagers thus far.

Riku let out a slow cleansing breath, centering his mind, readying himself for the words he was going to speak next. "Ikurx is... my Nobody." He glanced from one stunned face to the next. "It's a long story. A _very_ long story, so let me simplify it: He's a Nobody who holds power of the light, the ability to make hearts whole; Heartless, Nobodies- he can make them into Somebodies. The Organization knew of his existence from the start. He's a fail safe if their Nobodies weren't to succeed. All of them are racing to desperately find him to become whole." Riku looked to Sora. "... We found him here, along with Roxas, Axel and Demyx." His gaze fell to the floor. "It was Ikurx that split Sora's heart in two, giving Roxas his new heart that he has now."

There was silence in the room after the explanation for what felt like an eternity. No one dared breathe after the truth had finally been spoken and it seemed that Mickey couldn't keep the shocked look off of his face. Finally after several moments he began to shake his head back and forth as he held his hands up to place them across his eyes. "Oh no... oh no..." He continued to mutter the small mantra under his breath for a few seconds until he dropped his hands to look back at Riku and Sora once more. "This is very dangerous. That power of his could very well be our downfall if the Organization is successful." He continued to stare at the two until he turned his complete attention on Sora. "W-Why would he willingly split you in two? He knew who you were, right?"

Sora jumped a little, startled at the sudden question. The smile had been wiped off his face long ago. He nervously rubbed at his arm as he tried to come up with an answer to the question. "I don't really know. I mean, he seemed to know who I was while we were all here, but I'm not sure about while I was being split apart from Roxas. That part of my memory is still fuzzy to begin with. I hardly remember anything at that time because of Roxas." He chanced a nervous look up at Riku.

Riku gave a weak shrug. Mickey's reaction had done little to assure him. "There are plenty of complications to go with this." He let out a sigh that sounded far more aged than he was. After all he'd been through, he felt more like an aged man than any teenager he should be. "But... what I can tell you, is that every time the Nobody uses his power there's this bright sort of energy, I'm sure you've sensed it. Well, unfortunately so does the other Organization Heartless. They go running towards that light to fight amongst themselves to retrieve the 'fail safe'." Riku shut his eyes, his shoulders lowering tiredly with the weight of the problem resting heavily upon them. "I've seen Saïx, even Marluxia, and Larxene." Mickey was right, his very Nobody could be their downfall, the Organization's winning piece. His hand lifted to rest over his own heart; his Nobody, his fault.

Sora moved to grab Riku's free hand and ran his thumb across the palm to try and sooth his friend as best he could. At the same time he turned his attention back on Mickey and tried his best to be optimistic while everyone else poured out their fears. "It's not that big of a deal though, right? I mean, you said you went and fought Saïx which means that's one down and we don't really have to worry all that much about Axel. Wherever Roxas is then that's where he is. We'll just worry about him when the time comes again. It's not that big a deal guys..." He trailed off at the frown on Mickey's face. "What?"

Mickey shook his head at the question before he stilled and tried to think of how to phrase his words carefully. "We did find Saïx and tried our best to finish him off. Whatever had happened to him before hand gave us a very good shot at defeating him, but we could tell something was wrong over here. We sensed the Darkness, much more powerful then before, and while we were distracted he got the upper hand and was able to escape." With careful steps Mickey finally walked over to the two teenagers, but only stopped when he was in front of Sora.

With one hand Mickey tugged rather hard on the younger boy's scarf which only caused what little hold it had left around his neck to finally give and make it fall away. The dark collar that had been given long ago back on the beach was even more visible on tanned skinned and even more vicious looking then before. "He told us that the Keyblade Master was still collared." With those last words Mickey looked up at the two teens with sorrowful eyes.

Sora's free hand immediately flew up to his neck, but he didn't dare touch the collar. He was too afraid to even attempt it. It was the brief flash of memory of doing such a thing before and the consequences that came with it which had his fingers stopping just inches from the dangerous piece. It still didn't keep his hand from shaking before he turned wide eyes on Riku and let out a distressed sound.

"S-Sora." Riku stared with wide eyes at the collar. Why he hadn't noticed it before, he didn't know. Perhaps they all had been caught up in themselves to see it. The dark collar hadn't been wholly visible on Sora's previously black skin, the darkness always drifting from him in twitching coils.

Riku took Sora by the shoulders, tugging him nearer to get a closer look at the terrible thing. He tentatively raised a hand, keeping his fingers and palm inches from it. "S-Saïx did this?" The collar reeked of the Heartless' dark power. Riku tensed his fingers, trying to manipulate the dark collar to force it away. He didn't trust what it could do, so he didn't force it, he didn't want to harm Sora if the attempt back fired.

Sora kept perfectly still as Riku tried to will the collar away from his neck, but it seemed to be doing no good. If anything he could feel it trying to tighten itself and in an instant Sora started to panic and his hands shot up to grip Riku's arms as tight as he could. "Stop! Riku, stop it!" He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "It won't come off. It's only getting worse."

Mickey watched with worried eyes while he continued to keep a hold of Sora's scarf in his hands. There seemed to be no solution to the sudden brand that Saïx had on Sora. Until they could figure out a way to get the dangerous piece of darkness away from the teen then Saïx had the upper hand at the moment. It was just one more thing to add to the list of worries.

Riku's brows furrowed, he frowned at Sora's tight hold on his arm. He tried something as simplistic as touching the collar, but that caused it to tighten as well. Riku quickly pulled his hand away, resting it back on Sora's shoulder. "... Sorry." He hung his head, resting it a little on Sora's. It never seemed to fail; one problem was solved only to have a whole new more complicated one arise.

Naminé had been watching with a sad expression. She felt bad for her Somebody's two closest friends. Still, she refused to let their moods sink lower. "Don't worry, we'll think of something. You always do." She smiled a little. "It's just a collar. It could be worse, I'm sure." She raised a knuckle to her lips in thought. "Maybe it could be cut off? I doubt it can be indestructible."

Sora moved his gaze towards Naminé after the girl's sudden suggestion. He couldn't recall having tried anything to actually destroy the device that seemed to have gotten much tighter around his neck over the span of a few seconds. "I don't know..." He looked back at Riku with a worried expression while he kept their heads close. It was easy to tell he was scared over the entire situation.

"It's worth a shot." Mickey spoke up to try and help reassure the two distressed teens. "It will do no good for Sora to basically be held captive in such a way by Saïx. If we can find some way to destroy the collar then Saïx has no hold over him any longer. Pulling it off obviously isn't working. Maybe cutting it will?" He turned his gaze to Riku only.

Riku could feel all eyes on himself, but he kept his gaze on Sora. He gave Sora's shoulders a squeeze, trying to assure him in some way. "I can cut with precision with Way to Dusk, but... I won't do anything you're not sure about." He touched Sora's cheek, trying to ignore the uncomfortable pang that came from his stomach at even the smallest of affections under Naminé's gaze. "It's up to you, Sora."

Sora seemed to settle down a little at those words and the small touch. Riku wouldn't let anything happen to him and he could count on the other teen to try his best at getting the collar off if it was at all possible. He was scared, but he still had a large amount of faith in his friend. "Do it." The words came out easily as he continued to stare into Riku's own eyes. "Cut it off."

Riku gave a small nod against Sora's head. "Alright." He took Sora's wrist to lead the boy as he walked. "It's best if we do it outside. In private." He glanced at the others before he left the room to head outside. Once his boots hit pavement Riku gave the scenery a quick glance. There was no one residing on the planet save for minor Heartless; they would pose no problem, hidden away from the new comers.

Riku turned to face Sora once he stood in a decided spot. He took Sora's shoulders in either hand, positioning the boy. "Please, stay absolutely still." He tilted Sora's head back so that the collar could be best seen on his throat. "Head back. Don't be nervous, trust me, I won't hurt you." Without anyone there Riku was free to place a quick kiss to Sora's bare throat. "I'll do my best."

Sora kept his head right where Riku had pushed it to and followed the other teen's orders exactly as spoken. His even breaths were the only thing that moved his body along with the quiet words he spoke. "I know you will, Riku. I'm not nervous..." And he meant it even as he closed his eyes instead of staring at the darkness of the city's sky.

Riku let go of Sora, stepping back a few feet. He summoned Way to Dusk, twirling it in his hand as he ran his eyes over the collar. He let out a slow careful breath, pushing away all worried thoughts from his mind. Gathering focus, Riku raised his weapon. With quick precise movement Riku moved forward and sliced the collar diagonal. Anything else would have been cut away at such a powerful hit, but the collar remained unscathed on Sora's neck. Riku stared confused but then his eyes grew wide around; the collar began to tighten without mercy.

Sora's head fell forward as he felt the air start to be stolen away from him. His own eyes had widened just as much as Riku's but with his frightened expression came small gasps for breath that were doing no good at all. "R-R-Riku!" Amidst it all he was able to strain out the other's name while his hands flew to the collar. All his cares about touching it were erased from his mind as his fright over what it was doing to him had suddenly come back into play and he tried to yank it off only to make the situation worse.

"Damnit!" Riku threw his keyblade away; it disappeared on touching the ground. He latched onto Sora's hands, yanking them away from the collar. "Don't touch it!" He tried to keep Sora's hands down so he wouldn't try to desperately yank at it. "Relax, please- relax, Sora. Just leave it and it'll loosen." Or so Riku prayed it would. He squeezed Sora's hands. "Just keep calm, just keep still, and it'll loosen again."

Sora continued to gasp for breath around the tight hold that the collar kept around his neck, but he didn't dare struggle against Riku. Amidst everything he had heard the other's desperate words and tried his best to obey them. It was hard when he felt as if the world was blurring in front of his eyes and all he wanted to do was panic, but he managed to slowly keep calm.

With no more attempts at trying to be rid of it the collar soon started to return to its normal size around Sora's neck much as Riku had hoped. Especially with how still the teen had slowly become over time. As soon as the tight hold was gone Sora took in as much air as he could, coughing and gasping for breath as he held on tightly to Riku's hands. His whole body shook from his actions as well as the scare he just had and he nearly fell into Riku without really noticing.

Riku let go of Sora's hands to take the boy into his arms, letting him rest against him to catch his breath. "Cutting it obviously doesn't work. Tampering it in any way only makes it tighten, it doesn't matter what." He rubbed Sora's back, trying to help him regain his breath and sooth the coughs. "The only way we're going to get it off is defeating Saïx."

The hand on his back helped Sora settle down little by little as his breathing started to even out. Over time he had unconsciously started to cling to the front of Riku's cloak, but even when he realized it he refused to let go. "How will we do that?" The question came out in a hoarse tone after what had just happened. "Mickey said that they saw him, but we don't know where he is, do we?"

Riku shook his head and rested it down on Sora's as he continued to rub Sora's back. "There's just so much to be done... it's hard to figure out which problem we should tackle first." He let out a tired sigh, wishing he'd gotten longer than just a few minutes sleep before Mickey had found them. "But I suppose that decision is yours, Keyblade Master." He smirked just a little, finally slipping his arms around Sora since his coughs had finally subsided and they were alone. "Whatever you decide, I'll follow, to the ends of the world and further."

Sora managed his own small smile at such words and buried himself further against Riku's chest as the taller boy held him close. He tried to think over their options and it wasn't hard for him to put his own problems aside over the safety of everyone else. The most important thing in all the worlds was to not let any of the Organization get what they desired, but in order to do that they either had to do one of two things and it was this which Sora finally voiced out loud. "Our main goal was to defeat the Heartless, but I think things have changed more then a little. I think our safest route would just be to keep an eye on Ikurx and keep him away from the Organization." He pulled his head back finally to look up at Riku. "He's what they're after and whether he wants to join with you or not we still need to keep him away from them."

Riku nodded in agreement. "Find him." He brushed Sora's hair from his cheek, tucking a bit behind his ear. "Keep him safe. Though I doubt he'll be very happy to see me. I doubt he'll want me near. Maybe we should all split up. You could take Naminé with you, and finally fix the sin I committed." Riku didn't know why but he kissed Sora on the forehead, there was something sad about the affection. "While you protect him, I could take out a few of the Organization's Heartless. Find and defeat Saïx."

Sora's eyes widened a bit at the suggestion and the simple kiss almost had his stomach dropping. In a quick second he narrowed his eyes and pushed Riku back a little forcefully. He wouldn't have the other teen making such rash decisions much like he had in the past. Not after everything that happened. "No way, Riku. If we're going to defeat Saïx then we're going to do it together." He placed his hands on his hips while he tried his best to give the other teen a stern look. "You said that whatever I decided you would follow me. We're not splitting up. Not this time. We're going to be together through all of this just like we planned from the get go. Remember?"

Riku was taken aback by the shove and the outburst. Given what happened he hadn't expected Sora to still have such passionate fight in him. Riku had only given the suggestion of separation in their best interest but with Sora's heart mended it seemed Sora was dead set about keeping them together. Riku didn't feel insulted like he expected, instead he felt somewhat touched that Sora wanted to keep him at his side; together. He found Sora's attempt at authority rather amusing, cute anyway.

Riku nodded to Sora's question. "I remember and haven't left your side yet, Sora." He smiled just a little despite Sora's stern look. "I'll stay, don't worry. How can I leave when you're scowling at me like that?" He chuckled as he pointed to Sora's face. "With your hands on your hips like that, you kind of look like your mother." He hid his grin.

Sora quickly dropped his hands in an instant and tried to find somewhere else to put them. He settled for crossing his arms while he tried to stand up straight and keep the stern expression on his face. Sadly it had morphed into just another pout after Riku's words. "Do not." He defended himself and kept his gaze on the older teen for a few seconds. After a while a slow grin spread on his lips and he lifted a hand to point. "At least I'm not the one with braids in my hair."

Riku couldn't help but automatically run a hand through his hair to feel the tiny braids. He was actually surprised to feel they were still there, having forgotten them. Neither Mickey nor Naminé had made any mention of them.

Easily Riku tossed his hair back over his shoulder in an uncharacteristically hoity manner, smirking playfully right back at Sora. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not the one that put the braids in there in the first place." He grinned a little more as he teased Sora. "Did you get that quality from your mom too?"

The grin was wiped away from Sora's mouth as quick as it came and he started to blush as he tried to think of his own witty come back to such a response. He was never very quick on his feet with such a thing. "Shut up, Riku. You know my mom doesn't braid hair." As soon as the words left his mouth he realized they didn't sound as good coming out as he had hoped and he quickly had to stop and think about them. "Wait... um... hmm."

Riku laughed, grinning some. "I'd hope not." He rested a hand on Sora's head, enjoying the little back and forth now they could have even after such a dire moment had just occurred. "You are a boy after all." He ruffled Sora's hair a little.

Sora squinted his eyes a little as his hair was ruffled and just barely looked up at Riku from where the other boy had his hand on top of his head. He managed a small smile at their playful words all because of finally being able to get a laugh out of Riku. It was better to see his friend in a good mood then to see him feeling so much guilt. "Well, you didn't seem to mind having your hair braided. So, you can't really say much to that." He grabbed at Riku's hand and held it tightly with his own, letting them both fall between the two of them while he looked up at the other teen with the smile still on his face. "See, we're okay." He echoed earlier words while he swung their hands a little. "And we're still together."

Riku blinked at the obvious statement but managed to share Sora's smile in the end. "We're okay," he tapped Sora's chest, "because of you. Everything is always okay as long as you're there. You have a tendency to fix even the worst. I mean, if you can even make me smile, no wonder saving the universe is such a piece of cake." Riku rested his free hand on Sora's shoulder. "You can do anything, Sora. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Sora blinked his eyes at the words Riku spoke before his smile became bigger while he answered the other teen. "I know and that's how I also know we'll get through all of this, but only together. I'm not going to let you leave my sight any more." Even though lately it had been the other way around, Sora just felt better pointing it out his own way. He brought up his free hand to tick off their names on his fingers as he spoke. "You, me, Mickey and Naminé. We'll make sure nothing happens to Ikurx and because of that, because of us, the Organization will never get what they want. We won't have to worry and we'll defeat all of them." He dropped his hand only to wave it out in an excited way. "Then when this is all over we can finally go home."

Riku opened his mouth to say something but after that optimistic speech he wasn't quite sure what to say. He quirked his lips in amusement and soon shook his head. "You make it all sound so easy." He shrugged at a loss, though he couldn't crush Sora's good mood. And to think that only seconds ago Sora had feared asphyxiation. "Nothing to it, right?" Riku smirked. "Just put a few Nobodies in their place, destroy a few Heartless and we're as good as home. A snap." He snapped his fingers at that.

"Exactly!" Sora nearly bounced on his feet at just the thought of going back home to their island and their home where they could return to a normal life. He grabbed Riku's other hand so he had both captured and pulled the other teen down so their faces were inches apart, causing him to grin a little. "And, when we get back home you have to take me to the dance, just like you promised." With those few words he leaned in and pressed their lips together while the grin stayed in place.

Riku blinked several times, mostly to being yanked down and being kissed. Sora seemed so optimistic he was about to burst. It had a nervous laugh escaping Riku, muffled against Sora's lips. He leaned back, clearing his throat. "Right, the dance. Amazing how that silly idea has kept you going. You make dancing at a mundane town's school's dance sound like it's something much more exciting than traveling from new world to world fighting the darkness in people's hearts." He half smiled as he rested his head on Sora's, his silvery hair falling down to veil either side of their faces. "Remind me why it's so appealing."

Sora let go of Riku's hands at those words and allowed them to slip up around the other's neck instead, letting Riku's hands fall around his waist. "Because, it's just another moment that we get to share together." The words came out quietly while he buried his face near Riku's chest. "Plus, it's nice... when you hold me like this. I feel safe like this even if we will just be dancing." He shook his head a little after his words and pouted a bit, but it couldn't be seen very well. "Besides, it's not a silly idea. I still think it will be fun."

"Of course," Riku agreed as if it were indeed the most obvious thing in the world; according to Sora. He held Sora a little closer around the middle, swaying just a bit since Sora seemed so keen on 'dancing'. "Although, you beat Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody, I don't see why you'd need me to make you feel safe." Riku couldn't help teasing; knowing Sora would only pout more since he was only being sincere. "Though I guess I did help a little with each," he added with a smirk.

Despite what the cause of such a desolate city had been, Sora still found the situation they were in at that moment in the street nice and possibly romantic, but he wasn't going to admit that last little bit out loud to Riku. He'd only get teased for it again. So, instead he focused on trying to defend himself once again for the other's last few words. "I could have done it on my own, ya know." He mumbled the words quietly, but instantly remembered the last few seconds that he had been pushed out of the way so Riku could take a hit instead of him. "But... yeah... thanks..." His arms tightened a little.

"I know," Riku quietly agreed. "You can't live without me." He pressed a small kiss to the top of Sora's head, hugging him closer as well. After that he stayed silent, still swaying slowly with Sora in his arms. He'd never been one for dances or public activities of any kind, but the more Riku thought about it now, right at that moment, going to a silly dance at their school sounded like the best that all the worlds in their universe had to offer. If only to see Sora get what he wanted most now in life.

"...I love you, Sora," Riku murmured quietly against Sora's soft spiky hair.

"I love you too." Sora quietly spoke the words in return and after countless of times saying them they felt even better saying once more after all that they had gone through. Even if they weren't back home at that very moment he felt happy that they had some sort of peace and that they could easily play around with each other. Still, he couldn't stop his thoughts from wandering to an earlier conversation as curiosity took over his voice. "Riku, why didn't you tell Mickey about what you did for me?" Even after the question he still refused to move away just yet.

Riku went a little stiff at that, the swaying stopped. He felt as if he'd been caught doing something guilty. He tried to shrug it off. "Same reason you didn't, I guess. I wasn't sure how to, or what he'd say about it. I guess I was worried he wouldn't condone it. What we did was dangerous, what we've been through was far worse. I don't think I could take hearing one of Mickey's speeches." He gave a bit of a grumpy sigh as he half buried his face in Sora's hair. "We've put him through enough. You've heard his mantra of 'oh no's."

For some reason Sora couldn't help giggling at that even though he knew that he shouldn't and he quickly tried to quiet himself as best he could against Riku's chest. "S-Sorry." He cleared his throat and tried to settle down again. "Anyway, I'm sure he would have understood, but I guess you're right. Just hearing about Ikurx was a bit much. Adding onto that probably wouldn't have helped matters. Besides, we're dealing with it just fine on our own. No need to worry anyone else." He finally pulled back, causing Riku to unbury himself from his hair, so he could look up at the other teen. "Thanks, for saving me again..."

Riku brushed his thumb just barely along Sora's jaw. That pleasant pang in his chest was the same despite the dark surroundings as it was when they shared something back home away from prying eyes. And here they were alone for the moment, out in the streets in the middle of no where in an abandoned city, yet it felt the same as if they were stealing kisses in his room when they should have been studying. Sora made any place feel like home.

"Nuh-uh," Riku smiled just a little as he leaned down nearer to Sora, "thank _you_ for saving me again." He just barely brushed his lips to Sora's in a kiss.

A small blush crept its way across Sora's cheeks, but it was hard to see with Riku so close. With such a simple kiss Sora couldn't help giving a small whine that it would be over so quickly and tightened his arms around Riku's neck to keep the other teen in place right where he was. It was then that he pressed their lips closer together, wanting more then he had been given.

There was a gentle feminine clearing of throat not too far off. It had Riku's eyes snapping open, jerking back from Sora as if the other teen's touch burned. Uncharacteristically his cheeks grew hot and he lowered his head to hide that fact beneath silver hair. He hid his mouth behind the back of his hand, wiping it unconsciously. Being caught by Naminé left Riku far worse than embarrassed, it had the shameful guilt washing over him again.

"I'm sorry," Naminé quietly spoke up. As a Nobody she still couldn't help feeling somewhat bad for walking in on what she did. Everyone harbored feelings that she wished she could mend. "I didn't mean to interrupt. You two were taking so long; I was worried something might have happened." She raised a hand to her mouth trying to hide her smile; she couldn't help being a little amused. "But I can see you're both quite alright."

Sora's face had turned a shade redder if at all possible and he stared at Naminé with wide eyes much like a deer caught in headlights. He seemed to recover much faster then Riku though, and gave a quick nervous laugh as he raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head. "I-Its okay, Naminé. We were just talking about stuff." He dropped his hand and glanced at Riku, noticing that the other teen still seemed much more nervous then he was.

Sora quickly reached out and grabbed Riku's own hand before he yanked on the other teen's arm to pull him over to Naminé, stopping just a few feet in front of the girl without letting go of his friend. "We couldn't get the collar off." He pointed with his free hand at the said object, but acted as if the situation was the most normal thing in the world while he gave a shrug. "So, we're going to find Ikurx." He gave the girl a smile.

Naminé returned the smile gently and nodded. "Sounds like a plan." She looked to Riku who looked less than happy to be tugged around in his moment of embarrassment. "Don't worry so much, Riku." She leaned forward to look up, trying to see the teen's face through his hair.

Riku couldn't help but lean back, his hand fidgeting in Sora's. "I'm not worrying." He glanced at Sora, wondering how Sora could have such a smile so wide at such an inopportune moment. "I have nothing to worry about." With a smirk he gave Sora's arm a tug, giving the other teen a taste of his own medicine.

Sora stumbled a bit on his feet since he hadn't been expecting the sudden pull on his arm. "Hey!" He looked up at Riku and narrowed his eyes on the other teen for only a few seconds before a small laugh came from him and he pushed the other back playfully. After the small bit of retaliation he seemed to realize he had been in the middle of something and quickly looked back at Naminé. "Oh! You'll come with us right, Naminé? I mean, if we're careful then Ikurx could help you and Kairi."

The girl paused at Sora's question. She steepled her fingers as she gave it some thought. "If you think that's what's best." She nodded. "I'll help you, Sora. I'm sure if I do it'll put Kairi's heart at ease to know that she was able to, when all she could do before was stay at home and wait for you two." She lowered her hands from her chest and offered either to each boy. "Friends?"

Sora was about to take Naminé's hand in his free one, but stopped quickly and instead looked back and forth between the Nobody and Riku. With a quick movement he grabbed the girl's two hands and placed his and Riku's own clasped ones on top, grinning back and forth between the two the entire time before his eyes landed on Riku. "Friends."

Riku stared at their hands on top of each other. Maybe things would actually be alright. Maybe things could go back to the way they were. Naminé was Kairi in a sense after all. And Naminé was so willing to forgive, to look forward to a better future along with Sora, maybe Riku could too.

Riku glanced at Sora then Naminé and gave a small smile. "Friends."

It had Naminé smiling that much wider, feeling a genuine emotion where ever her true heart was. "Friends. Forever."


	38. Chapter 38

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 38

It had been long ago that the portal had closed up to let two weary individuals out and into just another deserted land. Demyx had tried his best to find a place where they could hide without having to take over a populated area and found his luck in the form of a small town that seemed to have been evacuated long ago. It was just fine with Demyx. He'd rather have not shown Ikurx what it took to actually conquer a world just so they could have a place to hide away.

With nothing to bother them Demyx had taken to the center of the town where a fountain sat no longer running. One simple touch across the clear water that still lingered inside and it instantly turned obsidian, allowing him to toy around with it at his leisure. Thanks to spending a small amount of time in the Darkness his wounds had tried their best to heal, but it was more then a little obvious he was still in pain. He tried his best not to let it show as he turned around to catch a glimpse of Ikurx, having let the Nobody have his own look at the town as soon as they entered it.

The Nobody hadn't wandered far off, just to the front of an old store window. It was easy to see Ikurx was in a torn state, half wanting to crumble from the previous shock and trauma earlier, the other wanting to shut down the farce emotions his body wanted to emulate. It made his motions slow, languid, and sometimes jerky like the motors of a machine that just wouldn't work right.

Ikurx tried to busy his mind by taking mild curiosity of what sort of store he'd found himself wandered to. He pulled the arm warmer over his hand so he could wipe away the dirt from the window so he could peer inside. It looked like some sort of toy shop. It was as dark and looked as dusty and unused on the inside as it did the outside. In a strange way Ikurx could relate to this shop, this town. A Nobody had everything, possibilities, and the potential to feel, they had everything but actual life; like this town.

Demyx kept narrowed, concerned eyes on Ikurx as he watched the Nobody peer into the store. They had been through a lot lately and Demyx felt that the silence was starting to be too much, especially with the look on Ikurx's face. They were at least safe and hidden away. There was no reason that they couldn't talk.

With careful steps Demyx made his way over to Ikurx and stopped just a couple of feet behind the teen. He kept his eyes on the window which held the other's interest so much and couldn't help being just as interested as well with what was inside. Still, it didn't keep him from voicing his earlier thoughts. "What's on your mind?"

Ikurx was more startled by the question than Demyx's approach. He rested a hand on the dirty window pane. "A lot... and not much." He dragged his hand down leaving a hand prints in the grime. "We always go to empty cities, deserted places. There's never anyone home." His finger began to draw out letters, his name. Vexen's written words on glass continued to haunt him; now more than ever. "When you're a Somebody... will it be any better, Mister Demyx?"

Demyx watched as the letters were written while he thought over the sudden question. He hadn't really expected something such as that to come from Ikurx. "Well, I'd hope so." It was all he could think to say for the moment after everything that happened, especially when his one reason for being was gone. It caused a frown to form on his face, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "I told you that you could tag along with me, remember? When I'm whole again things will be different. No more hiding in places like this." He looked away from the store and turned his gaze back to the fountain.

Ikurx shook his head, entranced by the letters he'd written down. "If I exist... they'll always come looking for me. They'll get you... Do worse than what 'Riku' did." After the words left him he began to write Riku's name above his. "I don't want what happened to happen again... I can't," his voice fell quieter. "I can't fight, or protect anyone... Except if I go away." Ikurx wiped away his name from the window, his throat tightening.

"Hey now, wait a minute! I can fight and protect myself just fine." Demyx swung his head back around to look down at Ikurx with narrowed eyes, but even to his own ears those words sounded like a joke. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave a sigh as his eyes moved up to look at the new letters that had taken up the window. A horrible feeling took over his chest and he suddenly just wanted to get rid of the thought of what Ikurx could be aiming for.

With a wave of his hand a small bit of water came forth from the fountain and Demyx aimed it straight for the name that was still written out along the glass while he made sure to avoid the Nobody nearby. In an instant it was washed away along with the dirt and grime. "You don't need to worry about anything like that, Ikurx. We'll be fine and so will you." He spoke the words quietly.

Ikurx watched the dark water trickle down the glass in a bit of surprise. He turned to look at Demyx but then down at the ground again. "Back on that other world... when we thought Mister Axel had," his voice petered off, "well... I went to talk to Roxas while he was really upset." Ikurx rubbed an eye although there was no real point; it just left a smear of dirt from his hand. "I offered to help him bring Mister Axel back; then and there. I asked him to take you with him after it was done... and to leave me there while the others came." He tugged at his arm warmer. "They'd only be after me, so... they wouldn't follow after you all."

"You shouldn't have done that." The words came in an instant as Demyx stared down at Ikurx. Of course, he was most surprised over the fact that Roxas would agree to such a thing. The two of them hadn't been on the best of terms, but it was hard to tell with what had been happening lately. "We would have fought for you. I would have fought for you at least." He shook his head. "You don't have to sacrifice yourself for any of us, Ikurx..."

Ikurx managed a weak smile. "You're a good person, Mister Demyx." His smile soon faltered. "But... I just wanted to prevent something like what happened. It's my fault... completely. It was me, my other half that did it." He turned back to the window, to stare at his hollow water reflection in the glass. "I'll always have to be in hiding; on the run... staying in empty towns, just so no one gets hurt. It's best if I just help you and you go." Ikurx leaned against the window as well as the frame, not caring that it was wet or dirty. "You'll be able to achieve your dream if you don't have me to worry about. You'll start a band. And you'll find someone to share it all with. Someone better than Mister Axel." Ikurx glanced back at Demyx with wet eyes, smiling just a little. "All because you are such a good person."

Demyx wasted no time in moving forward to wrap his arms around Ikurx, pulling the Nobody close after such words and the look on his face. "You don't have to hide and you don't have to run because I'll protect you as best I can. I won't let anything happen to you and I won't put you in any danger that you don't need to be in." He pulled back a little so he could look down at Ikurx, but still kept a hold on the teen. "I can wait to be whole for just a little longer. I'm fine with that. Just..." He stopped speaking for a second to chew at his lip in a worried fashion while he moved a hand to wipe away the sudden wetness that had formed under Ikurx's eyes. "Just don't try to do such rash things that you might regret later, okay?"

Ikurx stared up at Demyx, not sure what to make of the embrace or the Heartless' words. To hear Demyx say so many kind things after part of him nearly killed him, it left Ikurx's mind dazed. He was sure that if he had a heart it would be beating furiously in his chest. "... You know I can't feel." He tilted his head just a little, something between despair yet almost sarcastic. "Right?" Ikurx rested his hands on Demyx's upper arm, almost clinging to the Heartless' sleeves. "Anything we have... will just be empty." His fingers curled tighter in their grasp. "You're my closest friend, Demyx... but it doesn't mean anything. It means nothing." Ikurx slowly shook his head, his expression only feigning the hurt he wanted to feel with his words. "... I can't return anything you feel."

Demyx stayed quiet for a while after Ikurx's words. They hurt in a way, but he wouldn't let them detour him. Not when he had always been the one to believe the exact opposite so many times when he had once been a Nobody. "That's not true..." He finally spoke up quietly while he pulled Ikurx's hands free from his own arms just to hold them tightly in his own. "I believe that you can feel and have just as much emotion as a Heartless or your own Somebody." He cracked a small smile while he pulled one hand away to poke at the teen's forehead. "You're one of the most caring people I've ever met. I don't think anything you've felt is fake." He dropped his hand while he straightened up. "If we had all been emotionless and felt nothing inside then Axel would have never had the drive to care so much about Roxas for so long." He gave a sad smile as he finally finished speaking.

Ikurx blinked, Demyx did have a point. Axel did care a great deal for Roxas, though Ikurx had only known Axel's Heartless. Of course there was another side to that argument that had his brows furrowing. "... Then why would Roxas want a heart so badly if he could feel? He couldn't feel or say what he wanted to because he couldn't." Ikurx let his head rest on Demyx's chest, tilting it up to still look at the Heartless. "... Sometimes inside, it just goes blank. And- there's nothing. Nothing at all inside my chest. Like someone's hollowed out what's inside my rib cage." He couldn't help but grasp the front of Demyx's shirt. "... It's a scary feeling."

"I know..." Demyx responded quietly. His hand moved back up to twist around one of the small pieces of hair that hung loose near Ikurx's face. "I believe that if you're told something enough you'll start to latch onto what's been said. All of us, when we were Nobodies, our leader told us that we couldn't feel, so we believed him and we went along with the plan he had to get the hearts back that we supposedly didn't have. But things can change over time..." He dropped his hand back down and turned his attention back on Ikurx.

"I think Roxas can feel just as much as I believe you can. Even without his new heart he was still so determined and always had such an attitude. I can't imagine that coming from anyone without emotions. I think...he just chose not to. That he was too focused on so much else that he didn't want to care." Demyx blinked his eyes and quickly shook his head after those words. "But, you've shown plenty of times that you care about people and what happens to them, so I think there's something inside there." He moved back to point at Ikurx's chest.

Ikurx couldn't help but look down to where Demyx pointed to. He rested his own dirty hand atop the Heartless', smoothing the fingers out so Demyx's palm rest on his chest. "... No heart beat. I know that what I feel is nothing more than emotional instinct. It can't be helped." He looked back up to Demyx sadly. "I guess that doesn't really make it fake. Memories aren't fake. I suppose it is unfair to call them not real." He couldn't help but smile just a little. "... I would have liked to have met your Nobody. I could have learned a lot from him, about what I am." Ikurx couldn't help idly toying with one of Demyx's fingers.

"I suppose." Demyx tried his best to smile as well, but he felt a little lost inside. "Of course, I still have his memories of everything, so in a way I'm still him." He watched Ikurx's hand as the teen played with his finger and found that he didn't mind it all that much. "I guess that's why I have the same thoughts about all of this and why I feel so passionately about all of this. You'll be okay." He looked back at Ikurx's face and finally found he was able to smile a little more. "I'll make sure of it and you'll still be part of the band, just like I promised. Okay?"

Ikurx smiled just a little more but it fell away to something more solemn. His hand stilled to just rest atop Demyx's as he searched the Heartless' expression. "So... y-you want me to stay? You don't want me to go back to... -to where I came from?"

"Of course I want you to stay." Demyx's own voice fell quieter after such a question and his eyes dropped to their hands again. "I suppose it's a little selfish and hypocritical of me to keep you from your other when I've been trying so hard to be whole myself, but, I am a Heartless. In the end I'm always going to try to get what I want." He shook his head and looked back at Ikurx once again. "Still, I rather like having you around."

"You're just taking on a whole heap of complications, Mister Demyx." Ikurx shyly hid his smile and shook his head. "You'll be up against everyone and then some who wants to get their hands on me. I'm a lot more trouble than I'm worth." He rested his other hand on Demyx's chest. "You went up against Riku... and said all those things. And, even though you were injured y-you still tried to protect me. You went up against Riku, even though you knew he was my Somebody and how strong he is." Ikurx kept his gaze lowered. "I want to apologize so much and thank you at the same time."

"You have no reason to do either." Demyx was able to smile once again since it seemed as if Ikurx was in a better mood compared to earlier. "I helped you because I wanted to and that involves going up against Riku. I wanted to protect you and keep you safe, it didn't matter how strong he was." He gave a quiet laugh. "It's weird I guess. Usually I don't do confrontation very well." He seemed to think over something and clasped his hand around the one Ikurx had on his chest. "You could just call me Demyx from now on in return, though. We'll call it even."

"Demyx," Ikurx echoed. "No 'Mister'." He gave the quietest of chuckles. "I guess we've known each other long enough to stop the formalities. But I doubt it's a fair exchange, but, have it your way." He let go of Demyx's hand in favour of resting his head down next to his hand on the Heartless' chest. "Thank you, Mi- Demyx. All of this means a lot."

Since his hands were free Demyx wrapped them around Ikurx in a loose hold, keeping the Nobody close much like he had earlier. "You don't have to thank me. After everything that happened back on that world I wanted to try and help you feel better. I knew that some, if not everything that happened had to of been bugging you quite a bit." He gave a sad smile, but it went unnoticed by the teen. "I guess it's partly my fault and Axel's as well, for not telling you who your other was. It probably would have saved you at least some grief, but you were smart. You figured it out. Too bad it had to happen in such a way."

Ikurx let his arms slip around Demyx, finally hugging the Heartless back. He could remember the last time he'd hugged Demyx quite clearly; in that dingy ally way, relieved and happy for Demyx that Axel was alive. Now it was Demyx who was hugging him to help him feel better. It was nice, especially after such a detrimental situation not just moments ago on that other world.

"If I don't have to apologize, you don't have to either. I find I don't hold regrets well... guilt... worry. The feelings just come and go but leave no lasting mark." Ikurx shook his head against Demyx's chest. "It would probably seem very sad but, I don't feel sadness." He glanced up at the Heartless. "How... did you deal with all this as a Nobody?"

Demyx met Ikurx's gaze and seemed to actually think about the question. "Well, I tried not to let it bother me. There were other Nobodies around me and I tried my best to make them understand things the way I did, but I think it was a lost cause." He shrugged a shoulder before he went on. "I found that as long as I believed in what I wanted to and could at least attempt to care about someone, then I could handle it." He smiled once again. "Even now I'm still okay."

Ikurx gave a small sad smile. "I'm glad that so many have someone to care about through hard times; like being a Nobody. You had Axel, Axel had Roxas... I'm sorry about Mister Axel. I know you cared about him. I know you gave your turn to be whole to him because you cared so much... and he just gave it to Roxas." Ikurx stepped up on his tip toes to press his cheek to Demyx's, his eyes slipping shut as he quietly spoke. "This time, I promise to help you next and no one else."

Demyx blinked his eyes at the sudden contact, but didn't really find himself pulling back. His hands seemed to hold on even tighter around Ikurx instead. He gave a nervous smile that he was sure Ikurx could feel as he tried his best to speak quietly. "I-It's alright, about Axel I mean. He's happy, right? I guess that's all that matters and that he's okay. I really can't change his mind anymore then I've tried." He pulled back a bit to be face to face with Ikurx and his smile became more genuine. "Thanks though, and I promise that even after everything I'll still keep you safe."

"Demyx." Ikurx smiled more for the Heartless, happy that he wasn't upset for Axel's choices but happy for him instead. The Nobody pushed higher up on his toes to touch his forehead and nose to Demyx's. "A singer and a body guard? That's quite the full career you have ahead of you." He fell back on his flat feet with an amused sound. "And.. even though I'm just a Nobody, not as great as Axel, but- I'll be here as long as you want me to be... So you won't have to feel alone."

Demyx continued to keep his hold around Ikurx even after the teen had moved back down completely on his feet. The words that the Nobody said had him thinking and after a while he couldn't help the small laugh that came from him while he looked down instead of at Ikurx. "After everything with Axel I knew I would have to find some other reason to exist again, but I think you're that reason now. Maybe that does make you better then Axel."

Warmth stole across Ikurx's neck, up to his cheeks. "M-me?" the word barely made it past his lips. He stammered a bit, one hand falling to the keychain at his neck to fiddle with it in unconscious nervousness. "A-are you sure? Me?" He couldn't help but shy away, unsure yet flattered beyond all else. "That doesn't sound very smart-er, no, I don't mean you aren't smart Mist-uh Demyx." Ikurx let out a shaky breath and sound before he smiled at a loss. "Oh-my-God, I'm rambling." He raised a hand to his lips and tapped his fingers across them as if what words had come out were foreign. "I've never really rambled before. I don't think. Well. Maybe." He gave an embarrassed squeak and hid his face against Demyx's chest.

Demyx let out an amused laugh at Ikurx's sudden misfortune. He really couldn't help it, having never seen the Nobody so flustered. "Yeah, you are rambling." He pulled back a bit so he could look down at the Nobody again instead of the other's face being buried against him. He gave another small laugh. "It's kind of cute actually." He gave a lopsided smile at his own words before he pointed a finger against Ikurx's chest once more. "See, I told you that you could feel something. You sure do look it. So, you shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Ikurx gave a shy smile, looking down at Demyx's hand. "I guess so. I- I've never had any other purpose other than to help others with my gift. I've never existed as a reason for someone else. I- I'm honoured you'd consider me just that important." He rested his hand down on Demyx's that pointed to his chest. "It makes me feel like a real person. Not a no-one. Kind of like when I first woke up in the church. It was deserted there too but... everything made so much more sense because I didn't question it. Ignorance is bliss, yeah, that's the saying." Ikurx's mind decided to digress as he blinked, looking back to Demyx's face. "I've never been called 'cute' before."

Demyx blinked his eyes and suddenly he seemed to realize what he just said because he was soon stuttering much the same as Ikurx had seconds ago. "W-Well... uh... hmm..." He glanced away for a seconds, but didn't pull his hand away. "It's not like I was lying." He finally got a few words out and shrugged a shoulder to seem as calm as he had been before. "I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true." He realized he was the one rambling this time around and looked back at Ikurx, but his eyes moved down to their hands instead. "Yeah..."

Ikurx curiously watched Demyx's face but the Heartless was watching their hands now. So the Nobody looked down to their hands as well. "So you think I'm cute?" He gave a small laugh. "Aren't you inadvertently calling Riku 'cute' as well?" His other hand came to rest on their hands, it was then that Ikurx realized just how filthy he was. "But I'm so dirty." He wrinkled his nose; dirt, black water and blood.

Demyx shook his head as he continued to stare at their hands. "You're different then Riku. You are your own person, especially if you decide to stay apart from him." The smile came back to his face and he looked away from their hands while he lifted one up to tilt Ikurx's head so the teen was looking up at him. "And so what if you're dirty? It wasn't really something that could be helped and it doesn't matter much to me." He kept his eyes on Ikurx's face for a few seconds until his smile turned nervous and his hand fell back down. "You're still cute." Before either of them knew what happened he had leaned forward and pressed his lips to the Nobody's own while his hands seemed to shake.

Warmth quickly took the rest of Ikurx's face, his mind slow to catch up with what was happening. He hadn't expected it to say the least, especially after watching Demyx kiss Axel on the beach. Even though Axel was Roxas', Ikurx never considered Demyx's affections to be otherwise despite what was said.  
Ikurx had expected his heart to hammer in his chest but of course there was nothing in him that roused out of the ordinary. It was cruel, when Ikurx knew he should have been feeling more, much more than the painful guilty ache in his chest where nothing resided. This was his first kiss, his very own, but there was elation but not much else. Demyx's beliefs that Nobodies could feel felt sorely misplaced and it had Ikurx's stomach dropping.

Ikurx didn't know what to do, he'd never kissed before. Through the fog of his own mind he could feel Demyx's trembling, so he placed his own hands on the Heartless' to steady them but he had little energy of his own. His eyes slowly fell shut, lost in the lull beneath the feigning emotions and touch of lips on his.

Demyx took encouragement over the fact Ikurx hadn't pulled back. The hands on top of his own helped even further, but didn't stop his own shakes. They could never stop his frazzled nerves and in the back of his mind he wondered when he had become so bold as to lean in and kiss each person he was so taken with. Nothing would come to him though, so he instantly buried the thought.

After a few seconds Demyx pulled back. He certainly didn't need air, but he figured it would be nice not to keep too close to what was more then likely a completely shocked Ikurx for too long. As soon as he moved away only a couple of inches he gave a small smile and tried his best to laugh, but it came out quite shaky. "Your face is even more red now then it was before." Despite his sudden words his hands continued to tremble, but he tried to pay them no mind.

Ikurx slowly blinked open his eyes, looking up at Demyx with a dazed expression. "Oh? Is it?" his voice was distant. He raised a hand to touch his cheek and found it was indeed very warm. "Well, your hands are shaking." He squeezed one of Demyx's trembling hands he held. His mind blanked out to match the rest of what he felt inside; at a loss for most of everything.

Demyx looked down at his hands. He knew exactly why they were shaking as they were, but he didn't want to admit his fears out loud. Instead he quickly took his hands back and tried to busy them by twisting them around in front of himself. He was only able to do so for a few seconds before he caught the look on Ikurx's face. Something about it had the small smile he had tried to keep, falling away as quick as it had come. "H-Hey, are you okay?" A sudden guilt tugged at him, but at the same time there was that bit of sadness that continued to linger with him throughout his new existence. "Sorry... about that..."

Ikurx slowly shook his head; he didn't feel okay. A mixture of good and horrible churned in the empty hollow inside him, the nothingness threatening to win. "... Mister Demyx." He raised a hand to rub at an aching eye knowing the tears wouldn't come despite what he 'felt'. It smeared the dirt worse on his face. "Don't be sorry..." He took a step back from the Heartless, bumping into the window behind him with a small sound. "... It isn't your fault I-... I can't feel."

Somehow Demyx felt even worse with those words and he didn't think that was at all possible. He could feel his nails digging harshly into his palms as his agony and despair tried to tear at his heart inside. Still, he tried his best to smile for Ikurx's sake as best he could, but didn't take a step forward. If the Nobody wanted his space he would let him have it. He had done enough damage it seemed. "That's not true. Remember what I told you? I believe that you have emotions all your own. You don't have to feel hollow inside... if you don't want to..." His last few words trailed off quietly while he looked down at his hands.

Ikurx's hand went to the charm dangling from his shirt collar, leaning heavily against the window pane. "...I want to." He shut his eyes and tried to stir up something, anything, in the hollow but it was useless. There just wasn't anything inside to be had. There was no passion, no desire, no hatred; peering further still the guilt and regret that he had for Demyx was nothing but a paper thin lie. Still, such a pretty lie it could be if believed in enough.

Ikurx slowly opened his eyes to look up at Demyx with wet eyes. "... But I can't... Why? I want to." His brows furrowed. "I really do."

Despite his better judgment to stay away, Demyx moved forward anyway and wrapped his arms around Ikurx once again. He clung tightly to the teen, trying his best to comfort the Nobody after such words and at the same time, he tried to ignore his own shakes that had suddenly decided to come back at such a bold action. "I-If something makes you happy enough... then you can feel whatever you want for that one thing. Heart or not." He gave a small laugh once again as he brought up an old memory. "Just like on the beach. You had such a good time playing with the Heartless and watching the ocean, right? Those things brought you some small bit of happiness and you didn't even need a heart to enjoy them." His hold became a little tighter. "It's just the small things, Ikurx..."

The Nobody gave in, nearly going slack against Demyx in his embrace. "Like hearing you play your instrument. I really liked it... hearing music for the first time. I didn't feel so bad." He let out a shaky sigh. "The little things," he echoed Demyx's previous words. "... But what about the big things?" He nervously glanced up at the Heartless.

"If you can feel so much for just those small moments then why not bigger, better moments?" Demyx looked down to meet Ikurx's eyes. "There should be no difference no matter what you're going through. As long as you're happy and you _want_ to be happy. You can't let your fear that you may not have a heart bring you down for good. You'll always be in constant despair." He lifted one hand up and pushed back the two, thin pieces of hair away that framed Ikurx's face, not caring that they fell right back into place. "And that's not something I want to see."

Ikurx's eyes fluttered shut, something about the subtle touch soothed him. Slowly he shook his head, the long strands of pale hair swaying with the gesture. "Even if... I can't be what you want me to be. Even if I feel the little things... it isn't the same." He opened his eyes, glancing at Demyx before he looked away. "... I can't return what you'll feel. I won't be able to say those few words." He gave an upset sniff, clinging some to Demyx's shirt. "Sorry... you deserve better."

Demyx's hand dropped back down, but not on Ikurx. Both of his hands fell away while he tried his best to smile once again. "H-Hey, don't say that. It's okay. Y-you don't have to apologize. It really is okay." It wasn't but he said the words anyway for Ikurx's sake. Unconsciously his nails dug into his palms while they hung at his sides, but he didn't even seem to notice. "I guess... I should be the one... to say sorry..." Rejection was such an ugly thing, he was getting so tired of it, and for a brief second he actually despised Axel for getting everything he ever wanted from a Nobody that at one time gave nothing in return.

Ikurx's expression fell and he clutched his own shirt. He felt far more useless now than he had, helpless because he was missing everything vital. "I'm... I'm still your friend, M- Demyx." He slumped back against the window. "You mean a lot more to me than anyone I've met." But he knew that wouldn't be enough, he'd let Demyx down; like Axel. Ikurx slid down the window with the heavy feeling in his chest. "Please... Don't think you mean any less."

"I know..." Demyx spoke back quietly. His eyes were still on Ikurx, but it was as if his soulless gaze was staring straight through the Nobody. He couldn't help keeping quiet for a few moments after everything. It was just too much and even the small smile had slipped off of his face even though the tension in his body had finally disappeared.

As soon as Demyx seemed to snap out of the daze he was in he looked over Ikurx for a few seconds. It was obvious he wanted to try so hard to just change the subject with the next few words that finally left his mouth. "We should find somewhere you can get cleaned up at around here. It's probably not very comfortable sitting around all dirty like that."

Ikurx nodded pushing off the window, swaying unsteadily on his legs. Without warning he crashed himself into Demyx, throwing his arms around the Heartless to hug him tight. He despised that feeling left between them, the tightness in his throat and sickness in his stomach. Ikurx didn't say anything, talking hadn't helped, instead he just clung tightly.

Demyx hadn't been expecting Ikurx to suddenly cling so tightly, so it nearly had him stumbling when he felt the extra weight against him. On instinct his arms were quick to wrap around the Nobody, but as soon as he realized what happened he was even more hesitant then before to keep them there. Ikurx didn't seem as if he wanted to pull away anytime soon, so Demyx slowly gave into resting one arm around the teen's waist while his other hand laid on top of the Nobody's head as he kept just as silent as Ikurx.

Neither of them said anything for a while. Ikurx found a little comfort in Demyx's hold and hoped the Heartless did the same. They were all so mixed up from what had happened; an awkward rift was one of the least things Ikurx wanted between him and Demyx. Ikurx refused to let their mood dwindle and suffer like this. Demyx was trying, it was his turn now.

"It was a nice first kiss." Ikurx couldn't help the little muffled giggle that left him, perhaps a bit immature. "... Despite what you think. And what I said."

Demyx tensed up a little at those words and blinked wide eyes for a few seconds. It was the amused laughter that Ikurx had let out which snapped him back to reality, but only had him stuttering. "Y-You think so? Huh...I guess it was..." He shook his head and quickly tried to correct himself. "I mean not that it wasn't... it was good... but... um... hmm." He gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah..."

"Not that I have anything to compare it to." Ikurx quietly added. "I guess you do though." He tilted his head. "I don't know if that's a good thing. Maybe I disappointed you." He pursed his lips as he gave that some thought. "Oh... wait, maybe that's an inappropriate thing to consider." The Nobody touched his lips. "… I never expected to ever be kissed. Ever."

"Glad I could help?" Demyx spoke the words a little unsurely, but still he managed to smile a little. He shook his head and shrugged a shoulder lightly, thinking back to those few moments on the beach. "It... was actually better. I liked it." Of course the Nobody only knew about the one forced kiss and didn't know about the entire reason his chance had been given up to Axel, but he would have been too ashamed to admit falling for such a thing ever. He would definitely choose this moment over that. "You didn't disappoint me at all."

"R-really?" Ikurx could feel his cheeks grow hot. It then occurred to him that Demyx could be just saying that to make him feel better. "Liar." He lightly swatted Demyx's chest in good humour. "But... thanks I guess." He rested his head down, feeling more at ease. "I'm sorry... I was a bit too over dramatic after. Everything that's happened, I haven't been thinking clearly. I- I'm just so worried something like that will happen again, but w-worse." He pressed nearer. "You said you'll protect me but- who's going to protect you?"

"I wasn't lying..." Demyx muttered the words, but they were so quiet he doubted Ikurx would have heard him. He shrugged a shoulder, trying his best not to let anything else upset him since they finally seemed to be on better terms for the time being. He didn't need to be the one to cause anymore uneasiness. "You don't have to worry you know. I can protect myself. Besides, as long as you're okay then nothing else really matters. Not because you're what everyone calls you, the fail safe, but because... we're friends... right?"

Ikurx nodded against Demyx's chest. "Friends." He hugged the Heartless once more, tucking his head under Demyx's, nosing jaw softly trying to cheer him up with affections he wasn't familiar with. His voice fell much quieter. "It doesn't feel right to let you just jump in the way of danger by yourself. Just because I'm useless for everything else doesn't mean I can't protect you too. Maybe not as a fighter, but I could jump in the way." He gave a small chuckle; he was sure his humour was very off, but so was his mind at the moment. "I make a very good shield. Especially since no one would dare hurt me." He pursed his lips in thought as something occurred to him. His eyes slipped half way shut heavily, and he seemed to hold no malice as he spoke his next words. "Vexen did it once."

Demyx found his hold around Ikurx tightening at such words. "Vexen is a bastard." The words slipped from his mouth with no problem. It was rare for him to curse unless he was easily angered by something or someone. He hadn't seen the small moment that Ikurx spoke about, but he was sure that if it involved Vexen it had no doubt been dangerous. "You don't have to act as a shield, Ikurx. It would be wrong of you to do such a thing even if no one wanted to hurt you. I'll be okay." He pulled back and leaned down a little to be face to face with the Nobody. "Really, don't worry."

The Nobody's pale brows raised just a little as he looked at Demyx's face. Demyx's words were not something that Ikurx was used to. Manipulation, dominance, control, violence; that seemed to be his presence, his future. But it hadn't been the first things he was introduced to when he first opened his eyes; kindness, protection. It had to be his gift that people appreciated him for, there was nothing about him otherwise that he could see worth caring for. It wasn't low esteem, just with all that had happened Ikurx didn't consider himself a 'person' by definition. His personality was just an inverse of Riku's, and Riku hadn't proved himself to be a very likeable person.

Ikurx raised a hand, he'd never really touched another's cheek before, and his actions were a little clumsy, awkward from inexperience. Demyx's cheek was cold, but so had his lips but that hadn't made the previous kiss less unpleasant despite the thoughts they brought. Still, he'd seen others do the touch a few times, it seemed all the things he did were emulations. Ikurx wasn't sure why he did most of anything anymore, what drove him. "... Mister Demyx." Ikurx couldn't help the small amused smile. "You should know by now I'm jinxed. All of me. I bring misfortune. Bad luck. Especially," he lightly tapped his own lips with his free hand, "here."

The entire time Ikurx had touched his cheek, Demyx hadn't moved an inch. He hadn't been expecting it and was too afraid to actually do anything for fear of scaring the Nobody off much like he had done before. It was the tap of lips and words spoken which had Demyx snapping out of it and he honestly couldn't help his next few words or the actions that followed no matter how hard he tried to stop them. "I don't think you're jinxed. If anything I've felt very fortunate that I actually got to meet you. It's not your fault at all for what you have to go through. So..." He leaned forward and gave the Nobody another quick kiss, pulling back quickly after to give a shaky smile. "Don't ever think any different."

Ikurx blinked realizing he'd just received his second kiss just now. It wasn't as detrimental as the first, but it had been so quick he'd nearly missed it. Still it had him pouting up at Demyx after, more playful than scowling. "You're just giving yourself bad karma." His hand slipped down from Demyx's cheek to rest on his shoulder. "I hope you know that."

"I'm a Heartless. I'm not really supposed to have any good karma." Demyx easily joked back while he reached out to tug lightly on the chain which hung down from Ikurx's shirt. "It doesn't really work that way." He let go and his smile seemed a little more genuine instead of something scared and nervous. "But, either way, I don't find you to really lead to bad karma. Like I told you, none of what's happening is your fault. You can't help who you are... right?"

Ikurx nodded. "I think that's what I've been saying from the start." He finally smiled a little himself. "But I think Heartless have better luck than Nobodies. So you're just pushing your luck by keeping me and kissing me." He tapped Demyx's lips this time. "Bad Heartless."

Demyx blinked his eyes at the sudden gesture. He was about to protest back to try and defend himself, but something suddenly felt off. So far this entire town had seemed devoid of any life, but at that very moment there seemed to be another presence so close by that his own heart was picking up on. So much worry and frustration.

In a quick second Demyx was pulling Ikurx close to him with one arm wrapped tightly around the Nobody's waist in a possessive manner. At the same time he gave a quick flick of his other wrist to call forth more water from the fountain, allowing it to settle as a swirling mass above his hand and ready to aim at the approaching foot steps he could hear coming so close by.

A fierce energy wave slammed into the dark mass of water, splashing it away from Demyx's hand violently. Ikurx let out a startled sound, clinging onto Demyx with the sudden attack. He ducked his head down to avoid the splash of black water.

"Let go of that kid, Heartless!" one of new on comers shouted. He pointed the enormous broad sword that still sparked from the attack he'd laid on Demyx's water at the Heartless himself.

Demyx's eyes instantly narrowed. On the inside his usual fear of confrontation gripped at him, but the feeling of Ikurx clinging so tightly to him had the Heartless standing his ground. He didn't listen to the command given to him and instead pulled Ikurx away to push the Nobody behind himself. As soon as both his hands were free he called forth his sitar, keeping the weapon close as soon as it formed in a rush of black water. His hand ran over the strings of his precious instrument and the water that had been splashed away began to form once more only to jet quickly towards the new comer.

Before the water could reach its destination another broad sword was right there to stop it, swinging down towards the ground as it collided with the powerful spray. Energy crackled as the dark water hit the edge of the sword before the liquid was forced away once again. Narrowed eyes were trained on the Heartless as words were spoken again. "Let him go..."

Behind Demyx Ikurx's eyes snapped open wide; those voices, so familiar. Something gripped Ikurx's chest from inside; could it? Ikurx leaned over to peer past Demyx, peeking from underneath the sitar to the two that suddenly attacked them. His eyes grew wider still.

"M-Mister C-...!" Ikurx quickly scrambled from behind Demyx, nearly stumbling on his own weak legs. He skidded to a stop in front of Demyx putting himself between the Heartless and the two new comers. He threw out his arms at the side, shielding with his own body. "Stop! Please stop! Mister Cloud and Zax!"

Demyx's eyes widened at Ikurx's sudden bold move. He had quickly moved a hand out to try and grab the Nobody, but Ikurx's own voice stopped him. He was shocked more then anything that the teen had suddenly spoken as if he knew these people that had suddenly attacked him. It didn't stop Demyx from sending another hateful look their way while he reached a hand out to place it on Ikurx's shoulder to try and pull him back again.

Demyx wasn't the only one shocked by the outburst. Cloud straightened up out of his sudden defensive stance at seeing the Heartless being shielded in such a way. He sent a confused look towards Zax before he turned narrowed eyes back on the teen and took only a step forward, not sure what the Heartless would do. "Ikkuris, he's dangerous. He's a Heartless. We need to get you away from him."

Ikurx stood his ground despite Demyx's hand on his shoulder. He shook his head at Cloud's words. "No. No he's not. He's my friend." His eyes fell on both deadly weapons that the men held, pointed his way, it caused him to let out a shaky breath. "He- he's helped me since I was taken by Vexen." Ikurx stared at Cloud with pleading eyes; he felt so drained, ragged. Still, here was Cloud and Zax, like ghosts from his memory. "Y-you're alright though," there was obvious relief in Ikurx's words. "I was so worried something happened. But you're okay." His eyes shut half way in exhaustion. "You're both okay." His arms lowered just a little, fatigue eating away his strength to keep them up. "And I'm okay. Please, let's just keep it at that." Ikurx shook his head. "Please, no more fighting. I can't bear to watch anyone else get hurt."

Cloud seemed to realize that he still had his weapon pointed right in Demyx's direction, but it wasn't Demyx that was in his sword's sight at the moment. He quickly lowered it for the time being and continued to keep narrowed eyes on the two, not understanding what was really going on despite the words being said. "Friend? Ikkuris, Vexen was a Heartless and he sure wasn't your friend. He stole you away from us. We've been looking for you for the longest time. We've searched so many worlds and came up empty handed so many times. We can't just leave you here with a Heartless that will do who knows what to you. Heartless aren't our friends!"

Demyx's grip tightened a little at those words while his other hand tightened on his sitar. He felt hurt by such a statement even if it was true. But he had tried so hard to convince Ikurx otherwise and to gain some kind of bond with the Nobody that it just felt like a horrible stab, especially if Ikurx knew these people. More and more he just wanted to make them go away, but Ikurx would never forgive him for that.

"... Vexen stuck me with wires. Injected me with some kind of," Ikurx couldn't help but shudder at the memory, "horrible liquid that- until I agreed to help him." He took a slow breath, trying to steady the trembling that began to run through him. "Demyx, here," Ikurx rested a hand on the one on his shoulder, "he asked me... he's never forced me to do anything, never hurt me. He-he almost died- and still tried to protect me. He's promised to always protect me." Ikurx pleaded his palms up to the air. "You don't have to leave, just believe me. Demyx would never hurt anyone. He isn't like the other Heartless. He's a good person, Mister Cloud."

Cloud still seemed a little dumbstruck about everything. He couldn't believe what he had just been told. There was no way that a Heartless had actually tried to protect someone or could actually be described as a good person. It just didn't add up. He didn't even know how to respond to such pleas anymore and finally looked to Zax once again for help, needing the other to help him talk some sense into the teen as well.

Zax looked from Cloud to Ikurx. He rested his broad sword on the ground beside him. The entire situation was strange to him. His experience with Heartless had never been good to say the least. If kids today were saying that Heartless were good natured people, then perhaps he had been gone far too, too long from this world.

"Kid..." Zax started slowly and quietly trying to meet Ikurx on equal ground, "Heartless are just self serving creeps, empty puppets for the Darkness. C'mon, just move away. We can all go and just leave him, we won't hurt him."

The deal caused Ikurx to take a step back rather than a step forward. He bumped into Demyx but the Nobody stood his ground. He shook his head. He believed in the two men standing before him, but trust was something that was waning with Ikurx. "No. I can't leave him. He doesn't have anyone else." Ikurx gave them a weak smile. "Thank you so much for looking for me. You only just met me and you still went out of your way to find me, even when you two had your own problems and lives. Especially now that Mister Zax is with you, and you're okay now Mister Cloud." His smile went sad. "Don't think that I'm ungrateful. It means everything to know I have two more friends in all these worlds. But a lot has happened since I last saw you two. More than I can comprehend right now. So please, no more fighting, no more today, I'm begging you."

Cloud's hand tightened around his sword. "There are a lot of people after you, Ikkuris, and after that gift of yours. These people will stop at nothing to get what they want. These Heartless, they don't care what it takes; even if it means making you believe something you want." He hated to be so blunt with the teen, but it was for his own good. "Even if it means pretending to be your friend and pretending to care. What do you think will happen afterwards? You saw what happened at the church. Heartless are only monsters."

Demyx finally tensed up at that and quickly shook his head. He finally had enough of such words. He was plenty capable of caring. He had a heart. He didn't need to be told he was pretending any longer. "Shut up!" The words were shouted in a desperate voice at the two humans across from him. "You don't know what you're talking about!" His hand had fallen away from Ikurx to grip his sitar along with his other once more. "I would never do something so... so... underhanded..." He trailed off more quietly.

Ikurx couldn't take being in another dangerous stalemate just after being in another one. Especially with the two men he'd first met in his life locking horns with the one person who had become his closest friend. It was hurtful, but the more Ikurx dwelled on that pain the more that gaping nothingness wanted to tear through and leave him uncaring to any of it. He had to stop it before that and worse happened.

Ikurx turned to face Demyx, placing his hands delicately on the side of the sitar. "Please... put this away. No more fighting. They're my friends; please don't get angry about what they say. They've..." They were on the opposite side of the spectrum from Demyx; but Ikurx didn't know how to explain that. Ikurx began to shake again, his fingers trembling atop the sitar.

"It was Heartless that killed me, Ikkuris!" Zax shouted to gain Ikurx's attention. It was a disturbing thing to shout and maybe Ikurx already knew, but now was a desperate time. It had definitely caught Ikurx's attention, and the boy turned slowly in shaky unsure motions to look at Zax. The look in the teen's eyes was devastation, and he looked from Zax to Cloud.

Cloud turned his eyes away from the look on Ikurx's face as he tried to keep his own expression from showing any real sadness in it. All he could do was watch the dirty ground while his eyes moved back and forth between it and his sword. "It's true. It happened a long time ago. They don't have any mercy, Ikkuris."

Demyx shook his head once more to try and deny all that had been said. "B-But... it wasn't me!" He turned his eyes away from the two to look down at Ikurx to try and help explain himself. "I didn't do that, you know that right? If it was a long time ago then you know it wasn't me." He looked down at his weapon and remembered that Ikurx had asked him to get rid of it. In a quick splash the instrument was gone and his hands fell down to his sides, looking away afterwards.

Ikurx rubbed an eye, his brows furrowing. His head lowered, but he had no heart to sink. "... I'm sorry that happened." His hand rose to the star charm. "I am so sorry. But not all Heartless are selfish. Some love. And some want to change. They weren't always what they were." He plucked the keychain off his collar, holding it out for the two ahead of him to see. "I can make Demyx whole right now if you don't trust him... I promised him he'd be the next I helped." He blinked wet eyes that would never tear. "Maybe as a Somebody you'll trust him... But, if I do, it'll alert all the rest of the Organization that want me to where I am." He held the keychain out further, the charm jingling. "... It's your choice."

Before either of the two men could answer Demyx reached a hand out to place it on top of Ikurx's own that held the charm. His fingers curled around to stop the Nobody from calling forth the keyblade despite waiting for an answer as to whether he should. "No... don't put yourself at risk like that. It's okay..." He spoke the words quietly while he kept narrowed eyes on Ikurx.

Cloud watched the quick exchange with a troubled gaze. In all honesty he had never been more confused in his life. It was such a delicate situation that they were in at that moment, but he couldn't just tell the teen to put himself in such a situation. It still surprised him to hear the Heartless speak those same words. He shook his head while the grip he had on his sword loosened and soon he was moving up a hand to rub at his face. "Damnit..." They were the only few words he could get out.

Zax let out a quiet tired sigh, and much against his better judgment he sheathed his sword behind his back. "This is getting us no where. We didn't come all this way for hostage negotiation." He looked at Cloud. "Two against one isn't all that fair anyway."

Cloud seemed a little more hesitant, but after a few seconds he finally gave in and put his sword away as well. He found no reason to be on guard any longer if Zax wasn't. "Fine, whatever." The words were mumbled, but he kept narrowed eyes on the Heartless that was still too close to Ikurx for his comfort. "We're not going to hurt him okay, Ikkuris? It's just hard for us to easily trust him let alone understand anything that's going on. These Heartless _have_ done horrible things in the past."

Demyx finally relaxed as well since both men had put away their weapons. His hand had dropped away from Ikurx and he was a little more at ease to know that with Ikurx's help he had gained some kind of trust with the two. That was until he heard Cloud's last few words. They almost had him flinching back from Ikurx. He knew exactly what Cloud was talking about. Their Nobodies. Ikurx still didn't know what terrible things he really had done in the past.

Ikurx let out a relieved exhale. All seemed well, for the most part. He clicked the keychain back on his collar. "The past is the past. What about the future?" Without warning he reached back and grasped Demyx's hand and pulled the Heartless towards the two men; that brought on new tension. But he stubbornly dragged the Heartless over until they stood in front of Cloud. Ikurx grabbed Cloud's hand and made him hold the hand he had of Demyx's to shake. "Mister Cloud, Mister Demyx. Mister Demyx, Mister Cloud." Ikurx gestured to Cloud's dark haired companion. "And this is the one that matters most to Mister Cloud, Mister Zax." Zax was taken aback, blinking a few yet still on guard, he raised a hand to give a small wave at a loss to really do anything else.

Demyx seemed much more nervous then he ever had in all his existence. He was half expecting both Cloud and Zax to suddenly bring out their swords again and swing at him at any moment, so the sudden wave Zax gave had him jumping a little since he was on edge. He tried his best to smile, but it was shaky at best while he raised his free hand up to wave back at Zax since his other hand was occupied still in Cloud's own. He didn't even seem to notice. "H-Hey..."

Cloud had almost blushed, embarrassed at Ikurx's words, but he managed to hide it pretty well. He looked up and down from Demyx and to his hand, realizing the Heartless had forgotten all about the fact Ikurx had placed their hands together. He was quick to pull his own back though, a little uncomfortable still with the entire situation. "I take it this means we're going to have a Heartless tagging along now. Just perfect..." There was obvious sarcasm with his words. If only because he could imagine their other companion's reactions once they got back to the ship.

Ikurx looked from one to the other, everything was going alright. Cloud had accepted Demyx. Their reunion wasn't turning out so bad after all. He turned to Cloud and then suddenly threw his arms around the man to hug him, relieved for everything. "Thank you, Mister Cloud."

Zax crossed his arms, finally smirking just a little. "Looks like you have an admirer." He ruffled Ikurx's hair then looked at his hand after. "And he's filthy."

Cloud looked even more surprised then he did previously. He seemed to have a hard time figuring out where to place his hands and just settled for patting the top of Ikurx's head. "You're welcome." He glanced over at Zax after the other's words and then back down at Ikurx, letting out a small sigh. "I guess we're going to have to stop off somewhere and get you cleaned up. I doubt we'll get it done in this place."

Demyx gave a sheepish smile as he tried his best to push away all his nervous feelings. "W-We were kind of in a hurry to find some place to get away to. Most of the mess that's on him is my fault." He looked at Ikurx and realized that some of the blood and water probably didn't look all that great after those words and he quickly raised his hands up and shook his head to defend himself. "I mean, I didn't hurt him or anything... stuff just... uh... happened!"

"It's Demyx's water power... and b-blood.", Ikurx quickly explained before Cloud could say anything. He clung to Cloud a little more. "We were attacked. Demyx was hurt badly."

Zax stepped forward to look Demyx over. He raised a brow, looking quite unimpressed. "He looks fine to me." Despite trusting Ikurx's judgment, he still didn't have to like the Heartless or believe him.

Demyx merely shrugged at those words, but still took a step back when Zax got close to him. "I'm a Heartless, so I heal easily while I move through the Darkness. We had to take a portal to find a safe place to hide out in. Not to mention the last place we were at was already pretty controlled enough that it didn't take too long for me to heal up. I'm still a little sore, though." He started to look over himself after those words. "Got stabbed clean through. It hurt like hell."

Cloud almost gaped at those words. Demyx spoke as if getting stabbed was the most normal thing in the world as he checked himself over. There were still a few words that had Cloud on edge and he quickly pulled Ikurx away from him, placing his hands on the teen's shoulders and looking down at him as if to check him over for actual injuries. "You took a portal with him? Are you okay? That's even more dangerous then just hanging around with him."

Ikurx blinked up at Cloud rather confused, if not dazed. "It is? Why?" He gave himself a brief left over like Cloud did. "I'm fine."

"Some friend you are." Zax whacked Demyx upside the head. "Even if you think you can protect him from the Darkness just because you're a Heartless, the Darkness is unpredictable. It isn't something some lowly Heartless can control or keep at bay on their own." He scoffed at such ignorance; though it made him feel a bit like Leon with the preaching.

"Owww..." Demyx whined as he flinched back from the sudden hit to his head. He rubbed at the spot as he squinted one eye closed and kept the other open and on Zax, expecting the man to suddenly up and hit him again. "Well, it's not like he can't handle it. I mean, I'd understand if he was just some normal human, but he's a Nobody. I wouldn't put him in that type of danger otherwise." He dropped his hand when he suddenly got a blank look and felt uncomfortable with such a thing. "W-What?" He stuttered nervously and back stepped once more.

Cloud blinked his eyes more then a few times on the Heartless as he tried to take in what had just been said. Somehow he just couldn't process it and quickly looked down at Ikurx, trying to search the teenager's face. "What did he just say?"

"D-Demyx..." Ikurx looked at the Heartless and then to the ground. Cloud and Zax didn't know who or what he was; for reasons of saving them from being drawn into his mess, he would have liked them to not know. Ikurx shook his head, lowering it more as if he'd been caught doing something wrong.

Zax tilted his head with a frown as he considered the boy. "Ikkuris...-a Nobody?" He dragged a hand through his hair as he dragged out an audible exhale. "Cloud, this is getting needlessly complicated."

Demyx shifted his feet at the sudden look he had gotten from Ikurx. He felt guilty all over again and realized that he probably should have kept his mouth shut. It didn't help with the way that the Nobody spoke his name. It quickly had him looking away to the ground as well. "Sorry..." He mumbled the apology quietly.

Cloud kept his eyes on Ikurx even after Zax's words. It was such a shock, but at the same time they should have been expecting something like this. The Heartless were after this boy for some reason and the power he had was unique. There was just no explaining it. Add on the keyblade that he had seen and it was just too much. He narrowed his eyes once more on Ikurx and tried to be as calm as possible as he spoke up. "Tell us what's going on. You told me that you didn't know anything about yourself when I found you aside from your name."

Ikurx just shook his head unable to find his voice to explain anything, though he didn't want to drag Cloud into the problem more than he had. So he stayed silent, keeping his eyes on the ground.

Zax watched Ikurx but still no answer came. He walked over to Cloud and set a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe now isn't the time. He's been through a lot. Haven't we all." He rested his other hand on Cloud's on Ikurx's shoulder. "Ikkuris will tell us when he feels its right."

Cloud kept his eyes narrowed on Ikurx for a few more seconds even after Zax's try at reasoning before he finally let out another small sigh and pulled both his hands away. "Fine, we'll drop the subject for now. You can tell us everything when you're ready to." He looked back and forth between Ikurx and Demyx before he turned his gaze back on Zax. "We should get going anyway. We've left the ship alone with those two for long enough."

Ikurx peeked up to look at Cloud. "Two?" He couldn't recall any others save for Cloud and Zax that he'd met at the church.

"Hmm?" Cloud glanced back at Ikurx and shrugged a shoulder. "Oh, just friends of a friend. We've been trying to help them find someone while we've been looking for you at the same time. They ended up at the church not long after you disappeared and after that we had to get pretty informed over everything that's been going on." He looked over at Demyx and his eyes narrowed once again. "They're going to be just as much on the defensive as we were that there's a sudden Heartless tagging along."

"T-That's okay." Demyx tried his best to smile with those words, but he still felt nervous around Ikurx's other two friends. All of his bravery from earlier had been sucked out of him. He was pretty much spent in that department. "I'm sure it can be explained just as easily to them, right?"

"Friend of a friend," Ikurx quietly echoed. He didn't have much energy to argue who the new people were or where Cloud and Zax were going. Anywhere sounded good, as long as he and Demyx were safe from everything else. Ikurx walked nearer to Cloud and clunked his head on him. "Alright. Let's go," he quietly spoke, perhaps a little too softly to hear.

Cloud seemed more then a little startled once again. It was easy for him to get over it this time though and let out another small sigh. It was obvious Ikurx was more then just a little tired out, so he probably wouldn't be able to walk all the way back to the ship on his own. Cloud was quick to remedy this and moved down to scoop the teen up in his arms, not minding very much at the moment. He sent a look to Zax, warning him not to say a word before he spoke himself. "Come on, let's hurry up and get back." He then glanced back at Demyx. "You. Follow." After the command he started on his way.

Demyx frowned at being ordered around in such a way, but the look he was given had him shutting up quicker then he could really protest. He felt a tad jealous over having to watch Cloud carry Ikurx since he had been the only one to do such a thing so far, but he didn't argue that either. Instead he kept quiet and only looked back and forth between the two men before he began to follow just as told.

Despite being suddenly carried Ikurx made no sound or motion to argue Cloud's better judgment for the moment. Instead he let his arm slip down, reaching back behind himself, behind Cloud, a hand for Demyx. Even if Cloud disapproved of the company, Ikurx didn't want the Heartless to be or feel left behind. Ikurx stretched his fingers out weakly for Demyx, even though the Heartless was too far to reach to grab anyway.

Demyx had glanced up from the ground at the sudden movement ahead. His eyes caught sight of fingers that were trying their best to reach out and soon his eyes were moving up to connect them to an owner. His jealousy vanished in that instant, and even if he couldn't reach so far, Demyx still lifted his hand anyway to try and touch Ikurx's fingers with his own while he gave the Nobody a timid smile even if it couldn't be seen. For once he finally felt truly wanted.


	39. Chapter 39

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 39

It was as it was dreaded: school. The word brought the dread it promised; long dull classes, strict ruling teachers that drawled on and on, pencil, paper, pens, reading, work, work and more work. But what it brought for Hayner was what he thought he'd enjoy having back: Roxas. But with Roxas came that obnoxious punk boyfriend of his. It left just two more for two he was already avoiding.  
It had been hard enough avoiding Roxas. They shared classes, but some how Hayner managed to keep from confrontation, ignoring the worried glances and notes thrown his way. After class Hayner made sure to be the first to leave, disappearing into the crowd. Many found it strange that Roxas' best friend was avoiding him after a month of his disappearance. But there was plenty of catching up to do with teachers, home work and acquaintances to keep Roxas from perusing Hayner anyway; thankfully. Roxas also had the responsibility of showing the 'new kid' around, leaving Hayner an opening to continue his cold shoulder disappearing act.

Of all people Hayner found himself finding company in the one person he shouldn't have. But since their moment in the tunnel, Hayner couldn't help himself. His feet seemed to have a mind of their own, and Hayner found himself finding Seifer. None of his friends hung around where Seifer and his gang did, so no one important saw him walk up to Seifer. Of course there was still Rai and Fuu, but Hayner sent them a glare each; he wasn't in the mood to deal with their antics at the moment.

Of course that didn't stop Fuu from stepping forward like some sort of body guard for Seifer. She stood in Hayner's way, brandishing a 'halt' hand in Hayner's face. "STOP." She pointed at Hayner and narrowed her one visible eye. "UNWORTHY."

Rai was quick to join Fuu's side, creating even more of a barricade in front of Hayner so that the shorter teen couldn't get by. "Yeah, what makes you think you can just walk right up to Seifer like that? You got no business around here. Get lost."

There was what sounded like an annoyed sigh that came from behind them before two arms landed on both Rai and Fuu's shoulders as Seifer leaned his elbows on his friends while he looked at them both, back and forth. "Guys, chill for at least two seconds." He spoke the words to the two before he looked away from them and towards the one they had both been holding back. "What do you want, lamer?" He gave a small smirk at Hayner.

"Still hiding behind your lackeys." Hayner scoffed, crossing his arms. He wasn't about to admit anything in front of the lower minions; he doubted their pitiful minds could handle it. "Talk, that's all. If you think you can handle an intelligent conversation that doesn't involve your fists."

"TRICK." Fuu scowled at Hayner. She pointed at him accusingly. "PLOTTER."

"Yeah! Besides, why would Seifer need to waste his time talking to you for?" Rai was quick to cut in while he kept narrowed eyes on Hayner.

Seifer stood up straight, letting his arms fall back down to his sides. "It's fine you two. I'm pretty sure I can handle this twerp on my own if he really is planning some kind of trick." He waved a hand, dismissing such a thought just as soon as it came. "Don't worry about it." He shot the two a look that told them it was the end of the discussion.

Fuu and Rai exchanged a glance, but it was easy to tell they weren't exactly happy with Seifer's decision. But they didn't argue against it further. Hayner tried not to smirk over it.

"In private." Hayner added, glancing away with disinterest.

Before either Rai or Fuu could even speak a word between the two of them Seifer already opened his mouth, stopping them. "You heard him you two." He watched Hayner for a few seconds before he moved his eyes back on his two so called friends. He shrugged his shoulders before he gestured with his head for them to go away to give them some actual privacy. "Leave."

That's all it took for Fuu and Rai to get the incentive to leave. They both looked at Seifer but didn't question the order given. They didn't doubt Seifer could take Hayner out on his own; had it been more than him they would have put up more of a fuss. Soon either of Seifer's gang walked off, heading towards the school to go inside.

Hayner watched the two until they were out of sight. It was then that he allowed himself to smirk his amusement. "Do you give them a treat every time they roll over as well?"

"Nah, they have to really impress me for that." Seifer was quick to respond while he tried to hide his own amusement over how quick his friends had been to listen to him. He turned around and moved to sit back down on top of the small picnic table he had been on before Hayner had walked up to them, looking back at the other teen once he was settled again. "So, what did you want?"

Hayner gave an easy shrug as he walked over to lean against the table Seifer sat on. "You'll have to ask nicer than that." He loosened his school uniform tie since he was outside away from teacher's view. He hated the damn thing and how tight and proper the teachers demanded the dress code; he undid a few buttons for good measure, getting more comfortable.

Seifer didn't stop himself from watching and despite Hayner's demand; the small smirk never left his face. It didn't take long for him to lean over and sling one arm around Hayner's shoulder so he could pull the other teen closer even though he was up higher. He was only being so bold since the school was nearly empty outside. Any other moment and he knew Hayner would put up a fuss. "Okay then. Why did you suddenly want to talk to me?" He couldn't help playing with the few open buttons of Hayner's shirt during and even after he spoke.

"Better." Hayner was more sociable towards Seifer than normal. He must have been that bored and lonely to be talking with Seifer. "And it's not because of your 'charm'. You are definitely not that 'smooth'." Still, Hayner leaned against Seifer. He lifted up his bag, giving it a shake. "There's something in here I have that I'm sure you'll be interested in." He soon grinned.

"Hmm?" Seifer's attention quickly moved to the bag after those words. He was easily drawn to it and couldn't help narrowing his eyes in a small bit of curiosity as he let Hayner's earlier words slide just to find out what exactly the bag held. "Well, what is it?" He tried to move his free hand out to make a grab for it.

Hayner jerked the bag away from Seifer's grasp. "Uh-uh." He pushed Seifer's hand away. "You forgot the magic word." He set the bag beside him on the table out of Seifer's reach. "You're not going to get anything that way." Hayner smirked Seifer's way. "Not without learning a few quick manners, smart guy."

"And you're out of your mind." Seifer shook his head before his eyes traveled away from the bag and back down to Hayner. His fingers stopped playing with buttons and instead moved to tug on what little bit of give that Hayner's tie had left around his neck. "Give me the bag, lamer." He thought a little more on it. "Now." His smirk came back a bit cockier. "There's your magic word."

A rather cocky look spread over Hayner's face as his eyes fell half lidded. "Fine, then you'll never see what's inside." He pushed the bag further from Seifer on the table. "If you beg like a good boy, I might even give you a treat." He grinned deviously as he leaned nearer to Seifer. "That's only if you really impress me."

"You're rather full of yourself right now." Seifer shot back before he gave one last look towards the bag. He seemed to consider his options before he looked back down at Hayner and leaned in much closer. "So, I'm supposed to just beg, huh?" Within a few inches he was closing the small space that was between them to press their lips together. Their lips connected upside down because of their position, but Seifer didn't seem to care all that much and pulled back after a few quick seconds. "Does that count for begging? Or this?" He leaned over a bit and moved his way down to bite at the other boy's neck while his hand strayed down, under the loose shirt.

Hayner let out a breathy laugh. "It's a start." He took a subconscious glance around before he leaned back against Seifer, nearly sprawling across his lap. "A good start." He feigned an unimpressed look as he flicked Seifer's messy blonde hair. " _Almost_."

"Mmm, what about this?" Seifer couldn't stop his grin as his hand pulled away only to begin to unbutton more of Hayner's shirt while he moved his mouth to the other's ear. He bit down lightly before he sucked on the abused spot. As soon as his fingers freed the few buttons he wasted no time in tickling fingers across skin.

Warmth spread across Hayner's face much against his chagrin. He squirmed against Seifer's touch with a throaty sound, pushing to stand straight again. "I'm guessing 'public displays of affection' isn't on your fears list." Hayner couldn't help but rub his ear that Seifer had attacked. He gave a short sound of amusement. "Or you're some kind of exhibitionist."

Seifer shrugged a shoulder. He had taken both his hands back once Hayner was standing upright again and leaned them back on the table to support himself instead. "Not really. There's just not really anyone around right now and you weren't exactly complaining. It seems to be the case most of the time." He almost grinned, but held back and instead gestured to the bag again. "Well? Gonna show me what's in it?"

Hayner gave Seifer a look before he shrugged off what the other said. He moved to his bag and unzipped it. He pulled something familiar from it and took a few steps out of Seifer's reach before he pulled it on his head. It was Seifer's black beanie. Hayner grinned and crossed his arms. "Jealous, lamer?"

Seifer stared at Hayner for a few seconds as well as his most prized possession resting on top of the other teen's head. For a moment he debated asking where Hayner actually found it, considering he didn't have any luck at all. It was the cocky look on Hayner's face that had him stopping and leaning forward instead. "Do you _want_ me to chase you around again?"

Hayner tucked more of his blonde hair under the beanie, grinning more. "I'm still faster. You'd never catch me. Besides, people will think you're a total loon chasing me around." He tugged the hat in gesture. "Just for some silly old hat." He re-crossed his arms again, smirking. "That would make you even more of a loser."

"You seem to forget one really important thing." Seifer held up a finger to make his point clear before he actually continued speaking. "I never have cared for what other people think." After those words he gave his own smirk while he dropped his hand. It was in one quick instant that he finally shot up off the table to try and launch himself at Hayner to get a quick grab at the smaller teen. "Give me my hat, twerp!"

Hayner leapt back to avoid the grab, back pedaling but never running off. Seifer's attempt had him grinning deviously. "Nah, I think it looks far better on me." He adjusted it on his head with a cocky smirk. "Don't you think? I mean, you did leave it behind. Finders keepers, right."

"I left it behind because I couldn't find it after you yanked it off my head." Seifer managed to speak out after nearly tripping over his feet because of how quick Hayner had gotten away. He narrowed his eyes on the other teen, but it was obvious he was at least a little amused over the situation. "The teachers aren't going to let you wear that around the school all day like that. Not that you would anyway considering people would know it's mine. You'll have to leave it alone at some point."

"Right, like you're going to retrieve it from my bag while I'm in a different class like some kind of hat ninja." Hayner stepped towards Seifer rather than away. "You're far from stealthy." He grasped Seifer's tie, his other tightening it up from its messy slackness. "And you're quite tactless." He pulled Seifer down by his tie. "Besides, you have some queer kink about kissing me when I'm wearing your clothes." Of course instead of pressing that expected kiss to Seifer's lips, Hayner let go of Seifer's tie and stepped back again, grinning slyly.

Seifer narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Hayner's teasing actions. He lifted a hand up to fix his tie back to the way it had been, not so tight around his neck. He really couldn't stand the damn thing to begin with. "What the hell is with you today?" The question slipped from his mouth, but it was obvious he didn't seem to mind the way Hayner was acting all that much. Usually the other teen was much too grumpy. Before Hayner could really answer, Seifer swatted his hand out, having to take a quick step forward, to try and yank his hat off the other's head again.

Hayner foiled Seifer's ploy by smacking his hand away; he expected the retaliation. "Nothing. Just bored. So I thought I'd come torment you." He shrugged. "I can just as easily go amuse myself else where." He feigned thinking as he took a step back. "Maybe I'll flush a certain beanie down a toilet. Yeah, plug up the entire piping and flood out a bathroom."

Seifer had been busy shaking his hand after it had been smacked, but it was Hayner's words which got his attention. "What? No way." He took another step forward as Hayner stepped back, but this time instead of grabbing for the hat he made an instant grab for both of Hayner's wrists and successfully pulled the other teen close to him. "You think I'll let you get away that easily? Yeah, right." He grinned down at the shorter teen as he kept him held captive.

Hayner kept a cool expression as he shrugged nonchalant. "I've come to accept that anything's possible." He wiggled his fingers but didn't fight his bonds. "Besides, I still look better in the hat. I'll just turn it inside out so no one sees the kanji. No one will know." He shrugged his hands simply.

"Yes, no one will suspect a thing." Seifer spoke up rather dryly at Hayner's cover up. He seemed to look the other teen up and down for a few seconds before he narrowed his eyes once more and shrugged a shoulder. "Whatever just don't ruin the damn thing." After those words he leaned in to press his lips to Hayner's own once again while his hands slid up to rest on arms instead.

Hayner leaned his head up to return the kiss, grinning his victory against Seifer's lips. The kiss didn't last long, Hayner couldn't be sure what unfortunate soul would suddenly cross their path; it was a school after all. "I knew you'd see it my way." He patted Seifer's cheek, grinning as he spoke, "You just need the right incentive."

Seifer glanced to the side at Hayner's hand before he looked back down to the teen himself. "Yeah, well don't get too used to it. I'm going to get my hat back sooner or later. Just think of it as me letting you borrow it. That's all." He pulled his hands away from Hayner's arms and tucked one into the pocket of his pants as he kept his eyes on the other teen. "So, is that the only reason you came to talk to me? To tease me about my hat and out of pure boredom? I feel so wanted." The sarcasm was obvious.

"Pretty much." Hayner stepped from Seifer to go sit up on the table. "Not much else." He untied his tie completely, tugging it off and tossing it aside on the table with his bag. He glanced aside, watching a few fellow students far off walking to go out for lunch instead of braving what was served in the cafeteria.

Seifer saw the students that had caught Hayner's attention, but didn't pay them nearly as much attention as the other teen did. Instead his eyes traveled over to Hayner's bag and tie, keeping his eyes on the two items as he finally spoke up again. "You're still trying your damnedest to ignore your own little group aren't you?" Even if it came out as a question it was more like a statement. Hayner wouldn't be outside bugging Seifer if it weren't true. Not to mention there was obvious word spreading around the school about how cold a shoulder Hayner was giving his own best friend. "I saw the bruise Roxas had while he was in the hall." Seifer tried his best to hide his amusement, but failed. "You really can throw a punch." He finally looked up at Hayner.

That had Hayner sending Seifer a hard glare. "You want one to match."

Seifer waved his free hand. "Nah, I think I'll pass." He finally walked back to the table and lifted himself up to sit next to Hayner on the bit of free space that was left. Once he was settled he wasted no time in slinging his arm around the other's shoulders once again much like before. "Calm down, I was only teasing you. Besides, I can't help it if people are talking about how distant the two of you are being." He shrugged a shoulder. "You're the one that came to me out of boredom anyway. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"Great, so not only are you the disciplinary committee, but you're a detective too." Despite the sarcastic words Hayner let Seifer put his arm over him, leaning closer to the other; it was becoming habit forming, and he wasn't sure he liked that fact much. "Whatever, like it matters much."

"I wouldn't have asked if it didn't matter much, lamer." Seifer mumbled the words with a roll of his eyes. It didn't stop him from leaning down and placing a few kisses along Hayner's cheek here and there before he started to speak again. "Does this mean you're going to come visit me everyday out of boredom for the rest of the school year?"

Hayner closed one eye at the kisses. He glanced aside, leaning against Seifer since the other was so willing to have him near. "... Maybe."

Seifer smirked a little at such an answer. Since Hayner moved closer it allowed him to continue placing small kisses among the other's face, but much closer to Hayner's lips then just the other teen's cheek. He wasn't able to kiss the other completely, so he settled for placing a quick kiss to the corner of Hayner's mouth before he spoke up again. "You'll keep making up excuses everyday just to get past Rai and Fuu to see me?"

If it weren't for the kisses Hayner knew he'd be far more grumpy company. It had him chuckling a little. He leaned his head on Seifer's shoulder to look up at the other teen with a smirk. "Hmm. Maybe."

Seifer's arm slipped down from Hayner's shoulder so his hand could trail down to grab and clasp onto Hayner's own. "Good." It was the only short word he responded with before he was finally able to move in and press their lips together since Hayner had leaned his head in closer. Even though his arm had slipped down from around Hayner he still managed to pull the other teen closer while they kissed.

Hayner slipped his free arm up around Seifer's neck so he could pull him down and closer into the kiss. He buried his fingers in Seifer's shaggy hair, running them through blonde hair as he kissed the other. He knew he shouldn't have been so complacent kissing out in the open at school, even if it was deserted and no windows looked out where they were. Still Hayner didn't spare Seifer's bottom lip a playful bite before he broke the kiss to smirk lazily. "Funny, I think it just sounded like you wanted to see me. _Everyday_."

Seifer licked at his abused lip while his fingers barely ran along the top of Hayner's own hand. He seemed about to protest to such a thing as he looked down at Hayner with narrowed eyes, but right when he opened his mouth he quickly closed it and shook his head. He turned his attention out across the grass and kept it there while he finally managed to speak. "So? What if I did?"

Hayner lifted his head to move his mouth near Seifer's ear, and murmur there, "I'd think you were getting soft." He ran his tongue along the rim of the other's ear, biting it playfully after.

Seifer bit back the sound he wanted to let out at such actions. His eyes had fallen halfway closed, but just as quickly they snapped open and he turned his head to glare at Hayner. The look wasn't nearly as venomous as he tried to make it seem though, and soon he was smirking while he turned a little on the table to push at the smaller teen, trying his best to straddle him. "I don't think you're in a very good position to say much."

Hayner decided then he was going to be difficult, smirking as he kept hands on Seifer's shoulders to keep him at arms length. "I beg to differ; I'm in the perfect position to be saying plenty." He drew his legs up from between Seifer's so he couldn't straddle him, purposely making the touch more personal than it should have been. He crossed his legs on the table, still keeping Seifer away. "I think you're what the old people call 'smitten'." He smirked.

Seifer nearly scrunched up his face at such a thing as if it were a disgusting thing to think about. It didn't help that Hayner had stopped him from getting what he wanted which turned his mood completely around. "Whatever. Like that would ever happen." He nearly spat the words back as he tried his best to push at Hayner's legs with his own, but the position they were in didn't allow him to do very much and had him nearly staying still.

Hayner grinned at Seifer's displeasure. He grabbed the shoulders of Seifer's shirt and pulled him forward by them. "Did I mention yet, that you look far better without your stupid hat?" Before Seifer could speak on the compliment Hayner crashed their lips together for a quick albeit heated kiss. "I think I'll keep it," he murmured against Seifer's lips, grinning more lazily.

Seifer seemed more then a little dazed at the sudden forceful actions Hayner had taken. He gave his lips another quick like after the kiss and narrowed his eyes on the other teen. "You did mention that once before, yes." His eyes narrowed further and his voice lowered. It almost seemed as if he were whining for a second as he spoke up again. "No point in you keeping it if you're just going to wear the damn thing inside out all the time."

"But people will know it's yours if I wear it right side out." Hayner uncrossed his legs to let Seifer rest between them more comfortably. "Not that people won't already notice that you no longer have your hat and I suddenly have a black beanie." He shrugged as if none of that mattered. "Oh well."

"And you're not worried about that?" Seifer raised a brow. He moved closer to finally sit comfortably in front of Hayner and rest his arms around the other teen. "You? The one that is usually constantly paranoid about any single person seeing us even touching much less kissing, and the one that freaked out over his friends knowing what was going on between us." He cocked his head to the side as he studied Hayner. "You're not the least bit worried that people might actually put two and two together?"

Hayner blinked; well, when Seifer put it that way...

Hayner tapped his foot on the table, trying not to let his anxieties show from Seifer's words. "From the sounds of it, you sound like the paranoid one. Besides, it's just a hat..." He tried to make his glance aside seem nonchalant, when really he was just making sure there was no incoming watchers. "It's not like it's a wedding ring or something, like you're making it out to be."

"I'm not making it out to be anything like that. Besides, I told you a good many times that I could care less what people think. So, I'm far from being paranoid." Seifer watched Hayner for a few seconds before he dropped a hand down to grab the other boy's chin to force him to look back into his eyes instead of around the schoolyard. "You're not as subtle as you'd like to think." He smirked.

Hayner scowled when he was forced to look at Seifer, though he didn't say anything to that. He didn't have to admit to being caught or guilty of anything if he didn't say anything. Still he tried to look as indignant as possible.

"Oh, come on. Don't look at me like that." Seifer continued to smirk after he spoke the words. His thumb had idly begun to stroke Hayner's jaw little by little, but even as he realized it he didn't stop. Instead he leaned forward to kiss the scowl that was on the other's lips while he tried his hardest not to grin.

Hayner tried his best to keep the grumpy look on his face, though he had a harder time trying not to cave in and kiss back. When the kiss ended Hayner was more pouty than anything. "And you're not as smooth a player as you'd like to think."

"But I am pretty damn smooth." Seifer finally grinned after his own words. He raised both his hands up to place them on the edges of his hat. He didn't try to yank it off; instead he tugged the beanie down a little further on Hayner's head before he leaned forward to place a kiss on Hayner's forehead which was covered by the fabric. After the quick kiss he pulled back completely and set his hands in his lap. "Now stop pouting."

Hayner blinked and tried his best not to blush like some girl over what Seifer had done. Alright, he had to admit Seifer was pretty smooth; he'd have to be to get himself continuously mixed up in this situation. It did little good to scowl, so Hayner just huffed. "I'm not pouting." And with that he lowered himself down on arms to flop on his back on the picnic table he sat on.

"No, of course not." Seifer did his best to humour Hayner with those words, but he was still grinning at the other teen. With just a few movements he crawled over so he was on top of Hayner with his arms keeping him held up on either side of the other's head. "Are you really all that worried someone will find us?"

"We're not exactly well hidden. Y'know, doing what we're doing in a public domain and all." Hayner flared out a hand in gesture as he continued sarcastically. "School is usually where hundreds of teens go to everyday. How can I not be paranoid someone is going to walk by and get an eyeful, especially since we're outside in the open." His hand flopped down over his chest. "I'm sure if you had your way we'd be making out right in the middle of a hallway, or the cafeteria, or an assembly." He scoffed. "Because you 'don't care what other people think'."

The grin was wiped clean from Seifer's face at how easily Hayner could just switch moods in the matter of seconds. He narrowed his eyes down at the other teen. "You're the one that came to me, remember? Besides, you didn't seem to mind how close we were when you came to _talk_ to me to begin with." He moved away to sit back up on the table and turned back around to face the school, using his hands to prop himself up again. "You worry too much." He spoke the same words to the other teen he had spoken what felt like a million times by now.

"Th-that's not what I meant. Well, yes, but..." Hayner thudded his head against the table; he couldn't make up his mind over his situation. Or at least he was stunted in articulating whatever he meant. "What I mean is... I'd rather we go somewhere private." He pushed himself to sit up, rubbing the back of his head; the beanie absorbed most of the trauma. Hayner slunk behind Seifer to slip his arms around the teen's neck. "Skip the next class with me." He gave a few kisses at the nape of Seifer's neck as he tried to win him over.

Seifer was quick to let out a quiet sound if only because he wasn't in much of a mood to stay angry for very long. His fingers tapped rather loudly against the table while he kept narrowed eyes, that had started to fall closed a bit, on the school. "Most people are going to notice we're missing." Even with the argument he didn't really seem to care all that much. "Where did you have in mind?"

"Anywhere secluded." Hayner rested his chin on Seifer's shoulder. "I'm just not in the mood to be here today. The further from here, the better." He fumbled with a button on Seifer's shirt to undo it further, slipping his hand inside after to lazily move it across skin.

Seifer seemed to relax at the touch after having become rather tense after his earlier anger. He continued to keep his eyes on the school until he turned his head only a bit to try and catch a glimpse of Hayner out the corner of his eyes. "Fine, whatever. We can go somewhere else. I don't really have anything important to do next class anyway."

Hayner grinned, pleased to get his way. "Good boy." He planted a quick kiss at Seifer's cheek before he let go of the other teen so he could crawl off the table, moving to stand in front of Seifer. "We might as well go now. Take off before anyone notices we're missing." He rested either hand on Seifer's thighs so he could lean forward invade his personal space again. "Maybe I'll treat you to lunch if you roll over and play dead."

"I think I'd rather starve." Seifer tried to scowl, but it didn't work out so well and he only ended up smirking. "Besides, I've done all the begging I'm going to do for one day. I'll pay for my own food if that's what it's going to take, thanks." He reached over despite how close Hayner was to grab up the other teen's bag and held it up in front of the other's face once he had it in his possession.

Hayner snatched up his bag. "Have it your way." He slung his bag over his shoulder, finding his tie to shove it inside not in the mood to wear it. "Not going to bother to tell Rai and Fuu where you're running off to? The mutts are going to be lost without their master." He gave a short laugh.

"They'll find their way around eventually." Seifer shrugged a shoulder as he easily shot back his own response to such words while he hopped off the table. "I can't baby sit them all the time." He watched Hayner for a few seconds before he managed a small teasing smirk at the other teen. "What about you? Going to run out on your group without even a word?" He knew the answer, but it was still fun to pry.

Hayner shrugged as if none of what Seifer mentioned was worth any of his attention. "I haven't talked to them all day. Not much to miss. So, seems we're pretty even." And he left it at that as he started to walk.

Seifer only rolled his eyes at Hayner's attitude. It wasn't fun to tease the other boy about certain things when all he got was pretty much a cold shoulder in return. Still, he didn't press the issue and kept silent afterwards, following after Hayner for the time being.

The two boys left school grounds, unaware of one onlooker, one that hadn't been spotted simply because of his unusual local; the roof. With a certain blonde brat having to stay in class to talk to teachers about missed homework, Axel had to find his own means to keep entertained. 'Spying' wasn't a good word for it, just eaves dropping, and feeling rather disturbed about at that. Axel had meant to just find Hayner to see what the boy was up to since he wouldn't give Roxas the time of day. Who knew that Hayner would end up with Seifer of all people? Not that Axel could report his findings to Roxas without seeming more like a stalker than the boy made him out to be; stealth was just so under appreciated.

Axel stayed lounging on his back on the roof, staring at the sky as the two boys that had provided minor entertaining drama for a moment or two. With a sigh Axel tapped his one leg in the air that was crossed over the other. School was as strange and dull as he expected it to be. People stared and murmured when they saw him; that had been entertaining for a moment or so. But without Roxas there, it was all out boring.

Maybe the brat was finally done getting his mountain of home work.

Access a few strings of code Axel disappeared from the roof to teleport back into the school. He walked back to the class that Roxas resided in, and thudded his back against the wall crossing his arms. A few girls walked by, looking at him with hungrier eyes than any real sane girl should. They made a few comments among themselves before giggling mischievously and continuing on their way. Axel raised a brow; the NPCs were strange here.

It was a while before the door to the classroom finally decided to open. A voice could still be heard lingering from the crack in the doorway as the teacher continued to give reminders here and there as if her words weren't being heard enough. Roxas' body easily fit through the small opening while all he could do was nod his head a good few times at each word spoken to him and carry his school bag with his free hand that seemed much heavier now then before he came to school. "Yeah, yeah. I got it..." He mumbled his next words under his breath. "Ten times was enough."

After that Roxas allowed the door to close with a rather loud slam, but didn't seem to care whether he got in trouble for the noise or not. The day hadn't been all that great to begin with, so a little talking to about slamming a door wasn't really much to add onto it. He turned to lean against the door but as soon as his eyes caught sight of Axel he nearly jumped in surprise, not expecting to see the other just standing there. "What the-Have you been there the entire time?"

"No." Axel waved Roxas' comment off. "I do have other blonde haired boys to stalk too." He grabbed Roxas by the wrist to yank him over, quick to pin the shorter boy to the wall. "It isn't just all about you, y'know." He grasped the other's tie, running his fingers over it before it fell from his hands at the end. "I do have other things to do with my time than wait for you all day." He didn't give Roxas time before he captured the boy's mouth with a heated kiss right there and then in the middle of the hallway; Axel could care less if students stopped, stared and gossiped. Axel tugged at Roxas' bottom lip as he pulled away from the kiss. "It's not like I love you or anything," he added with a low purr in his throat.

Roxas had dropped his bag from his other hand at such a kiss. It nearly left him breathless and he had to blink his eyes a few times after they had fallen shut to try and get his thoughts in order and figure out what it was that Axel had said after the contact. Slowly a grin started to make its way onto his face and he lifted a hand to run it along the edge of the collar on Axel's shirt. "That's too bad since, you know, I'm pretty crazy about you."

"Really?" Axel's thin brows perked with interest. He leaned nearer to Roxas, propping himself up on the wall with an arm. His long fingers slipped around the tie again, brushing over the knot, half debating if he should slip it down just a little looser. But he played nice; for now. "Just how crazy?"

"Crazy enough to let you molest me in the middle of the hallway." Roxas' grin grew a little and for a split second he looked past Axel at the few students that were staring at them. He didn't seem to really care all that much since his attention immediately went back to Axel and he leaned forward as best he could to capture the other's lips in another rough kiss. He nibbled on Axel's lip for a few seconds before he pulled away and spoke in a hushed tone. "Been a good boy while I was busy?"

Axel chuckled low and pleased in his throat; it had those few people in the hall blushing. "Suure I'm great when I'm a good boy," Axel finally tugged down the knot of tie to loosen it, "but when I'm a bad boy I'm better." He leaned down to take the end of Roxas' shirt collar with his teeth to tug it away so his mouth could attack the exposed neck.

Roxas didn't even try to hide the pleased sound that came from his mouth. If people wanted to stare and watch then let them. He wasn't about to stop Axel at that moment. He didn't even notice when he moved his foot and accidentally kicked his bag over, causing what was inside to spill out. He wouldn't have cared anyway. "I think I prefer when you're a bad boy." With those words he moved his hand down to slide it up Axel's shirt.

Axel nipped hard at Roxas' throat, not sparing it from affectionate bruising. "I'll distract you from that boring homework," he murmured against Roxas' skin. "We can do far more fun things than listen to teachers drone, read and write." He untucked Roxas' shirt, pulling it further and further up as his hands ran up along the teen's sides. The Heartless gave a lazy chuckle. "You said you were crazy enough."

Roxas had to admit that Axel's actions were easily turning his sour mood around. The offer was so tempting and he couldn't help dragging his nails down the Heartless' chest in retaliation for the bite to his neck. "We'll get in trouble." The words were nearly whispered out and didn't really sound all that much like a threat to be honest. He allowed his head to fall back against the wall to let Axel do as he pleased, showing the other what he thought of his own words he just spoke.

Axel smirked at such contrasting answers. But he wasn't one to argue against such open opportunities. He leaned down to run his tongue across Roxas' chest since he'd drawn the teen's shirt up so high. He paused in mid lick as he glanced aside. He drew his tongue back into his mouth as he straightened. "... People are such voyeurs." Axel gestured to the crowd they were gathering; talking, giggling and whispering right there and then as they stared at the 'new punk student' take advantage of the sweet nice Roxas there and then in the hall.

Roxas allowed his head to fall back down and nearly scowled at the loss of contact. It was only when he caught Axel's words and saw everyone's eyes on him that he finally blushed. He honestly didn't care what people thought about the situation since he would have much rather Axel continued, but he felt like everyone was digging holes into him with their eyes. Still, it didn't stop his hand from barely dropping to finger the waistband of Axel's pants. "Well, I guess it's not everyday two people start to make out in the middle of the hall. One of them being a new student." He turned his eyes back on the Heartless and smirked.

Axel's laugh was less than chaste. "If you're not careful Roxas, you're going to get a little more than a kiss here in the hallway in front of all these nice people." He casually unbuttoned just a few of Roxas' shirt buttons. Then without warning Axel grasped the bottom of the teen's shirt and whisked it over his head and off, just as the teacher Roxas had been talking for hours with about homework stepped out the door they were beside.

Roxas' own laughter was quick to die in his throat as soon as he heard the door open. Sadly, he didn't really notice how far down his fingers had slipped inside Axel's pants at that moment after his hand had fallen back down. He was too focused on the sudden appearance of his teacher that had just given him a lecture only a few moments ago that could have rivaled any boring speech he had gotten during his time in the Organization. His mind seemed to blank out as he stared. "Uhh..."

Axel quickly hid Roxas' shirt behind his back, of course Roxas' hand hanging from his pants didn't help matters; or the fact that Roxas was completely shirtless. Axel just gave a smile, as innocent as he could; which wasn't very innocent at all. "Thiiis isn't what it looks like." He looked from the gawking teacher's expression to Roxas' completely blank one. "Actually, no, it probably is exactly what it looks like." Axel wasn't sure who was going to turn redder: Roxas or the teacher.

Axel's voice seemed to finally snap Roxas out of it. He looked away from his teacher's face so his eyes could snap towards his hand. In an instant he pulled it away and let it fall to his side until he realized that his bag was lying in a mess on the floor. With an irritated noise, Roxas bent down to quickly clean it up, mostly shoving everything back in instead of being careful about it.

As soon as he was satisfied with everything Roxas stood up once more and reached out to grab hold of Axel's hand. He didn't seem to care much about his shirt for the moment since the Heartless had a hold of it. "We have another class next. Let's go." He spoke the words to Axel before he started to tug the other away and down the hall. "Sorry about that..." The mumbled apology was spoken while he walked by the teacher and away from the other students that still lingered.

Axel blinked as he was pulled along. "But, it's still lunch time," he pointed out before giving a wave to the looky-loos that still occupied the hall.

"Roxas!" the teacher finally spoke up, finally getting over her shock when Roxas tried to take off without repercussion. "I'll see you after school today, in my class; for this indecent exposure- and behavour."

Axel looked from the woman to Roxas trying not to give such a cheeky smirk. "That was mild, compared to what goes on behind closed doors that is far from indecent."

"You too new kid," the teacher added. "Don't think just because you're new that you're going to get special treatment. I don't know about your other schools." She crossed her arms. "But we don't tolerate that kind of behavour in this school."

"H-heey." Axel grumped. "She just gave me a D.T. Not cool." He tugged on Roxas' hand. "My first D.T., Roxas. Not cool at all."

"You shouldn't have stuck your foot in your mouth." Roxas muttered rather harshly. He couldn't help his usual attitude problem since his luck seemed to be getting worse as the day went on. Of course as soon as he spoke he instantly regretted it and sent Axel a somewhat apologetic look before he reached over to grab his shirt from the other's hand. His eyes strayed back to his teacher and he did his best not to scowl at her. "Yes ma'm. We'll be there."

Axel gave a half efforted wave to let the teacher know he heard what she said. He didn't wait for the teacher to say anything else or for Roxas to put his shirt on. School was turning out to be rather dull with no perks at all. He didn't need to eat, so the cafeteria was rather moot to him, libraries were only good for 'unwinding' in, and class was just a place to sit and allow strict teachers to shove useless information into your head. He could understand why Hayner and Seifer would want to ditch.

As soon as the teacher went back in the classroom and Roxas had his shirt at least back on his person, the teen reached out to take Axel's hand again. Instead of taking them to their next class much like he said, he led them further down the halls. It was true that it was still lunch, so the next class wasn't for a while. Roxas took this time to lead them into the bathroom, letting out a somewhat relieved sound when it was pretty much empty. He was sure he would have let his temper out on any poor soul that was actually occupying the place.

Roxas let go of Axel's hand as soon as the door shut behind them and dropped his bag none too gently on the floor. "This is so stupid." He began to speak in what could only be considered a whine. "First my friend decides to ignore me the entire day. Then I get homework piled onto me. Now I have to stay after for no real reason." He glanced back at Axel. "And I can tell you're bored out of your mind. It was pretty obvious during class." Those last words seemed to upset him the worst.

Axel blinked and tried to shrug Roxas' worries off. "Nooo." Dragging out that word didn't help. "Well...-I mean. It's just, a little more slow paced than I'm used to." He dragged a hand through his hair, glancing at himself in the mirror; red hair, normal skin, it wasn't a sight he was used to. "Hmm, besides, you still have Pence and Olette." He gave Roxas a wry look. "And nearly taking you up against a wall is reason enough, I guess. Eh, she'll probably give you some spiel about 'protection' or who knows what. In the ear and out the other." He gestured so. "Heh, too bad, that speech is a bit too late." Axel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

That finally managed to get a small smirk from Roxas. He couldn't exactly stay mad at Axel for very long when the Heartless was so quick witted about everything. At least not when he had a heart now. With a defeated sigh he walked over to the mirror to check himself over while he re-buttoned his shirt. "I guess I should just be glad that it was my teacher that caught us and not Hayner. I don't need him anymore pissed off at me then he already is." He finished with the last button and was about to start on his tie, but something stopped him.

Roxas had seen himself plenty of times in mirrors. He had a small one in the bathroom at his house and even when he was part of the Organization he had one in his room. He never did like how big it was. It wasn't his image that had him stopping so suddenly to stare, though. It was something else. In his mind all he could see staring back at him was spiky hair not too unlike his own, blackened by darkness, and eyes that were a sudden glowing yellow. His breath caught in his throat as he stared at what was in reality his own reflection, but to him was an image that haunted him from such a tense moment.

The fear that hit Axel from Roxas' heart startled him. He walked up behind Roxas, but couldn't see much out of the ordinary; he could just feel echoes of something from Roxas' heart. Carefully he placed his hands on the boy's shoulders, leaning forward to speak quietly to Roxas. "... Breathing is healthy for Somebodies. You have to remember to do that from time to time."

Roxas jumped, startled by the touch since he had been so out of it and staring so intently at the mirror. Axel's words caused him to shake his head and blink his eyes a couple of times before he took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes the final time and looked back at the mirror all he saw was his own reflection staring back at him along with Axel and it caused him to give a nervous laugh. Mostly over how silly he must have seemed standing there just then. "I think this day is starting to wear me out." His voice was much shakier then he would have liked, but he only shrugged it off while he looked back at Axel with a small smile.

Axel planted a quick kiss on Roxas' forehead. "It's alright. I like 'em crazy. The crazier the better." He smoothed back Roxas' hair but it fell right back after. "After all this we can just relax at your place." He gave a small chuckle. "Nothing _too_ strenuous. I'll try to be good and keep my hands off you." He gave a dramatic sigh as if it was a world of troubles and disappointment. "I have to remember that some days are just snuggle nights, headache nights and nights when Roxas must wash his hair."

Roxas actually gave a laugh at that. One of the few he had given all day it seemed. He turned around in Axel's arms so he could face the Heartless and let his hands rest on the other's shoulders. He no longer cared about how loose his tie was at the moment. "Too bad, I like when your hands are on me. Unless what happened in the hallway wasn't proof enough for you." He let out another small laugh as he tried not to grin at his next words, knowing the answer he would possibly get. "You could always help me wash my hair if you'd like."

"Heh, only if there's no water." Axel grinned some. "Or maybe if the water was very, very hot. Steaming." He slipped his arms around Roxas' shoulders. "Course, we could fog up some mirrors and windows ourselves." He touched his nose to Roxas'. "I could help you wind down from such a stressful day. Relax. By the time I'm done you won't even remember what 'school' is." He placed a quick kiss on Roxas' lips.

Roxas licked his lips after the quick kiss and finally grinned. "The way you keep talking like that we might not make it out of this bathroom before we start fogging up some mirrors." His hands slipped down and started to play at the buttons on Axel's own uniform. "You just have that charm about you that makes me forget about everything else."

Axel grinned more. "Well, you know me; I'm all about 'indecent exposure'." His hands slipped lower to Roxas' back. "We'll make this life work. Don't worry." He kissed Roxas' nose playfully. "The boring stuff is just something we have to put up with. It makes the sweet stuff that much more enjoyable, right?" He nosed Roxas' nose.

Roxas' grin fell to something more genuine at those words. "Right." The word came out as a near whisper and he was soon lifting a hand up to move a finger up and down Axel's cheek. "I'm being really grumpy today, I know, I'm just having a bad day that's all." He let out a quiet laugh that ended in a sigh. "Sorry that I've sort of been taking it out on you. I haven't been meaning to."

Axel rubbed Roxas' back with his hands. "Old habits die the hardest. Don't worry about it. You can make it up to me later." He smiled some. "I'm not hard to please, just lavish love and attention on me, the less clothes you wear the better." He gave a quiet laugh before he embraced Roxas a bit closer.

Roxas was quick to move his hands once more and wrap them around Axel's neck, giving the Heartless a quick kiss. "I'll make it up to you when we get home. I'd do it now, but I fear we might get into more trouble then we've already gotten into." His expression became thoughtful and he tilted his head a bit as he studied Axel. "Hey, you've been lurking around while I was busy, right? Have you seen Hayner around?" He chewed on his lip before he went on. "I thought I should attempt to talk to him one more time at least before the day is over."

Axel was a little startled by the question. He didn't want to be caught that he had watched Hayner and Seifer's little quality time together; it would probably shatter poor Roxas' mind once more. "Looking to get a matching pair of bruises?" Axel brushed his fingers near the bruise near Roxas' eye.

Roxas squinted his eye closed. The bruise was still a bit sore, but not as bad as it had been when he first got it. "Not really. Besides, you know me; I don't take shit from anyone." He glanced away to one of the stalls over Axel's shoulder. "I'd never want to hit Hayner, though. He's my friend, but it's not like he's giving me much of a choice right now. I don't know what else to do, Axel..." The words came out in a hopeless tone of voice.

"Determination and persistence. Works best with short, stubborn, blonde brats I find. But then they go and call you a stalker, and you have to go get their heart from their other half. You're confessing love- and soon you find yourself in a school bathroom, pinning him against the wall- and having your wild way with him." Axel shook his head as he leaned down to be closer to Roxas. "Not that I speak from experience. And since I am the jealous type, I don't know if I can go let you do that. Only I may pin you down and have my way with you, especially in the bathroom." Axel slipped his hands to Roxas' shoulders to back the boy up to the wall.

For the time being Roxas allowed Axel to push him back against the wall. His hands fell from around the Heartless only to play with buttons once again, but this time to begin unbuttoning the annoying little plastic things. "Hmm, I don't know. I like the stalker type. They tend to be pretty devoted." He grinned up at Axel before he turned his attention back down to what he was doing. "Stalker." He spoke the pet name with more affection then he usually would have. "You don't have to worry. I'm yours and yours alone."

Axel played little kisses down Roxas' neck while the boy unbuttoned his shirt. He gave a quiet dramatic sigh against the other's neck. "Sometimes I wonder why we even bother to leave your room. The neighbours will be very upset that they won't be getting to watch this." He attacked Roxas' ear next with a few kisses and licks.

Roxas let out a moan that echoed all around the tiled walls of the boy's bathroom. He didn't seem to notice, too busy moving his hands onto Axel's tie and loosening the piece of fabric up from the messy hold that it had already been in to begin with. "They'll get over it." They were the only words he could really answer with, because as soon as he got the tie undone his hands were immediately moving under to move nails across the Heartless' chest.


	40. Chapter 40

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 40

A scream so agonizing and terrified ripped through one of the darker alleys of Radiant Garden. With the new threat of Heartless, especially the coming of more dangerous beings, few people wanted to be out and about in the less populated districts even with the protection they had surrounding them. It was a mistake that one of the inhabitants was soon regretting to have taken a quicker route back to their home.

The scream died away as quick as it had sounded and soon a hand that had once been settled so deeply inside the chest of a lively human was slowly pulling itself free from what had been corrupted into a twisted, dark Heartless. A satisfied smirk spread across the lips of the one whom had done the deed and with a wave of his hand he shooed the newest and lower creature off to corrupt whomever else it could find.

A small sound of amusement left the leaning; watching the violent change of heart never got old. It was like pulling the wings off a fly; not every insect of light twitched or screamed the same twice.

"Well done, brother." The watching figure leaning from the wall pushed himself to stand. He gave playful idle steps, the slink in his walk were careful and assured with predatory nature. "You truly are artistic." But now wasn't the time for aesthetic admiration. There was so much to be done.

The figure's steps ended beside his brother, and he rested his head on the other's shoulder with a sigh much like a child with all the weight of worry on his shoulders. "It's so sad, all our hard effort gone, to see all our pretty beautiful works of art scamper off to be destroyed by the world's security system." He raised a hand to trace the point of a gloved finger up his brother's arm. The corner of his lips perked up with dark humour. "Their own securities killing off their own people."

The hand which had been used to shoo the poor creature away finally fell back down limp, and that same humour was shared as eyes stared beyond the place that the Heartless had scampered off to. "We should find some way to _thank_ them." The one single word had been spoken in a near vicious, taunting way. "So much defense and fighting gone to such waste." The voice which had been mocking lowered a bit as eyes continued to stay locked outside the darkened alley. "Such ignorance." Eyes finally turned away to regard the head which rested on a shoulder. "I detest humans, Kadaj."

Kadaj's finger trailed back down the other's arm, brushing down to the second knuckle before it drew back up again. "They'll pay, dear Yazoo, don't worry, they'll pay. They'll pay with warm bleeding hearts for what they've done, done to our poor little brother." He turned his head up just enough to look up at his brother through the silver fray of his hair. "No defense is impenetrable." His lips perked a little more. "Everyone has to blink some time."

"And then the moment will be ours." Yazoo reached a hand up once more to push aside a few strands of Kadaj's hair. It didn't seem to bother him that it fell right back into place. His hand only dropped once more as he looked away again and settled his gaze on the ground beneath their feet. "We can be rid of them all, one by one. Torture them until there is nothing left." The annoyance he had shown for a brief instant on his face seemed to vanish and the cruel smile came back with just the thought.

The finger trailing up and down Yazoo's arm strayed from its usual path to his chest where the rest of the hand splayed across. "Soon." Kadaj smoothed his hand across Yazoo's chest. "Our enemies' rival will stretch them thin. They won't notice a few shadows slipping by slitting a few throats." At that his hand lifted to dust a few fingers lower from Yazoo's chest.

"Hmm, do you think they heard?" Yazoo's eyes traveled up to watch his brother's hand. His eyes fell halfway as if almost entranced by the other's fingers. He made no move to stop Kadaj and only stared as he continued to speak. "This one was particularly loud. Do you think we caught their attention?" His fingers twitched at his side as if his hand were still buried deep inside the chest of the human whose heart he had just been corrupting.

Kadaj let his eyes slip shut a moment, perhaps in thought. Then just as quickly his eyes flicked open, his pupils thinning into slits. His hand snapped up from Yazoo's chest quick and unseeable to catch the large shuriken dead in the air as it flew to hit. The tip of one of the four pointed blades near inches from Yazoo's chest as it was still, caught in Kadaj's hand.

"Maybe," the words left Kadaj with idler casualty as he looked over the weapon. His silted eyes flicked up at their attacker at the roof tops; a female ninja.

Yuffie gave a muffled sound of surprise as she was spotted. Suddenly her head on assault didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. "...Oh man."

Yazoo's own eyes narrowed as his attention had strayed to the weapon that had been so close to piercing his chest. He didn't seem to give it much thought since Kadaj was suddenly the one holding the weapon. Instead his gaze turned up to the girl as well and for a second his expression stayed as emotionless as it had been while staring at the shuriken. In seconds it changed and a small smirk tugged at his lips as he finally spoke up. "You should give the girl back her toy, brother." The words were chilling as he kept narrowed eyes on the so called ninja.

Kadaj's fingers curled tightly around the inner grip of the shuriken. From the shadow of his touch spread the dark colour, tainting the metal weapon an ebony shade. With reluctance the Heartless pulled away from his brother, stepping from him; it was that simple motion that had Yuffie far more than worried.

Kadaj's fingers unfurled from the shuriken, the weapon itself floating up from his hand, spinning on its own accord. It spun faster, a circular blur, before it flew in the direction of its owner. Yuffie let out a startled sound of alarm before she took off running from her own corrupted weapon.

Kadaj tilted his head to the side as he watched. "... I do so love it when they run." His smile was small but sadistic. "It makes it so much more fun."

Yazoo stepped up to be close to his brother once again as his eyes stayed glued to where the young girl had gone running off to. With a small movement he leaned forward so his lips were barely brushing past the other's ear even though his eyes never left that one spot. "That's enough of a head start. We'd be far too gracious otherwise." He pulled back after the words had only barely been whispered. Black mist had started to form around his hand and in it's wake a sleek, yet dangerous weapon was gripped tightly.

Kadaj's eyes fell heavily lidded at Yazoo's words. He shared silent agreement, needing no verbal or motion to let Yazoo know. He simply smiled all the more, simple raw sadition at its best. "I do hate helping the other team... but, let's play anyway." He disappeared into shadows for the pursuit.

The young ninja sprinted across the roof tops. The world's defenses were only ground orientated, but the stronger defense mechanisms were deeper into the heart of town. And the quickest way to a point was in a straight line; across the roofs was unfortunately her best bet. Yuffie could hear the shuriken whizzing, closing in faster than she could run. To be defeated by her own weapon; that would truly be the worst disgrace any ninja could think of; Leon was going to give her an earful even in death for biting off more than she could chew.

Yuffie leapt forward, palms landing on the lip of a chimney to hand spring over it. Just as she flipped over the dark shuriken embedded itself into the old brick where just seconds she stood. But even as it missed the long blade cut a deep gash through her glove on the side of her arm from forearm to wrist. The shooting pain caused her landing to go off, her feet stumbling as she hit the other side of the roof. Yuffie couldn't save her footing as her legs buckled from too hard an impact and she fell hard forward, throwing roofing tile as she skidded.

There was a loud shot which easily rang across the empty street the few houses were settled in. It was obvious what it had come from as a bullet hole was so very clear suddenly inches above Yuffie's head. It wasn't a warning shot in the slightest, just meant to show the young girl they were only having a bit of fun with her first. A few footsteps on the roof top across from her signaled that she didn't have time to stop and take a rest. "Don't tire out yet. We've just started." The words were cruel in their humour.

Yuffie had covered her head when she heard the shot with a startled sound. She stared wide eyed towards the approaching Heartless. Her pulse raced a loud thudding in her ears and chest. A mantra screamed through her head: _get up, Yuffie! Run! Run- NOW! Get up! C'mon-!_

"Run... little girl," the calm words were just above Yuffie. Her eyes darted to see one of the brothers perched atop the chimney. She didn't wait to recognize which as she flung several smaller star shuriken at them, taking the opportunity to spring up to her feet to flee again.

Unfortunately whatever was thrown was done in hasty fear and was easily deflected with the dark glint of a duel bladed masamune sword. The blade was lowered as Kadaj watched the girl ninja escape. This was so easy and so much fun; with little effort they could draw her terror. Her fear was so yummy.

Yazoo turned his eyes away from Kadaj after watching as the pesky little weapons were batted aside and looked to the ninja's newest attempt at retreat. Another head start was given to the girl, but not quite as long as last time. Once more a gun was aimed and seconds later shots were fired. The bullets were aimed at each bit of solid ground the young girl had placed her foot on. One wrong step and she would surely be hit. "Dance for us little birdie."

Yuffie stumbled hard to avoid being hit. Her heel dug into a tile that gave and she slipped awkwardly earning her a new fierce graze of a bullet across her shoulder. She cussed loudly, her hand slapped immediately onto the wound, the blood falling from the gash near her hand to plitter down onto the roof. Yuffie didn't have time to stop; with quick action she leapt back wards springing onto her good hand to avoid another rain of bullets.

"Heartless bastards!" Yuffie shouted at her attackers as she landed back on her feet. "No sense of honour!" She wagged a no-no finger. "Shooting at a girl. You should be ashamed!" In the heat of the moment Yuffie gave a cocky smile as she raised her hand up only to throw it down, a sudden vast poof of smoke exploded around her.

Yazoo watched the sudden barrage of smoke with little interest. The gun he held was lowered to his side while he took a few more careful steps forward towards the edge of the roof he stood on. His attention turned away from the smoke which continued to curl around and locked eyes with those of Kadaj. "It seems our prey is trying to out wit us, brother."

Fingers slipped thorough Yazoo's hair, a wordless gesture to let the other know he was suddenly near. Fingers gently curled the soft silver hair around but a few fingers. "Even wit has a shadow." Kadaj's fingers chose now of all times to brush across Yazoo's cheek as he pulled his fingers free of the other's hair. His other hand was quick to snap his sword up just in time behind Yazoo to block the blades of a large shuriken. The whine of metal on metal was the only sound as a few sparks flew. His eyes met Yuffie's; silly girl, so shocked.

Yuffie unlocked her shuriken from the sword to disappear and reappear in front of Yazoo to slash at him with her four pointed weapon. The shuriken was met with the clash of the gun which Yazoo still held tightly in his grasp. His eyes stayed narrowed as they locked onto Yuffie's own and he pushed against the girl's own weapon. The barrel of his gun was ready to be fired as soon as he got the perfect shot. "I wonder how your scream will sound." He pushed harder, backing the ninja up closer to the edge of the roof he had just been near. "Disgusting humans. You all deserve to be corrupted."

Yuffie grit her teeth as she tried to force all her strength into pushing back against their locked weapons. It did little good; she was much smaller than the silver haired Heartless; though she refused to be called weaker. She placed her damaged hand on the inner handles of the large shuriken to brace her hold; it didn't matter if she couldn't push the Heartless back, just as long as she could keep the barrel from pointing anywhere near her.

The ninja girl gave a rather haughty laugh; Heartless had such needlessly dark pride. "Really?" She tried to smirk through the tense expression she held for the throbbing pain throughout her arm as she strained to keep her ground. "That's dark. I think you should totally lighten up." With slight of hand she grasped a palm sized shuriken, the inner curve of two points heart shaped. She brandished it forth between them all in her palm. From its center blinding light shone forth, light from her heart and sincere intent; the Darkness wasn't the only one with tricks up its sleeve.

The light was searing on flesh comprised of darkness. Kadaj didn't notice his own damage as he witnessed Yazoo in front closest to the light. His eyes widened painfully, his pupils slitting to nearly unseeable. Inside his still heart the cold memory of their other brother's falling flashed through his mind; _don't cry little brother, it won't hurt soon. You'll be with Mother again, don't cry._

"Loz!" The name had left Kadaj loud and tortured.

Amidst the burning pain of white light Yazoo heard the name shouted loud and clear. It was that which snapped him out of the haze he had been settled in among his sudden torture. His being vanished away from the light and away from the girl to reform behind Kadaj. One hand had reached up in seconds to slip over Kadaj's eyes. Even though what his brother was seeing was in his mind he still felt the need to shield him away from any hurtful image.

Yazoo ignored burning wounds and curling darkness to lift his other hand and rest his gun over Kadaj's shoulder. In an instant he had them backed up away from Yuffie and was trying as hard as he could to aim the weapon at the girl while being careful of his brother and the light that still stretched on. With the pain still surrounding him his aim was off and bullets flew past their intended target.

Yuffie kept stead fast with the light in her palm. The bullets whizzed by in loud whistles, some leaving close grazes across skin but never hitting. Warm red trickled down her hand that held her larger signature shuriken, it slid down to the blade and she tightened her grip so the blood wouldn't slick her grip on it.  
The Heartless were backing off, she was doing some damage, holding her own against the two Heartless that had been terrorizing them all. This really was a tale to tell Leon; providing she could still make it back in one peace.

Taking advantage of the veil of light Yuffie lifted up her large shuriken in her one hand and threw it at the Heartless brothers in their moment of weakness.

Through the light that blinded them Yazoo could still sense what danger was still around them. The ninja was still as close as she had been before, so it wasn't hard to figure out when her weapons were aimed to kill either. His eyes narrowed and he had just enough time to turn and shield Kadaj away from the attack with his hand still around the other's eyes, just as the shuriken headed towards them. The large weapon embedded itself into his arm and black blood was quick to make its way out of the wound.

Yazoo was finally forced to slip his hand away from his brother to reach up and yank the offending piece of metal out of his arm. With just a simple touch black mist trailed around the large shuriken and he was quick to throw it back towards Yuffie with his good arm while his gun vanished from his other. He didn't care if his aim was off, for as soon as the weapon was gone from his grasp he took hold of Kadaj once again and the both of them vanished to a further part of the town for the time being.

With a yelp Yuffie jumped out of the way of the returned weapon, the heart shuriken falling from her hand to clatter to the ground, the light disappearing from it. The Heartless had left; she'd made them retreat! A sigh of relief left her loudly as she let herself skid down and fall to her knees and butt on the roof top. She'd come out of the fight alive, with her heart intact; and that was good enough for her. Yuffie yanked out some bandages from her shorts pocket, snapping it around her bleeding forearm, pulling it tight with her teeth.

Afterwards Yuffie exhaled. "Next time, Leon, we're adding the security system on the roof tops." She touched her scathed shoulder tentatively. "... Ow!"

There were footsteps below the young ninja and it seemed for a second that maybe the Heartless were still around. The only tip off that could put Yuffie's mind at ease was the fact that the security system wasn't going haywire and trying to destroy whoever was nearby. There was a slight tap to the drain pipe connected to the house in which Yuffie still sat perched on, more then likely just something to get the girl's attention. Still, the person didn't seem to wait for her to acknowledge the sound. "That was quite the show. Hey, maybe next time you should just paint a target on your forehead, yo."

Yuffie went rigid. She leaned over to look over the edge of the roof down to see who exactly it was below; one man with bright red hair drawn in a pony tail, the other bald and in dark shades, either wore dark suits. Yuffie glowered, growling at the sight of just who they were.

"Figures you stupid Turk lapdogs would sit there on the side lines and watch- cowards!" Yuffie gave them a rude gesture with her bandaged arm. "Go crawl back to Shinra, you spineless bastards!"

The male with the ponytail only gave a slight grin at Yuffie's response. Her hostility only seemed to have amused him somewhat. "That's some mouth you've got there." He had turned his gaze up on the girl as soon as she had looked over the edge of the roof, but his fingers still continued to tap on the drain pipe for something to do. "Aren't ninjas supposed to have some kind of honor and all that bunk? Not much of one are ya?"

"And you aren't much of a gentlemen- picking on a girl after she's taken on two strong Heartless!" Yuffie turned so she could get a better look down at the Turk to give him a proper glare. "I'd like to see you take on two by yourself. No, instead you bring an entire army just to take out one of those small minor Heartless. Or are you here to take the credit of defeating those Heartless brothers after I've taken a big chunk outta them." Yuffie scowled. "Go get lost! We don't need you here!"

"Why would we need to do something like that when we've already taken one out?" There was a slight shrug of shoulder and the tapping finally stopped as the hand slipped into a pocket. "So you made them retreat, so what? They're still out there. You didn't defeat them at all, yo." His other hand moved out to slap on his partner's shoulder rather rough. "Me and Rude here saw the whole thing. If you call nearly getting your ass kicked for half the fight winning, then sure, you were doing something right."

Rude was unmoved by the back and forth that his partner and Yuffie felt the need to do. He'd been watching down the ally, keeping eyes and senses open for any new intruders rather than get involved in petty banter. But the slap to his shoulder had his attention finally turning and he glanced up at Yuffie, as unimpressed with the ninja's attempts at the fight as his partner was. "Mmm. If you can't eliminate a target, you can't call yourself a ninja." Rude turned his gaze away again. "This isn't worth our time, Reno."

Reno let out a sigh at his partner's words and finally tore his eyes away from Yuffie to look at Rude instead. "Well, yeah, I know that. Still, you have to admit it's a lot more involving then just patrolling this place again and again." His hand finally dropped away from the other's shoulder and his gaze moved to watch the area that had Rude so interested. "Hell, we just got to watch a pretty entertaining fight without even having to lift a finger, yo." He turned his eyes back to Yuffie and grinned once more.

Yuffie let out an insulted shout. "I'll show you an entertaining fight you meatball!" She grabbed up one of the roof tiles and chucked it at Reno's head.

Reno easily ducked the piece of tile where it sailed over his head and hit the ground with a shatter. He didn't seem to take notice, but did comb his hand through his hair to make sure none of it had been messed up as the tile flew by. "Nice arm." He mocked Yuffie just as usual and didn't at all seem detoured. "Sorry though, I'll have to take you up on that offer some other time. I don't think anything can top watching you dance around a bunch of bullets." He waved his hand. "Priceless."

Several dozen more tiles were chucked Reno's way for his smart mouth. "You just don't want to be beaten by a girl, you pansy!"

Rude raised a gloved hand to press it to his temple as roof tile shattered about him with the arguing; this was getting them no where.

Reno continued to duck each tile thrown, but at some point he had taken out a rod, which was only supposed to be used for battle, and was batting a few away from him so he wouldn't have to duck in every direction. He didn't seem to notice Rude's annoyance. Instead as the last tile dropped he looked up at Yuffie with narrowed eyes while he shouted up at the girl. "I'm not scared of some wanna-be ninja, yo."

Rude gripped the long red pony tail that trailed down Reno's back and gave it a firm yank, dragging his partner from Yuffie a few steps. "If not her," he pulled the pony tail down forcing Reno to bend backwards enough to give him a strong glare face to face, "then me." He was getting very tired of this obnoxious nonsense.

"That's right- you listen to baldy and go running!" Yuffie waved the tile in her hand as she shouted. Rude sent her a sharp glare which quieted her for the moment.

Reno gave his partner a crooked grin as best he could from his position, but it seemed more pained then anything else. Rude's grip was a little too strong at the moment. "Awww, come on, Rude. I was just playing around. It's too dull around here." He knew it was a losing battle and was quick to put his weapon away to show he was going to be good and play along for now. "Could you let go of my hair, yo?" He managed a small smirk after the question.

Rude subtly ran his fingers through the red trail of hair and then gave it a slight tug warning Reno that he better behave. He let go of the other's hair letting Reno straighten up. "One of the Heartless are wounded. It's best we find it and eliminate it while it's weak. There's no point in leaving their extermination to these novices." He ignored the angry back talk he got from Yuffie above.

Reno was quick to straighten back to his full height once again and ran a hand through his bangs, hitting his goggles in the process. He seemed to finally ignore Yuffie as well if only because of Rude's warning and paid more attention to his partner instead. "Yeah, yeah. Make quick work of it and that's just another down. It shouldn't be too hard, probably just as quick as last one." He buried both his hands in his pockets and glanced around as if the two Heartless were right in front of them. "This job is too easy."

"All bark and no bite!" Yuffie shouted from the roof. She decided to come down and really give that Reno guy a piece of his mind. Unfortunately her wounds had her dizzy as she stood up too quickly and her leap turned into a trip and she fell down from the roof ungracefully right onto Reno.

Rude's glasses slid down his nose with the shake of the impact in front of him. He stared. "..." These were the people that held the fate of Radiant Garden in their hands; things were starting to feel a little more than doomed.

Reno hadn't had time to react much like he had when tiles had been thrown at him. Of course having a girl suddenly fall on top of him was much different then ducking roofing. He fell in a heap with Yuffie right on top of his back and groaned at the impact as well as at the added weight. His face was nearly planted in the concrete of the street and it caused his usual good mood to vanish in an instant. "Get her off of me, yo." Had he been on his back he would have easily pushed Yuffie off and wouldn't have cared where the girl landed.

Rude crossed his arms. "... You got yourself into this mess."

Yuffie groaned, shaking her head; at least she landed on something softer than concrete. She quickly sprang to sit, staying right where she was on Reno's back. "And just what the heck do you think you're doing in _our_ territory anyway, meatball?" She grabbed Reno's long trail of hair and gave it a good many hard yanks. "You're just a bunch of rats in suits!"

Reno was quick to reach a hand back and slap Yuffie's own away. "Your names aren't etched into the houses around here. Therefore it's not your territory you damn brat." He dropped his hand back down and shifted around to push himself up on both hands, using them as leverage to push himself up. If Yuffie fell off of him, well, that was just fine. "Besides, I said before, we were patrolling. You don't listen well."

Yuffie squeaked as her chair decided it was going to move. She instantly latched her hands on Reno's pony tail, clawing up it so she could grasp onto the red hair to keep herself clinging onto the Turk's back. "If that's what it takes- I'm totally going to etch my name in each and every one of these houses!"

With a professional air Rude pushed his glasses back up his nose. "... She's riding you like a pony, Reno." He crossed his arms again.

Reno nearly hissed out in pain at having his hair pulled even worse then before. He ignored Rude's words and focused more on getting Yuffie away from him. "That's not going to stop us from doing our job, yo." With one hand he reached back to grab hold of the girl, yanking on whatever he could on her person in retaliation for her grip on his hair.

Yuffie let out a loud shriek slapping Reno's hand away. "PERVERT!" She instinctively beat her fists against Reno's head at the ill-begotten touch.

Reno was quick to shield his head, hoping to fend off at least most of the hits. "In your dreams! Quit hitting me you damn pest!" He managed to peak an eye out from around his arms to look over to his partner and gave the other an almost pleading look. "Rude, get her off of me."

It was apparent that Rude was trying his best to keep a solemn face, but the scene before him was indeed a sight to see. He rubbed under his nose with a finger, clearing his throat to gain back his composure. Despite how funny it was, enough was enough. Rude stepped over and grabbed Yuffie by the scruff of her shirt yanking her up and off of Reno.

Yuffie squeaked as she was held up in the air, kicking and trying to grab at Rude's hand to pry it open, but the man's hold was must too strong. "Let go of me you tactless brute! If I can take on those Heartless brothers- I sure as hell can take you on!"

Reno was quick to get to his feet more then happy to be off the concrete and no longer used as a chair. He ran a hand through his hair once more to make sure it was all still there after so much pulling. As soon as he was done he pulled his weapon out in a quick second and was in Yuffie's face while electricity sparked around the rod under her chin. "Wanna try it, yo?" It was easy to tell he wasn't in the mood anymore for the young ninja.

Yuffie stopped thrashing about and looked down at her possible electrocution only to narrow her eyes at Reno, not impressed at all by the threat. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend," she out right insulted him.

Reno's grip tightened on the handle of his weapon and he narrowed his eyes on Yuffie. For a split second he thought about moving it towards her, but that would only end with him in trouble and he really didn't need that. As quick as the electricity had shown around the weapon it was gone and he raised it to rest on his shoulder instead, out of Yuffie's face. His eyes kept narrowed on the girl even so and though the threat of electrocution was gone his annoyance wasn't. "Think we can throw her to the Heartless and use her as a decoy?" He raised his eyes to his partner and it was hard to tell if he was really joking or not.

Rude looked at the glaring girl with actual consideration. "Well, they will be looking for her to finish what they've started."

"H-hey." Yuffie glanced back at Rude with wider eyes. "I'm one of the good guys too remember. Let's not do anything crazy now."

"You should have thought of that earlier." Reno spoke up easily. His gaze had moved back to Yuffie and his usual humour came back as he watched her. "What's wrong? You're some kind of great ninja, right? Being a simple decoy is easy. Besides, you weren't so afraid of them before it seemed. So quick to make them retreat." Each of his words held a mocking tone to them making it obvious he was only insulting the girl.

"Like hell I'm going to help you," Yuffie shot back. She swung her legs up, flipping up over Rude's hold to land on his arms and in seconds pushed off to rip out of the grip to land behind the man. Quickly she pulled the hidden wakizashi sword from her boot and brandished it out in her defense. "I think it best if you two just move along."

Reno had watched in a bit of stunned silence for a few seconds. Finally he grinned once again and turned his eyes back on Rude, acting as if someone taking out a weapon near him was just an everyday casual thing. "She got by you pretty good, yo." He nudged Rude with the end of his own weapon.

Rude made a low sound of aggravation in his throat. He acted as if nothing had happened and walked from Yuffie as if the ninja wasn't there. As he walked past Reno he muttered "Yeah, well, she dog pilled on you and rode you like a pony."

The words gave Reno a start and the smug look dropped from his face. He didn't have much to say to that and instead was quick to catch up to Rude without stashing his weapon away. Once again he didn't acknowledge Yuffie and finally allowed the girl her peace.

-

In the darker depths of the tunnels that lead into the new city, two stepped from the shadows to take the refuge where the securities could never penetrate through the thicker darkness.  
On their arrival Kadaj pushed Yazoo against the wall where the darkest of shadows stayed in the corner. Their wounds would easily heal in the presence of darkness. Still, it did little to ease Kadaj's worry and anxieties so plain on his face under the veil of his bangs.

"Yazoo... Yazoo... Yazoo." Kadaj whined his brother's name as he fretted over the deep wound in Yazoo's arm that continued to mist the dark life that was his brother. "No," the one word was so small as Kadaj tried to verbally deny the wound from bleeding.  
Yazoo shifted against the wall despite being pinned by Kadaj. The worry in his brother's voice had his eyes narrowing and he was quick to raise a hand and rest fingers under the other's chin to bring his gaze up and away from his own wound. "I'm fine, brother. It's only a scratch." Although they both knew that was a lie. It was much more then that, but it would heal if given enough time. His eyes seemed to travel over Kadaj just the same as the other had been doing to him, checking to make sure wounds were healing at least somewhat.

Kadaj let his eyes flutter shut as he let Yazoo look him over. He raised his head just a little, leaning into those few fingers at his chin. "I won't let it happen again. I won't. I won't let it." His eyes opened again, blinking a few times as he looked up at Yazoo. He tilted his head and his gaze slipped away to the lighter side of the tunnel far off, pupils dilating as he didn't watch anything in particular; it was their little brother's image that flitted through his mind for that split second replacing all he saw.

Without warning Kadaj called his twin bladed sword between them. He rested the blades on his other palm and quickly sliced deep into flesh with a small sound. Black misted from the parallel cuts and Kadaj gently rested his palm over Yazoo's wound, sharing and giving his own darkness to replace what had bleed out, helping to heal the gash that much faster. "... I won't let you go with Mother just yet."

A sound escaped Yazoo's lips that could have easily been a moan as the shared darkness seeped into his own being. His head fell back against the wall for only a second before he was soon leaning forward to barely brush lips against the corner of Kadaj's own, speaking in a near whisper. "I don't plan to leave you anytime soon." His hand lifted further to rest on the side of his brother's head, disturbing the long strands of hair as it rested against a cheek. "We're both going to get our revenge."

The duel bladed masamune fell from Kadaj's hand, disappearing into black mist before it could hit the ground. His eyes fell half way shut as he ever so slowly turned his head giving the smallest of nuzzles to the hand at his head and the lips near his. The energy that drained left him dizzied, it was elating to giving something so personal to his dear brother. "Everyone... Everyone will pay. Every human. Every beating heart."

Yazoo's eyes slipped halfway shut at finally having his brother so calm once again. His fingers stroked through strands of hair even while Kadaj leaned in so close to his hand. "They have no right to live after making our dear brother suffer." The words were spoken in a harsh whisper. "No one has a right..." His lips trailed up Kadaj's face, keeping as close as he could to the other after such an ordeal. His free hand moved up to barely press along healing wounds on Kadaj's body and his own eyes hardened. "She'll be one of the first few."

Kadaj nodded in complacent agreement, enjoying the brush of Yazoo's lips softly against his face. "As soon as you're well." He paid no mind to his own wounds; they didn't hurt when his brother touched them with gentle care. There was something soothing about Yazoo's cold bitterness, it felt safe, protective; like everything would be alright if they hated everyone else but themselves.

Kadaj ran his thumb up near the wound where their darkness was shared. "It'll be much more fun this time, dear brother. We'll spread much more of our disease this time. Wide spread. There'll be far more screams, all at once, so loud that Loz will hear it where he is."

"I have no doubt that he'll enjoy such a gift." Yazoo finally moved his attention to Kadaj's fingers and watched as his brother touched the healing wound. With Kadaj's aid it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before, but it still needed time that much was obvious. "The best part is always the screams..." The words were nearly whispered and only loud enough for Kadaj to hear. After they were spoken Yazoo turned his eyes back on his brother's face. "We should keep one of the corrupted as a pet, Kadaj. One of their fallen heroes. A trophy of sorts."

That had a smile perking on Kadaj's lips. "Yes. Let's. A little pet would be fun." His other hand came to rest on Yazoo's chest, smoothing just barely across the belts that criss crossed there. "A little friend to torture... to show them there are worse things than Darkness." Kadaj paused in his motions to look at his brother's face, his eyes. "... Light will never touch you again." His eyes fell shut for but a moment so he could turn his head just enough to place the softest of small kisses to Yazoo's lips. His eyes slipped partially open after as he continued speaking quietly. "Ever again."

Yazoo's eyes fell halfway after the brief touch of lips. With Kadaj's simple words he felt at ease after what had happened, but it wasn't unusual. One would do anything to make the other feel protected in any way. "Don't worry, brother." The words were spoken just as quietly as Kadaj's own and after Yazoo leaned in to capture the other's lips once more in a kiss that lasted a bit longer. As soon as he pulled back Yazoo kept as close as possible, touching whatever he could of Kadaj's face with his finger tips. "I won't be so careless any longer."

"You better not." Kadaj pouted his scorn. "I'd miss you too much if you became careless." But the fingers moving along his cheek melted away any new worries; Yazoo wouldn't leave, not like Loz or Mother. Kadaj leaned against Yazoo, keeping as near as his brother wished. He was feeling a little fatigued but that only meant what loss he felt was his brother's gain. The connection felt so good, like his insides were melting into liquid ice and sentimentality, it had Kadaj squirming just a little.

"I know you would." The words were still just as hushed. Yazoo had no doubt that if he were to leave it would destroy Kadaj just as much as their brother's death had. It would be too painful and Yazoo didn't want to think of leaving the other alone, nor did he plan on letting Kadaj think on such things as long as he needed to. He was still so eager to get back out and make each human on this world pay dearly, but knew that his brother only wished for him to heal first. It was that which kept him right where he was, trailing lips barely across skin where his fingers had just been.

A small sound left Kadaj, a little needy whine that was a little impatient. But he tried not to rush the healing, but he was just as eager as Yazoo was to get back out. "Are you feeling better?" He turned his head just enough so that Yazoo's lips brushed against his. "It doesn't still hurt does it?" His other hand reached up to trail a finger through the fray of hair that rested against Yazoo's cheek, following down the long strands, his fingers getting lost in the silver.

Yazoo let out barely a noise at the feeling of fingers through his hair. "Mmm, no. It's not as bad." The words were spoken against Kadaj's own lips and after he pressed another soft kiss before he went on. "I only have you to thank, brother. So wonderful to me." His hands moved down to rest lightly near his brother's neck. "I should be fine in no time and we can finish what we started."

Fingers slipped from Yazoo's hair, letting the silver strands linger before they trailed off fingers. Kadaj placed a finger on his own pursed lips before he placed it softly on Yazoo's lips; a small 'kiss', yet silencing his brother for the words he spoke next. "Stay. Get better. I'll do what must be done until you're well enough to come join me."

Eyes narrowed as Yazoo stared at his brother after such words. To be apart wasn't something they tried very often, but when they had to it was best not to argue because the situation was obviously more drastic then usual. Yazoo said nothing in response, knowing better then to try and get Kadaj to stay. He only gave a small nip to his brother's finger in a small show of affection and to show that he would listen to the quiet command given.

"Join me when you're fully well." Kadaj brushed his fingertip along Yazoo's bottom lip. "Not a cut or bruise on you. I won't stand for otherwise, little brother." His hand moved from his brother's lips to press flush across the other's cheek, the touch as endearing as if it would be their last touch ever again. Their pride had made them cocky and then their baby brother had fallen away from them, Kadaj wasn't going to risk that chance ever again. "Be a good boy... while I'm gone."

A small smirk finally found its way on Yazoo's lips at such words. He couldn't help himself. "Of course, Kadaj." His hands finally dropped away from his brother's neck, but not before trailing down along the other's arms for a brief moment. "But, don't have too much fun without me. I will be terribly lonely here without you."

Kadaj finally let his slight smile slip across his lips. "I'll leave a piece just for you." His hand drew away from Yazoo's cheek, the touch lingering before it fell away. "It's always more fun when you're there anyway, brother." He looked to his hand still holding Yazoo's arm, the darkness that curled around less and less as the wound was healing. Regretfully he let his hand loosen its hold and let go, breaking the bond only to feel a little colder. "...Yazoo."

Yazoo was quick to reach up and place both his hands back on Kadaj's cheeks for a quick second, pulling his brother out of his trance. "Sshh, I'll be fine, brother, and soon I'll be right there with you once again." His lips curved up into a grin as his hands fell away back to his sides. "Go on. I'll behave just like you told me to."

Kadaj took a few steps backwards. The curling mist at his hand seeped back into the wounds healing the cuts quickly. He leaned his head forward to watch Yazoo through the thin veil of bangs. "... I'll see you soon, brother." He let himself fade away watching Yazoo disappear from his sight as he did.


	41. Chapter 41

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 41

There wasn't much havoc going on around the town, so it was safe to say that the two Heartless had retreated elsewhere for the time being. Still, the two Turks that had left Yuffie alone in search of the two brothers weren't allowed the luxury of just giving up their search. They had to look high and low, especially if the Heartless were really wounded as severely as they hoped.

They moved past the town, past cliffs and a large empty valley that looked as if it stretched on for much farther then it actually did. Still there was no sign of the one major threat to the town and it had an aggravated sigh leaving Reno as he finally dropped down to sit himself on the edge of a cliff which looked over the valley. "This is a waste of time, yo. If the boss wants those two so bad he can find them himself, cause so far we've got nothing." His eyes were glued to the castle in the distance even after he stopped speaking.

Rude had come to stand by his partner near the cliff's edge. He crossed his arms as he looked over the same vast view Reno did. It was always a captivating view no matter how many times they looked at it, the tinted rock landscape seemed to stretch on forever. Even after the large Heartless war that took place there no one took to building residential structures in the long expanse. Perhaps most just found the area taboo, especially now.

"Our shift is almost over," Rude calmly assured his impatient partner.

"Almost isn't soon enough." Reno flicked at a tiny rock that was beside him after he had finally turned his eyes away from the castle. He watched as the small pebble went flying off the cliff to land far below where it would more then likely only make the smallest sound. "We'd get more done just bashing away at those small Heartless that the worthless security system tries to get at on a daily basis." With a sigh he collapsed back on the cliff while his feet still dangled over the edge, making it obvious he wasn't getting up any time soon if he could help it.

Rude watched the scenery for a moment longer before he looked down at Reno. How he managed to get partnered with his complete opposite he'd never know; the ironies. "They've probably slunk away to some dark hole to lick their wounds." He looked away from Reno to the rocky path they followed to get there. "They'll be back. More pissed off than they were before... thanks to that stupid girl."

"Oh come on, Rude." Reno moved up only a bit to lean back on his elbows and look up at his partner with a grin on his face. "You have to admit that it was pretty funny. Of course, she had it coming to her when they sort of backed her into a corner for a second there. The girl doesn't have a lot of brains doing what she did back there by herself, yo." He raised a hand to tap a finger to his head for a second before he let it fall back down to the ground below.

"Exactly, she attacked with no thought or plan. She may have gotten a lucky hit, but all she's done is poke the wasps nest." Rude gave a displeased look. "The boss isn't going to like what we have to report back. Especially that we didn't locate the wounded Heartless brothers and finish the job."

Reno waved his hand in the air, dismissing that little part of the conversation. "He'll get over it. It's not the first time we've been chewed out over this damn job." Of course it was mostly Reno, but that didn't need to be voiced out loud. In one quick movement he was back on his feet and brushing himself off even though there wasn't very much dirt to be seen on the cliff. Once he was done he slinked over to Rude and trailed his hand up his partner's suit, grabbing onto the perfect tie to tug on it while he smirked up at the other. "Chill out, yo."

Rude turned his attention back on Reno, his stoic expression never changed. His brows lowered unimpressed but he didn't say anything to Reno's 'subtle' advances. He was as 'cool' as he was going to get.

Reno's smirk never left despite Rude's nearly expressionless face. His hand stopped its tug on his partner's tie, but never actually left. Instead his fingers still stayed near it to keep the other at least somewhat close while he stared at his own face in Rude's shades. "Besides, if we're lucky those Heartless will stay wounded for a good while and we'll have our work cut out for us. We might still have a shot at finding them. We didn't screw up too bad."

"We won't if we stay here," Rude raised a hand to pry Reno's off his tie, "fooling around." He adjusted his tie once he'd gotten it back, smoothing it back down against his suit professionally. "It's not like they're going to fall into our lap."

"Aww, you're no fun, yo." Reno let out a quiet 'tsk' under his breath after his words while he moved both his hands inside his pockets since he had been pushed away. He turned his gaze away to look up at the sky as if the Heartless really would fall right on top of them at that very moment. After what happened with Yuffie he seriously didn't doubt it. "It would be so much easier if they did fall right in front of us."

"Oh?" a soft playful voice spoke up behind Rude. The Turk turned round quickly to see just in time to get the twin blades of a masamune sword pierced through his shoulder. "How fortunate for you," Kadaj finished with a small smile that was the devil's sincerity.

Rude grunted, refusing to fall to the hit made. Without hesitation he grasped the twin blades with all the strength he had in his good arm, keeping the weapon exactly where it was, keeping Kadaj where he stood as well.

The voice had been a trigger to get Reno's attention as well. His eyes had narrowed at the hit Rude took, but he took the distraction as a chance to bring out his weapon, allowing electricity to lick at the rod. As soon as Rude had the Heartless stuck in place he was quick to move around his partner to take a swing at the Heartless and get the job done quickly.

Kadaj easily dodged the swing, humans were slow and he could see the attempt in every move Reno made before he ran. He slipped forward like a whisper, unbearably near to the Turk. Had Kadaj had any breath it would have ghosted coolly near Reno's ear. "Would you like to know what it's like to lose someone dear, as well?" The Heartless tightened his hold on the handle of his sword and from under his hand black shadowed over the weapon. Speedily it rushed over the blades and when it made contact with the flesh it was embedded in a violent dark attack exploded into Rude, throwing him back to the cliff's edge.

Reno had watched with wide eyes as soon as he had heard the voice near his ear. He kept his eyes on Rude who kept still after such a vicious attack by one of the brothers that they had thought to be much too wounded for a battle. Without a word Reno's wide eyes narrowed once again and he turned quick to swing his weapon for Kadaj's head while he tried to land a punch at the Heartless' gut. His sudden distaste for the creature near him was more then obvious.

Even though now Kadaj's sword was free he didn't bother wasting the energy to block the baton with it when it was so much easier to move just a few inches from the attack. Instead he swung his sword across the offending arm that tried to punch his middle, after swinging it up he brought the butt of the handle down hard onto Reno's nose.

The sword cut a rather large gash in Reno's arm, but he couldn't pay much attention to it since his nose felt like it had just been broken in two. He reeled back away from Kadaj to cover his nose and make sure it wasn't inured too seriously. He could taste blood which made it obvious that it was bleeding, but it didn't feel broken. That was enough for him.

"H-Hey, Rude, come on. I can't do this on my own, yo." The words were shaky at best, fearing the worst for his partner, but Reno didn't dare take his eyes off of Kadaj. The Heartless was too quick. He couldn't even take a breath and it was that knowledge that had him running at Kadaj again to try and swing the electric baton towards an unguarded part on the Heartless' side with his good arm.

Kadaj watched from under heavily lidded eyes as the wounded human tried for the third time to swing at him; such a pathetic attempt. It was easily dodged as well. But as the Heartless swerved to the side to avoid something unseen hit him at the base of skull, hard enough to blank his vision, knocking all sense from him in that split second. The Heartless hadn't seen Rude get up, his attention focused on Reno, which had worked to the Turk's advantage with a punch to Kadaj's head.

Reno had staggered since his aim had been terribly off and had been ready to turn around and block anything that was about to come his way the next time around. When there was nothing it had him spinning to look at the cause and a grin spread across his face quicker then anything at what he had seen. He licked more blood away that continued to trail away from his nose before he was actually able to speak in complete relief. "Hey! Good one, Rude!" After the words left him he sent a leg up as quick as he could to land a foot in Kadaj's face while the Heartless was dazed.

The foot was caught, Kadaj's head snapped up and through mangled silver hair, his one visible feline eye glaring fierce. "... Don't touch me." Pulling Reno off balance he yanked the Turk forward, swinging him by his limb to throw him back at Rude who had started to charge forward to attack.

Rude's thought of attacking was cut short as Reno slammed rather hard into his partner once he was let go and caused them both to fall to the ground. Reno sat up in an instant and shook his head before he stared down at Rude while he straddled the other. He gave a crooked grin despite knowing Rude wouldn't share his humour at what just happened. "Nice catch, yo." After the words left him he was quick to scramble off the other, moving to the side to face Kadaj. He pointed the rod he still held towards the Heartless and in seconds lightening shot forth to make its way towards their enemy.

Kadaj swatted the electrical attack away with a swipe of his sword. Rude stood up from the ground and gave Reno a look after the Heartless swatted away the attack like a fly. He then tugged his gloves on tighter, adjusting the cuffs of his suit; if they were going to get their asses beaten, might as well do it with class. He dusted his suit with a flick of hand ignoring the blood that soaked his shoulder. He made his way to stand beside Reno, raising his fists ready.

Kadaj lowered his sword by his side, regarding either of the Turks with a glance as curious and innocent as a sadistic child. The corner of his lips perked; so these two wanted to play a little harder. Good, he was hoping they were game.

The Heartless raised his hands slowly and all around him on the ground smoky shadows appeared. From these grounded shadows pulled sleek reptilian like Heartless, built on all fours like dragon-esque panther; Shadowcreepers. They formed one after another, stalking nearer around Kadaj, all heading towards the two Turks.

Reno's eyes darted around at the sudden creatures, taking into account how many there actually were. To say that they were out numbered was a terrible understatement, but he didn't seem all that detoured over their situation. He gave a sideways glance to Rude just as the creatures grew closer. In an instant he was moving from his partner to the few creatures that were nearest to him. His baton was used to try and slam down hard on one of the creature's heads while he moved a leg up to try and kick another in the side.

Rude charged forward like Reno into the herd of Shadowcreepers. One leapt into the air to attack but Rude was quick to slam his fist straight into the beasts' jaw. Bone cracked under the force of the punch but jagged teeth cut up skin as Rude's fist bore deeper into the Heartless' maw, though he managed to knock out a few. But even as Rude was able to take down one Shadowcreeper another one was soon pouncing over to take its place. It was an onslaught of claws and teeth, Rude did his best to fend them off with his strength; but his unattended shoulder wound was slowing him down.

Kadaj gave a short pleased laugh. The sight before him was most entertaining. How poorly the two Turks handled just a few if his Heartless. He watched with interest as a few of the Shadowcreepers were managed to be killed off, dieing with a scream of dark mist. Yazoo would have enjoyed the sight as well.

"A little bit of interest knowledge: each little cute puppy you kill... are really corrupted hearts of the people here you swore to protect." Kadaj twirled his sword with a very happy giggle. "Kill your own people! You're just like us now!"

Those words had Reno hesitating for all of a few seconds and he turned to send a glare right at Kadaj through the hordes of Heartless that surrounded them. It was the feeling of something creeping up behind him that set him on edge again and quick as he could he snapped his leg back just in time for his shoe to catch one of the creatures in the face as it was jumping in the air to lunge at him. He watched as it fell to the ground after the blow, but didn't have time to worry about it since more were waiting.

Another Shadowcreeper leapt at him and Reno was ready for it. He jumped up just as the creature pounced where his feet had been seconds ago and landed on the Heartless' back balancing himself with his arms for a few quick seconds before he aimed his rod at the creature and let loose a few bolts of electricity. He was quick to jump back off before the Heartless was shocked and landed on the ground just as a couple more pounced right on top of the Shadowcreeper's back he had just been settled on. If what Kadaj said was true then they would be even less liked now in this town then they had been before.

Rude threw back another Shadowcreeper he'd stunned with a fist, sending it flying back into a few that ran towards them. They all crashed into it, skidding into the rock kicking up dust; though that wouldn't detour them long.  
He glanced over to Reno; if Kadaj was lying or not, it wasn't a chance they could take. "... Heartless will always be someone." Rude looked Kadaj dead set as he spoke on with no remorse. "Who or what they were to begin with, that's no longer my concern anymore." With that he whipped out his own baton and jammed it right into the new creature that leapt at him, he then let the electricity rupture from the weapon inside the Shadowcreeper's mouth. The energy surged down the beast's throat deeper into its belly where it soon exploded wildly into dark mist; the dormant crystalline heart in its center disappearing with a dieing twinkle.

The show Rude put on was enough for Reno to throw away his own cares as well. They had a job to do and these pesky things were in the way. The two Heartless that had pounced upon their other had gotten up and were dead set on trying again. Reno didn't give them enough of a chance and back stepped with a quick jump before they could sink their claws in. He didn't wait for them to get their footing and pointed his baton between the Shadowcreeper that was nearest, nearly between its eyes, and fired the stick at close range. Black mist curled around as the creature died away and it was all the cover that the other needed for the second one to try and get at Reno again.

Reno barely had time to land a punch, forcing the Heartless away from him, but still claws were able to graze his already wounded arm. The creature had been forced back from the blow landed to it and wasn't able to cling onto the cliff in time before it fell down into the depths of the valley.

The dark veil of mist near was cut away; while Reno was distracted Kadaj had leapt from his spot, flipping upside down through the air over the Turk to cut him across the shoulder. After the attack was made Kadaj landed quite lightly on the back of a Shadowcreeper. The beast had no qualms as it let the Heartless stand on its back as it circled around Reno.

Reno was quick to cover his new wound hoping it would stop the bit of blood that seeped out past his tattered jacket. It wasn't working, so he dropped his hand back down and gripped his weapon tightly instead as he watched Kadaj move around on the vicious creature. His eyes flicked back and forth between them both before they settled on Kadaj only and he tried his best to keep his upbeat attitude despite his situation. "It's just a scratch. That all you got, yo?"

"Reno!" Rude shouted in aggravation at his partner; he was only asking for trouble by saying that.

With a smile Kadaj tucked some of his silver hair behind his ear, though it only fell back down again. It was then one of the Shadowcreepers ran swiftly by Reno but it didn't attack, instead as it ran by it whipped its thin scaly armored tail, snapping it over to bury the hooked end into Reno's leg. The creature then took off, yanking Reno with it as it headed towards the cliff's edge. Other Shadowcreepers followed suit, whipping their tails at Reno to try and dig their hooked ends in to help drag him, others tried to bite fiercely.

The pain of the creature's sharp tail digging into flesh and near bone had been far beyond excruciating, but Reno didn't have time to even utter a sound as he was suddenly dragged along the hard ground. Along the way he was sure something in his body broke because he felt even more pain travel up his side before he saw the other creatures try to take a shot at him as well. He was quick to grab onto whatever he could of the Shadowcreeper which was pulling him so his head was no longer in danger of dragging across stone. He still had a hold of his weapon, as loose and trembling as it was, and shot quick bolts at the Heartless that tried to sink their hooks into him as well. His aim was terribly off and they easily dodged. One got by to sink teeth into his already wounded shoulder as they got closer to the edge.

Kadaj could taste the quick cold fear and horror that gripped Rude's heart as he watched his partner dragged away so violently; it was plenty more delicious than the girl on the roof prior. Even if the terrible emotions never showed on the Turk's face, Kadaj could feel them. He kept that memory captured in his own heart, something to share with Yazoo later.

Rude cracked opened the jaws of the Shadowcreeper that was trying to bite him. He threw it aside and ran after the ones that dragged Reno off. All the other creatures had turned their attention on Reno, trying to take their own chunks of flesh from the Turk's hide.  
Rude sprinted across the rocky ground, dust kicking up from his once neatly polished shoes. The few nearby Shadowcreepers nip at him as he passed; they didn't take kindly to competition. Rude avoided best he could, he couldn't afford to waste time counter attacking the Heartless. With his gathered speed he leapt up, aiming his land hard on the upper spine of a creature that was nearing enough to try and lash its tail to embed its hook end in Reno's face. He minded the long rigid spikes lining the Shadowcreeper's neck, the impact caused the creature to buckle on its front legs smashing down into the rock ground hard, and arms snapped folding at an awkward angle, shoulder blades splintering instantly. The entirety of the creature exploded into dark smoke and Rude hit the ground, his running step never faltering as he continued after Reno.

Rude forced his burning muscles to move quicker, his legs to run faster. He grunted out a breath, his shoulder long grown past seething to numb, it made taking in enough air difficult but he ignored what painful complaining his lungs made. He was gaining, growing closer. But he couldn't reach out to grab Reno; grabbing Reno would mean tearing from those hooks buried deep inside flesh.  
Rude reached out and grasped one of the long spine ridges along the chasing Shadowcreeper beside him. Catching a ride from the beast he placed one foot on its hip, another on its shoulder blade and used its speed and ground as leverage to launch himself into the air towards poor Reno and his captors. But it was too late, the Shadowcreepers escorting Reno leapt off the cliffs edge into the air to plummet; a kamikaze attack at its best.  
Rude fell behind the lot that still snapped at Reno even as they fell, trying to rip the man up as much they could before they all splattered to the ground. Rude dove down, using one creature as ground to dive closer and land on one Shadowcreeper that had its tail linked into Reno.

Finally caught up to Reno, Rude gave his partner an ill timed smirk. "We can't keep meeting like this." A horrible time for a little revenge for Reno's constant mouthing at bad times.

For once Reno could only groan his response. His entire body felt like it was on fire and he was sure he was bleeding everywhere and anywhere after the entire ordeal. His leg throbbed and his arm ached. Everything hurt, but he refused to whine about it and looked at Rude's face as best he could through the dull ache in his head and the blurred vision that the loss of blood had caused.

With a quick flick of hand a hidden blade protruded out from Rude's sleeve over his hand. His hand tightened into a tight determined fist. "Hold on, partner." He plunged the blade into the tail bone of the beast he stood on. It gave a jaw snapping howl before it exploded into nothingness. Rude free fell for a moment, trickles of blood taking flight from his shoulder as he fell though not nearly as badly as Reno's bloody rain. A few more Shadowcreepers tried to bite and swipe at him, Rude swiped back at them, cutting across the arms that clawed and faces that snapped teeth. Without warning a Shadowcreeper blind sided him, lashing out sharp talons. Rude jerked back from the attack but not without earning a few long scratches across his face. The tip of claw snagged onto the corner of Rude's glasses and sent them flying with the swing of the beasts arm. A dark expression crossed Rude's face after the incident; he rather liked those shades.

The Shadowcreeper gave a warped growl only to get a blade slammed into its mouth. The blade cut through tongue, tissue and strong jaw bone as Rude forced it through. He let the gravity of the beast help him cut the creature down its gullet neatly down ribs to crotch. Rude twisted in the air to land on the creature's lower back to launch himself further towards Reno, sending the creature further down the fall. Shocked the beast fell in two before ending in a cloud of dark smoke.

Rude used his speed to land on the offending Shadowcreeper that had its tail buried in Reno's leg. He wasted little time severing the tail with a quick swipe. The tail turned to a long trail of mist once cut away, the hook disappearing with it. With a low growl Rude cut the other tails hooked into Reno. Unfortunately before anything could be done the original owner of the first tail he cut landed on his back with a heavily disorientating thud. Claws sunk into his back, the talons of toes into his side. Rude grunted low sending saliva through his teeth at the pain. But it was the fierce bite at the crook of his neck that paralyzed his body with new pain. Despite how piercing the searing pain, how his muscles tightened and twitched in shock, Rude refused to let the pain vocalize from his mouth.

The Shadowcreeper continued to dig sharp fangs into skin as far as it could get. Its grip was so tight it seemed as if nothing could pry the creature off as claws dug as deep as its mouth had clamped down. The ground below was steadily getting closer and closer while the Shadowcreepers continued to attack while falling towards the valley. Reno's body had become little more then dead weight at that moment. It seemed as if the man may have finally fallen unconscious which wouldn't have been much of a surprise.

Several more Shadowcreepers decided they too wanted a piece of the live flesh that still had some fight in it. They lost interest in Reno's limp form, and clawed towards Rude, using each other mercilessly to dig claws in for traction to gain ground and speed to get closer. Lucky for Rude the few that neared were the ones he cut the tails of, he only had teeth and claws to worry about. He slammed his foot in the face of one who neared, kicking it aside with his other. Even as he did another was just as quickly there to take its place. Quick Rude spun round so the claws bared and bites were made on the Shadowcreeper clinging to his back. The creature hissed low in its throat in anger for the betrayal and unlatched its mouth and front leg to growl and swipe at the fellow Heartless latched onto its back. This was the opportunity that Rude needed and slammed the blade of his weapon into the Shadowcreeper's throat. The beast gurgled wetly but didn't let go. With Rude's other hand he took up his baton and slammed the charging end of the rod into the creature's throat. It surged and with a spasm it dug claws deeper into Rude's flesh before it died away exploding into mist. Rude went a little slack at the relief of being let go, though he didn't have much time left.

Rude looked from the viscous horde of Heartless that hurried towards him and then to his partner's form, falling like a lifeless doll. Rude spat the blood that had gathered in his mouth purposely in one of the beast's eyes. With waning strength he used the nearest Shadowcreeper as ground to leap off of, doing his best to avoid its retaliating claws. He snatched Reno around the middle, grasping his partner tightly and protectively around the shoulders. With his other arm he reached up and pointed the blade towards the jutted rocks along the cliff's wall. The blade shot forth trailing a strong thin wire behind it. The blade flew between two rocks; it split into three blades and plunged into another rock behind them. Quickly the slack of wire went taunt and the added weight of Reno with the force of their fall had the repercussive snapping in their dead stop nearly dislocated Rude's arm from his socket; to Rude the pain felt enough like it had. But the force and the weight yanked the blades above from the rock and for a second they fell before the tri-blades catching between the rocks it flew through. Rude grunted as for a second time they stopped dead, sending new pain to seize through him. His other arm shook as it fought through the cold pain that tried to blank out his consciousness and cause his muscles to go slack, but Rude refused to let Reno go; as torturous as the strain was.

The Shadowcreepers tried their best to jump at the two Turks that had finally gotten to safety, using a few rocks that were imbedded into the cliff sides as leverage. With previous wounds and how high up the two were they had no such luck and only fumbled, falling back down the valley with murderous cries to the two humans they had so desperately wanted to get a hold of. One of the creatures had been so close before their fall as to nearly snap it's jaws inches away from Rude's foot before it fell away as well, letting out it's own vicious snarl. The bottom of the valley was filled with the dark mist as the rest of the creatures met their end and each crystal heart left the dying bodies.

Rude watched for a moment, relief spreading through him that they were finally rid of the Heartless hell hounds. Still, they were not out of harms way yet. He looked down at Reno's lifeless head on his chest. From spiky red hair trickled a darker shade over Reno's bruised and scratched up face and somewhere the Turk's trademark goggles had been lost from the attack.

Rude gave his partner a shake, strain crossing his face when he moved. "R-Reno." He was out of breath but still he tried to keep his voice its usual strong tone. "Reno. Reno, wake up." He gave the Turk a harder shake. "Reno. Wake up damnit!"

Reno's head lolled around as he was shaken and after a few long moments a groan once again made it's way past his lips much like before. His eyes shut even tighter as his body was racked with pain and the next breath he took was more of a hiss through teeth. He could hear Rude's voice and knew he had to acknowledge it less he wanted his partner to keep moving him. "Quit... shaking me... yo." The words were spoken in a hoarse whisper.

"Dead weight." Rude grit his teeth. "You owe me. Without me- you'd be a greasy smear on the rocks right now." His breath was strained and he gripped Reno's tattered bloody coat to keep him from slipping. "Now make yourself useful. As much as you'd like- I can't hold you forever." Rude used more of his strength to give Reno a shake, even if the action hurt him just as much as it did Reno. "Cuddle time is over."

Reno finally let out a pained noise at the last sudden shake "A few more minutes would have been nice." He lifted a hand as best he could to grab onto Rude to give himself some leverage as he moved around. It was absolute hell to move after having nearly his whole body pierced through and being dragged around as he had been, but Rude wouldn't just let him hang around. His hand moved up to grab onto Rude's own that held tightly to the handle of the blade which had been embedded into the wall, using it to pull himself up and keep held there while he tried his best to use his other arm and wrap it around Rude. It was the best he could do to take some of his weight off since he wouldn't be able to crawl away on his own.

Rude gave a relieved sigh to have some of the weight removed, giving his arm some rest around Reno. But they were still hanging on by a thread; more literal than anything. "Tell ya what. We get out of this alive I'll cuddle you however damn much you want; on the clock, off the clock. Whatever you damn well want." He glanced down to the remaining drop, still a devastating height that would still do tremendous damage for how mangled they were. "Hell...-I'll even kiss you; on duty. If we manage to scrape out of this alive, I'd be good for anything." He snorted.

Those words seemed to get Reno's attention. He turned his head to look down at Rude with a curious gaze before a small grin broke out on his face despite the pain he still felt and the blood that stuck to the side of his head. "You said it. Can't take it back, yo." He turned his gaze away again and tried his best to push the throbbing in his leg, as well as the rest of his body, out of his mind so he could climb up the small wire, trying not to kick Rude in the face in the process.

Reno moved up until he was near the rocks in which the blades had imbedded themselves. He looked over them for a few seconds before he determined which had the largest expanse of space. In a quick second he moved his good leg out, which was still pretty beat up, and tried to land his foot on the jutting rock in the side of the cliff. It was big enough for him to stumble onto and stumble he did, for as soon as his foot landed onto it he wasn't nearly as graceful in his footing as he normally would have been. He grabbed hold of a nearby rock that was in the cliff to keep himself balanced, but in the end had to kneel on the large expanse of rock since he couldn't stand up so well. Of course in his mind anything was better then hanging from a damn wire.

Rude wasn't so quick to follow, his one arm felt dislocated and useless. It was a bit of a fight with his own limbs to pull himself up along the wire. But eventually he crawled up, slumping down on the rock when he reached it. His breath came in ragged huffs and red slid down from the scratches across his face to sting his eyes; but at the moment he didn't care about much save for having the heavenly opportunity to rest his arms. Blood coated his throat and he coughed some of it up; he was thankful that the bite at his neck hadn't hit any vital veins.

Reno rested against the rocks nearby as soon as he had the chance and kept an eye on Rude when the other had made his way onto the rock as well. He kept still for a couple of minutes, more then happy to just stay as he was and rest, but Rude had saved him and he wanted to make sure his partner was okay. With a small groan he moved forward to crawl over until he was beside Rude, looking over the other man and flinching when he realized Rude was in no better shape. He lifted his arm and used his torn jacket's sleeve to wipe the blood away from Rude's face before he tried his best to give a small smile. "Thanks for saving my ass."

"Yes." Rude drew in an exhausted breath, trying to get enough to speak with a steady voice. "Well, I guess I've grown quite fond of that ass." He gave a slight amused scoff at his own words before he blinked open his eyes to look up at Reno. "We're not outta Hell yet. That bastard is still upstairs." Rude coughed again, blood wetting the dust. With bloody lips he smirked, his head resting heavily on the rock. "... Your promise is going to be hard to keep."

Reno pulled his hand back to wipe at the side of his own head. The blood that still clung to him had started to get more then a little annoying. Rude's words did little to ease his worry and he chanced a glance up above them, but there wasn't really much he could see. "We can't really do much in this condition, yo. I feel like I just got run over by a bus. I might as well have been." He let his hand drop back down and looked back at Rude. "Think he'd pull more of those things out on us?"

"...He has no reason not to." Rude met Reno's gaze, there was a somber seriousness to his eyes that were rarely seen from under shades.

Reno's own eyes narrowed after those words and he stayed silent for a few seconds until a troubled noise left him. He looked away once again and out across the valley as if searching for anything that might actually aid them, but obviously there was nothing. They were pretty much alone. "Ahh, man. Think we could find some way to sneak by him? Maybe we can give him the slip. I mean, I'd rather listen to the boss lecture us then stay here and deal with an insane Heartless and his animals."

Rude groaned as he forced himself from the ground to sit up. It took a few tries, nearly planting his face in the ground, but he managed. Without answering he reached out to grasp the once white collar of Reno's shirt and yank him nearer. "...I think our shift is finally over by now." He silenced Reno's loud mouth, the same dangerous mouth that got them into this mess, firmly with his own.

Reno blinked his eyes more then a few times at suddenly being pulled over and then having Rude's mouth closed over his own. It didn't take him long to overcome his startled state and he had to suppress his grin in order to kiss back, ignoring the blood that lingered between either of them as tongues moved together. Just as his eyes closed his good arm moved up to wrap around Rude, forcing the other to stay close.

Rude tried not to bruise Reno's lips more than they were. Reno's mouth had a salty metallic tang and he couldn't help licking away the blood along his partner's bottom lip; Reno's or his own, he didn't care. "... Every time we kiss it's always bloody." He managed to smirk some at that.

Reno only grinned at those words and his mischievous nature seemed to come right back amidst the pain and worry he had been feeling lately. "You know you like it." He gave his own quick lick to Rude's lips before he pressed a few quick kisses lower. The fact that they had much more to worry about above them higher on the cliff seemed to have flown from his mind.

Rude groaned in slight annoyance; give Reno an inch and he'd take a whole mile. He pinched Reno's injured nose trying to push and detour the man, now wasn't the time. "Call for back up." He couldn't help but unconsciously lick his own lips. He smirked soon after. "Bloody kisses later."

Reno had flinched when his nose was pinched and it successfully had him moving away from Rude to raise a hand up to his face. He kept it there for a few seconds while he watched his partner before he let out a sigh, obeying the command he was given. "Fine, but remember what you said, yo." After the words he shifted around and tried his best not to put too much weight on his bad leg, but it was hard when what he needed was tucked nearly inside his shoe. He dug around with a few fingers and pulled out a small circular device no bigger then his palm which he flipped open to reveal lit numbers. With quick fingers a code was punched that would be sent back so they could get the help they needed to come and get them out of their sudden predicament.

Rude gave a small sigh as he shook his head slowly. "The things I do to motivate you." Something caught his attention and his eyes flicked upward. He rushed forward from his knees, yanking Reno back just as twin blades flew down, piercing the emergency communicator that tumbled from Reno's hands to the ground. Rude had slipped his arm over Reno's chest protectively. He looked up. They were in no condition to continue fighting the demented Heartless who was completely unscathed.

Kadaj appeared at the edge of the small ledge they stood upon. Behind him the sky was colouring from blue to purples and pinks; soon night fall would come. The darkest of hours; the shadows would fully heal what injuries his dear brother had left. The sunset's tinged the Heartless a silver purple, the dieing light glinting over leather as he blocked the very sun from Reno and Rude's view. "I'm glad you two didn't die... It means I can keep you both. And you can witness each other's tortures for life, until we twist you into Shadowcreepers. And as our pets you'll suffer worse in Darkness." The corner of lips curled wickedly. "Your screams will be eternally beautiful."

The sudden yank back had left Reno more then a little disoriented. Each wound on his body protested to the movement, but when he saw the reason why Rude had acted so quickly his mind blanked out as he looked from his broken communicator and up to the Heartless nearby. He only scowled at the words spoken, but for once kept his mouth shut. He really didn't want to chance their luck again by saying something he shouldn't. He wasn't feeling up to it a second time around.

"... Reno." Rude moved his partner from in front of him to his side as slowly and carefully as they could. "Get behind me." It made no sense that Reno try and fight in his condition. He was in the worse shape out of them both. It was best if his partner sat this one out until reinforcements came nothing more; no deeper reason.

It wasn't Rude's words that caught Kadaj's interest but the unspoken words. Introverts always had the loudest of hearts. "Perhaps," Kadaj spoke with careful precision, "I shall take just one of you." He twirled his masamune as he looked from one to the other; decisions, decisions. "Leaving the other to their own merciless guilt about what Hell they couldn't save their 'partner' from."

Reno had been just about to move behind Rude as he had been told, but something about Kadaj's words stopped him cold. He knew that he was in no shape to do anything, but after what the Heartless said he didn't want to just stay back and do nothing. He didn't want to feel helpless at all. He kept narrowed eyes on Kadaj while he stayed right where he was at Rude's side and spoke up in a hushed voice to his partner. "I'm not going to let you do anything stupid, yo."

Kadaj took an easy step forward. "Pot to kettle."

Rude cleared his throat as he gave Reno a look at that.

Kadaj paused. There was an undefinitive sound and the Turks paused to listen as well. It was far off, indistinguishable. Whatever it was it was growing louder. The cliff's drop only echoed the noise and despite where the Turks glanced they couldn't pin point where it was coming from.

Kadaj rolled his eyes, lazily moving as if it took all his energy just to raise his sword. It was an effortless block from the attack above. Sparks spat from metal grinding hard against metal; shuriken against masamune. The attack was a familiar young ninja girl, bandaged up from her previous encounters with the exact same Heartless and his brother. Kadaj swung his blade to be rid of Yuffie. The girl flipped back with ease, skidding back on her feet in front of the Turks.

Yuffie placed her hands on hips, one still holding the giant Shuriken; she turned to face the Turks she'd seen previously that day. She gave a wide cheeky grin. "Who's kicking whose _now_ , meatball." She pointed at her forehead mockingly. "Maybe next time you should just paint a target on your forehead, _yo_."

Reno gave the girl a rather blank look for her mockery. Of course if both of his legs were working well enough he would have been up in a second to go after Yuffie for such a thing. Some other time maybe. "Not our fault you didn't finish the job good enough." He bit back his own reply and felt like sticking his tongue out at the ninja, but held it in. Instead his eyes moved back behind Yuffie to where Kadaj had still been lingering after the girl's attack.

"Funny how I could take two on by myself and you two can't even take on one." Yuffie scoffed and turned back to Kadaj. She whipped out the same heart shuriken from before but Kadaj was ready for the same trick twice. The tips of swords swatted it from her hand. "Ow!" Yuffie clutched her hand and watched the shuriken fly from her, bouncing a few times off the ground before it rolled over the ledge's edge. She gave the smallest of nervous laughs before she hung her head. "...Damnit." The point of a sword at her throat had her quickly raising her head again. "N-no problem. I've got a plan B." She dramatically pointed to the sky. "LEON GO!"

From the cliff's edge above a wave of energy tore through the side of the large rock and made its way down. The large attack flew past the two Turks that were still sitting motionless and past Yuffie as well to make it's way straight for Kadaj to try and hit it's aimed target straight on. It wasn't the only attack that was being sent forth, though. While the attack had been made the source in which created it had jumped down to land behind Kadaj while the Heartless had his back turned and a large blade swung for the Heartless while the energy was used as a distraction.

Kadaj fell forward with the force of the attack behind him, staggering into the dissipating energy that hit prior. A small sound left him at being actually hit. It was a shock though the hit wasn't life threatening. He rushed forward, slamming into Yuffie. The girl flew back with a startled cry only to be hit again by the sword, sending her to slamming into the rock wall, crumpling by the Turks.  
Kadaj skidded around to face Leon. His silted eyes skimmed over the somber man. "I think I'll take her." His free hand pointed in Yuffie's direction and soon the girl's shadow swarmed round to grow larger underneath her. "You'll give us so much more guilt once she's gone. She owes us, and you blame yourself for it."

Yuffie raised her head with a groan, raising a hand to rub it. She then noticed the icy shadow that curled beneath her, slipping around her legs. "L-Leon." She could feel the cold beneath her palm, slipping between her fingers as she began to sink. "Leon.", she repeated with more panic in her voice.

Leon gripped the handle of his blade even tighter at Yuffie's panic and what he was suddenly watching. It had him on edge and he knew he had to be quick or else the girl would be swallowed up. "You're sick..." They were the only words he spoke forth towards the Heartless before he was darting forward. One hand had moved down to pull out a device much like the one Yuffie had carried along with her and soon it was activated and thrown at the ground at the girl's feet. The light burst forth to try and force back the darkness that threatened to take hold of the girl while Leon took a swing at Kadaj as soon as he neared the Heartless.

That brilliant light forced back the darkness that threatened to take Yuffie, that same light seared Kadaj's shadowed flesh. It stung his eyes nearly blinding him, so his attempt at blocking Leon's attack was clumsily done. After the cling of metal hitting metal Kadaj leapt back as far from the light as he could on that small ledge. He shaded his eyes with one hand, narrowing his eyes like a displeased child at Leon.

"I'm sick?" Kadaj nearly laughed as the rhetorical question left him. " _I'm_ sick? Sick is dragging out someone's little brother- isolating him in the wet dark streets, ganging up on one- each one of you taking a piece out of his soft flesh." His voice was beginning to break with the devastating memory; the only one that fueled them now. "You let him die alone, lying on the cold street, instead of in the arms of his family." Kadaj glanced as his foot skirted near the edge of the ledge and then looked back to Leon. "So now we're taking your families: your fathers, sisters, aunts... brothers... _mothers_." His hand lowered from his eyes to loosely gesture to the air, despite the small twisted smile his eyes were still pained under furrowed brows. "And making them apart of _our_ family. Tainting them into the beings you hate. Each dark creature your security system obliterates, each dark being you cut away..." Kadaj lowered his head and from beneath silver hair his expression fell wicked. "...will be someone close to you."

Leon could see Reno shift uncomfortably out the corner of his eyes and knew it was most likely because their little group had been the one to take down that one certain brother in the first place which caused such an unbalance. Leon wasn't about to acknowledge the situation, though. Kadaj's last few words had struck a nerve inside him and he was easily ready to spit back his own response to the Heartless while he kept his weapon at ready. "The three of you were always ready to corrupt anyone to begin with. Now you're just doing it for an even worse reason, for some twisted revenge." His eyes narrowed. "Corrupting the people in town just to send them to their deaths, the two of you deserve an even worse end then your other."

Yuffie picked up the heart shuriken after the light died way since it no longer had contact with Leon's heart. While Leon busied Kadaj she quietly crawled over to the two Turks. She gave either them a look that said 'geez, you guys look like hell'. Yuffie dug through her pockets to pull out some bandages; even if they were part of their rival's team, she couldn't exactly leave them there to bleed to death.

"You forget, _'Leon'_ , that revenge is universal to both dark," Kadaj pursed his lips in amusement, "and light." He slunk forward a step towards Leon. "And hatred." He took another step.

"Ow! Geez, try and be a little gentler, yo." Reno's voice cut through the conversation as Yuffie sat trying her best to bandage the two up. He had a right mind to still strangle the girl for earlier words, but it wouldn't really accomplish much. Not to mention something seemed to have caught his eye while Kadaj slinked nearer to Leon. Behind the man a similar shadow was waiting with weapon drawn. "Oh shit..."

Leon didn't need to hear Reno to know he was only a few seconds away from getting a bullet in his back. Still, he kept his eyes on Kadaj and as soon as he heard the barrel of the gun he ducked down to avoid the shot and turned to swing his blade to try and catch the other Heartless' legs with the sudden attack. He missed completely and watched as the Heartless jumped over him to land beside his brother.

Yuffie swallowed her fear. "No kidding, meatball." She unconsciously yanked on the bonds of a bandage causing Reno to yelp.

"Brother." Kadaj perked completely as he glanced with one visible eye to Yazoo. He reached out a hand to stroke a hand down the other's arm where the deep hit had previously been. His fingers traced over the now whole flesh. "Welcome back. You've been missed."

Yazoo took his eyes away from Leon for a few quick seconds to look down at Kadaj and the hand that traveled along his arm. "Sorry I couldn't return to you sooner then this, brother, but I know you would have been unhappy with me if I had come back in such awful shape." He turned his attention back on each of the humans with his weapon still drawn. A cruel smirk came over his lips as he noticed how pitiful the two Turks looked. "You seemed to have kept yourself quite busy without me."

Leon had straightened back up to face both Heartless with his guard still up. He looked back and forth between the both of them and cursed silently that the one they thought had been wounded was no longer harmed in any way.

Kadaj slipped his hand down so that he could slink forward a step to hug his brother's now healed arm. "Don't worry, there's still plenty left for you." He had no inhibitions about slowly turning his head from side to side to slowly nuzzle his brother's cheek in front of everyone there; who seemed to stare quite profusely.

"Leon!" Yuffie shouted. She scrambled to her feet. "Catch!" She tossed Leon the heart shuriken.

Leon had been ready to grab the shuriken in his hand after Yuffie's shout, but before he could even get his fingers around it, it was knocked away with a loud bang. The bullet in which it was hit with grazed his hand and blood poured out from his palm causing him to flinch. He turned his eyes back on the two brothers as he took a few quick steps back and ignored the shuriken that now lay on the ground broken as black mist trailed from the bullet's mark.

"Now, now, there will be no more of that." Yazoo narrowed his own eyes on Leon, looking back and forth between him and Yuffie. His hand which held no weapon had moved around Kadaj's waist to keep his brother close and safe after the threat of another painful display of light. "I don't suggest you dare even try such a thing again."

Yuffie scowled from where she crouched. Quickly she dug through her pockets to pull all the potions she had, slamming the arm full into Reno's chest. "You owe me, meatball." That said she quickly scrambled up to stand, skidding to stand beside Leon, signature shuriken ready. "So, what's the plan, boss?"

Leon had shaken off his injured hand and still used it to grab hold of his weapon while he gave Yuffie a sideways glance. With the girl's help he would have somewhat of a chance and with the help of the potions she had given the two Turks maybe they would be at least a little helpful as well. It depended on if they decided to stick around. He nearly cringed at even the thought of them helping. He gave a frustrated sigh as he glanced back at the brothers, but addressed the ninja at his side. "Looks like we'll just have to throw everything we have at them. They're just too quick. They're pretty good at predicting us."

Half the potions Yuffie had thrust upon him, Reno had forced Rude to take as well and he didn't care if he had to force feed the disgusting liquid down the other's throat. Of course he was already in the process of doing just that with the bottles he held in his own arms. He grimaced at the taste, but after a few moments the worst of his wounds was already starting to feel better then with the aid of only bandages.

Yazoo's eyes flicked behind Leon for a few seconds. He wasn't all that interested in the human's worries on how to go about destroying them. In his mind it was all gibberish and not worth their time. Instead he watched the two Turks with an annoyed expression and gripped his gun a little tighter before he bent down to whisper words near his brother's ear. "Look, Kadaj. All your hard work seems to be going to waste." His eyes narrowed further.

An indignant look crossed Kadaj's face at his brother's words; it was true. How dare they reverse his beautiful violent endeavors. It had his expression turning a relaxed blank which didn't match the raw jumble of thoughts inside. He made a small sound of acknowledgement from his throat. He gave a subtle turn of his head so his cheek brushed against Yazoo's lips, his hair against Yazoo's lower face.  
Kadaj then let go of his brother's arm and stepped away. He readied his blade, turning it one way than the other in idle motion. Then a slow smirk crossed his lips as he stretched out his arms low at his sides. Step by step Kadaj backed to the edge of the rock ledge. Then with a tweak of lips he let himself fall backwards off, shocking all who watched. But they should have known better, Kadaj wasn't human, and soon he was flying back up, a blur of black. His boots landed on the side of the cliff, kicking little to no rocks as he sprinted up the side of the rock wall.

Yuffie's head snapped up as she watched Kadaj take off. Unease settled in her stomach but with Leon there she felt far readier and braver about their fight than she would alone. "United or divided, chief?"

"United and this time be careful." After the words left his mouth Leon was quick to move. He aimed his sword down, ignoring Yazoo much the same that the Heartless had done to him, and unleashed another round of energy at the ground. It was aimed for Kadaj, almost splitting the cliff as it charged towards the Heartless to try and take him out.

"Pitiful..." The word left Yazoo in a mocking tone. The barrel of his gun was aimed at the energy and rounds were fired. It hit where the energy neared and both darkness as well as Leon's attack clashed causing a small explosion of light and dark. The ledge they were on rumbled with the shock and when the dark mist cleared the energy that had been aiming for his brother was gone. It had another cruel grin spreading across Yazoo's face.

Yuffie threw her large shuriken at an angle so it would swoop around in the air to attack Yazoo at his blind side. But she didn't stop there; she flung several smaller shuriken towards the Heartless as she came to stand back to back with Leon. The ninja paused to give a wide toothed grin right at Yazoo. "I got your pitiful right here, sunshine." She raised a hand, showing it off with a flare of fingers. She turned it back and forth to show that it was empty but on the second turn with a flick of wrist a row of heart shuriken fanned out in her hand. Instantly Yuffie's grin widened to an extreme. A near manic chuckle left her.

Yazoo had only enough time to lean away from the blind sided attack. Still, it was able to scratch at his shoulder which caused him to narrow his eyes in anger. He had been ready for the smaller shurikens, having sensed the girl's next attack and had lifted his gun to knock them away one by one. His attention moved towards Yuffie and the grin on her face only fueled his annoyance towards her while he looked at the small heart shaped weapons she held. As soon as he straightened up he aimed his gun and shot at each one she held, intending to harm her as well as knock them away.

Before the bullets could even reach, Leon moved his blade out to knock away each shot. The weapon was used as a shield for Yuffie against the barrage of bullets while he continued to stay near the girl. He ignored the mist that curled up as he stopped each shot and finally took a breath when the shots stopped.

Yuffie patted Leon's shoulder with an appreciative grin. She caught the large shuriken with her free hand. With a flick of hand she took one of the heart shuriken between two fingers. Giving it a quick kiss she threw it in Yazoo's direction. The weapon burst into light as it flew towards the Heartless.

Behind them Rude watched with Reno as the apposing team wasn't doing so bad against the one Heartless brother. It left a bad taste in his mouth, almost as bad as the mint flavour that Reno forced him to ingest. In a smooth gesture he reached into his bloody tattered coat and pulled out a new pair of shades. With a flick he opened the arms and slipped them on, glancing up at Kadaj.

"Reno." Rude snapped his fingers, addressing his partner rather calmly. "We'd better move." Above Kadaj was speeding back down, using the force of gravity to rush down, darkness gathering with the force he was coming down.

Reno had looked away from Yuffie and Leon at the snap of fingers and glanced up at the Heartless that was fast approaching them. A startled look came over his face and he was suddenly thankful for the armload of potions Yuffie had given them because it gave him a chance to scramble out of the way much as Rude had warned him while he tried to ignore the blinding light that had appeared on the other side of the cliff.

Yazoo had been ready for the same old trick. As soon as the shuriken was thrown his body faded out to move away from the deadly light that would have surely caused him nothing but pain. In an instant he was back on his feet away from both Leon and Yuffie on a few rocks higher up clear of the weapon.

Above Kadaj pierced the wall of the cliff, cutting deeper into the blue rock with as much ease as flesh. The rock cracked, the slash in it following down to where everyone stood on the ledge below. The enormous rock began to pull loose of the cliff wall, its own weight helping it fall forward. But Kadaj didn't slow towards the ledge. The gathered darkness around him churned round his twin bladed masamune and he plunged towards the ledge, slashing it even all the way across, severing it from the rock wall. The ledge broke free with a crash, and it began to free fall with the large chunks of rock above that Kadaj cut free.

Yuffie gave a shaky sound of shock and grasped onto Leon's jacket so she wouldn't fall over as the entire ledge shook them up. She found herself floating up from the ground as they fell. She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth as she swooned; motion sickness and anxieties. "Ughhh, we're all going to die."

Leon had let out a grunt at having Yuffie cling to him. He was just as worried as Yuffie, but there was no other ledge they could easily grab onto in such a quick moment of their fall and from the girl's hold he was trying not to fall as quickly. With one hand he was trying his best to cut at the other free falling rocks around them that were in danger of hitting them.

Reno had clung quickly to Rude's jacket as soon as they started to slide on the falling ledge. His eyes shot wide open and he had found himself kicking at what he could of the ground until they were finally falling and a shout of annoyance left him at being in such a situation again. "This is getting really old, yo!"

"Agreed." Rude reached out and managed to nab the wire they'd used to climb up on the ledge in the first place. He held onto Reno so he wouldn't go flying off as well, keeping his own feet on the wall of the cliff to steady himself.

Kadaj appeared beside his brother on the ledge he stood on, a smile and a giggle from his lips. He bit his knuckle to stifle the laughter as he stepped up to stand beside Yazoo. From Yazoo, Kadaj's gaze flicked down to the plummeting humans.

Yazoo joined in his brother's amusement and gave his own small smirk. He leaned down a little to rest his chin on Kadaj's shoulder while he watched the scene play out, ignoring the two Turks just so he could watch the other humans in their descent to the ground below.

Leon had tore through the last of the rocks and noticed the ground getting closer. He cursed the two Turks luck, but didn't let it get to him. With quick thinking he moved an arm around Yuffie since the girl was only hanging on by a few fingers and swung his blade out once again. The sharp edge cut through the rocks and sliced through while they continued to fall. They had begun to slow down with the force of his blade's movement through the cliff's side and it put them in a much less dangerous situation.

Yuffie clapped her other hand over her mouth since Leon had a hold on her. Flying in ships made her motion sick but flying, or rather crashing, without the ship to start was making her down right ill. Even with Leon's attack slowing them down, they'd still land rather painfully; she didn't want broken legs. She groaned beneath her hands. "'M guma hate thish." Being a ninja Yuffie was resourceful. She pulled the hidden ripcord on her person and from a hidden pocket a parachute burst forth, lifting them up with the sudden gust that caught up in the chute. Yuffie grunted with the jerk but soon their decent slowed and they floated down much more safely. Of course it only made Yuffie's stomach do a much more acrobatic flop and she groaned louder.

Just as quickly Kadaj's amusement left his face. A parachute? That wasn't playing fair. His fingers stopped their idly toying of Yazoo's hair. A low thoughtful sound left him. "You pop the bubble..." His gaze drifted to the Turks. "... While I cut the thread."

Yazoo gave a low hum at the words spoken. A good enough agreement that he understood and would do as told. He pulled himself away from Kadaj to move close enough to the edge of the ledge they stood on so he could get a good enough shot at the parachute Yuffie had opened. With a few quick pulls of a trigger bullets went flying to ruin the human's easy escape from their fall.

At the same time Kadaj leapt over to the rocks where the Turks hung. He perched on one of the rocks the blade was wedged between. He brought the sword over them, letting the glint of blades be clearly scene by either battered men that hung from the wire down below. He tapped the wire with his sword; the twing noise that vibrated down to ones clinging to it caused a smile to cross Kadaj's face.

"Please don't beg," Kadaj softly whispered. The edge of one sword swiftly ran over the wire, cutting into it just a little. "It'll make you look more pitiful than you really are right now."

Reno had looked up at Kadaj as soon as he settled himself above them. The vibration of the wire and the small cut had him wrapping himself tighter around Rude while he glared up at the Heartless for the words spoken. He growled a little and instead of biting his tongue he spoke up, wanting to have the last word in. "Yeah right, like we'd give you that satisfaction!"

Rude gave a low sound in his throat; Reno was going to be the death of them. Had he the hands free he would have smacked Reno one. Still he gave Kadaj an icy glare.

"Better to cut the ties, before you two get truly attached at the heart." Kadaj sawed the blade deeper into the wire, the wire began to pull apart from the strain of weight on what few metal strands were left in it. "Goodbye." The blade cut through the rest of the wire, leaving the Turks to free fall once again.

Further down Yuffie was trying her damnedest to steer her parachute from Yazoo's dark bullets. Leon had been trying his best to deflect what he could with his sword, but he couldn't reach the chute above which was now full of holes that let the wind whistle through.

"Damnit! Stop shooting the chute! We're not fish in a barrel!" After Yuffie shouted a bullet whizzed by her head. She managed to jerk her head aside enough to avoid, though the shot cut a few strands of her hair with it. "BASTARDS! Huh?" Something caught her attention. It wasn't the Turks who were trying desperately to stop their fall. Something far off, dark, was closing in; but it wasn't a Heartless. It sounded too machine like to be a Heartless.

It flew in at breaking speed, loud and proud; a black helicopter with the Shinra logo printed plainly on its side. The back up Reno had called for before his communications device was destroyed. It wasted no time flying into the fray at the cliff. The rush of wind it caused sent Yuffie and Leon flying back, but it was obvious the pilot didn't care for anything else save for what they came for.  
The helicopter turned abruptly to face the cliff wall and on its front bright beams of light shone at the offending Heartless. Soon bright missile flares shot forth at either Heartless. But the helicopter didn't wait to see if the missiles hit their mark; it was simply a distraction as it made evasive maneuvers for their falling comrades. The side of the copter opened and either Turk grabbed onto the holsters inside, the catch was rough and jarring but less damaging than hitting the rock ground bellow would be.

Rude ended up hard on his back slammed up the wall, one arm still clutching Reno who ended up on top in their little fallen pile. He groaned his pain for the fall with a low growl, and didn't bother to get up. "... Nice piloting, Tseng."

The long black haired pilot didn't even give his two comrades a second glance. "Someone has to save you slackers. Your sorry state sure as hell isn't going to sit well with the boss." There was obvious amused sarcasm to Tseng's voice.

Outside the helicopter, Yuffie and Leon had been sent back a great deal nearly slamming into the rock wall of the cliff. The holes in the chute didn't help much and caused the wind to whip right through it, making the situation even worse. Leon tried once more to dig a hole in the cliff much as he had done to slow them while the Heartless were distracted, but a second time around it didn't work out as well and he couldn't get a good enough grip. It had him cursing his luck as he glared towards the helicopter that had been able to rescue the two Turks while he hung on tighter to Yuffie.

The girl frowned beneath her hand, grumbling. Despite Leon's best efforts she grumped through the sickness. "Leon," she whined, "how come we don't have a helicopter? The group needs a helicopter. Let's get a helicopter!" She swallowed hard trying to rid her mouth of the sour taste. "Then at least I'd be getting sick in style."

Leon turned his attention on Yuffie and gave the girl a rather annoyed look that was mostly brought on by everything they had been through so far. "Yuffie, I seriously doubt this is the time to discuss our lack of having a helicopter right about now." His eyes narrowed a bit further. "And you better not get sick on me."

"I wouldn't be getting sick on you if we had a helicopter," Yuffie muttered beneath her hands. She blinked rather surprised as the helicopter didn't fly away like she expected it to. Instead it turned and headed straight for them. It turned on its side and the two Turks inside grabbed both Yuffie and Leon to yank them in. Yuffie unclipped her parachute so it wouldn't get caught in the rotating blades; it flew off with the gust the helicopter gave.

Yuffie still clung to Leon despite no longer being air born, her body felt like rubber and she was sure she left her stomach somewhere still in the wind. Still she was shocked that the Turks would help them in such a pinch. She stared at one Turk than the other. "Uhm, thanks."

Reno only grinned at Yuffie's confused look while he leaned back away from the two. "Yeah, well, you said we owed you, right? Debt paid and slate cleared, yo." He waved his hand around with just those few words and continued to grin. "Don't have to worry about you bugging me or my partner."

Leon only groaned at even being helped by the apposing team. It made his stomach twist around and in the end he looked away from the Turks to somewhere else inside of the helicopter. He chose to stay silent while he finally let go of Yuffie. They were safe enough so the girl could handle her own even if she decided to just continue to cling.

Yuffie tried not to look too impressed with the rescue or the inside of the helicopter; it was all soo very cool though. She gave a nonchalant shrug. "Well, not only did I save your sorry butts, but I also bandaged _and_ gave you a good many _expensive_ potions." She counted off each on her fingers. "We also fought the Heartless brothers while you two sat and watched like it was some kind of pony show."

"Duly noted," Tseng spoke up; adding it to the list of things he was to report to their boss. It had Rude scowling behind his shades.

Yuffie gave a wry sort of laugh. "Cooked meatball."

Reno had turned his eyes towards Tseng to shoot the other a look. In an instant his attention was back on Yuffie and he was narrowing his eyes on the girl as all the humour had left his face. "Watch it or I'll push you right back out of this helicopter. You won't be laughing then." Despite the threat he didn't move from his spot just yet.

Rude shared a glance with Leon; such children they had to deal with. Rude nabbed Reno's ear to give it a yank as if he was some child. "Behave.", he muttered. "Or you can forget the promise."

While Reno whined Leon moved a hand up to slip it over Yuffie's mouth to keep the ninja from saying some smart remark that would get her in trouble again. It helped keep the silence as well and he planned to keep it that way as they all made their way back to town.


	42. Chapter 42

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 42

With the help of both Riku and Naminé, the small group had decided they would safely depart from the darkened city to begin their search for the Nobody that they had allowed to escape. Of course Mickey had noticed how worn down the two boys had looked and in an instant before they left had spoken of finding a place to rest. So, a world was chosen that would be safest and they had found themselves a place to sleep among grass and a much more welcoming black sky then the city they had been in moments before since most of the towns were too barren or already controlled to chance resting in.

In the middle of the night one in the group began to toss and turn before blue eyes began to finally open to stare up at the night sky. Sora stared up at each twinkling star with wide eyes, forgetting for only a split second where he was before his mind caught up to him. His hand moved up to place itself on his chest and even through his clothes and past gloves he could still feel the steady beat of his own heart locked with the heart of the one he cared for most. It had a small smile coming to his lips. When his hand fell away he turned to the one he knew had been lying next to him to cling as tight as he could, while he tried his best not to disturb Riku at the same time.

A hand came to rest atop Sora's head, smoothing gloved fingers through the plush brunette hair. It was that simple action that revealed that Riku probably wasn't asleep in the first place. Despite being exhausted over everything that had happened and despite Mickey's best judgment about rest, Riku just couldn't find the sleep that his body needed. He felt just as restless as Sora.

"The stars are almost the same," Riku quietly spoke up, "aren't they?" He'd been watching them for quite sometime, trying to find the same stars he remembered staring up at on the beach late at night on their island.

Sora had almost jumped at the touch and voice. He hadn't been expecting Riku to be awake, but calmed down instantly and turned his eyes back on the sky that had held his own interest only a few seconds ago. "Yeah, almost." One of his hands had started to idly twist fingers around Riku's cloak while he continued to keep an eye on each star. After a while the smile came back to his face and he turned his attention back on his friend. "It feels good, just lying here looking at them. Just like home, right?"

Riku gave a quiet agreement. "You'd cling to me just like this, though you always fell asleep on me. We never brought sleeping bags. I think we stopped doing that when we were six. I was too stubborn to be bothered and you had to emulate my toughness. So I wouldn't think you were soft." He gave a small amused sound. "And from then on I ended up as the sleeping bag replacement." Riku ruffled Sora's hair. "I think it was just a secret way to get close to me."

Sora ducked his head a bit at the feel of fingers through his hair again, but a quiet laugh left him at those words. "Maybe." He moved a bit so he could rest himself more comfortably across Riku, feeling just as much the normal teenager he should have been in that moment instead of someone with the weight of everything on their shoulders. "You didn't seem to mind all that much, just like now. You would let me stay as close as I wanted. You made a good sleeping bag, Riku." He tried to muffle his next laugh against the other's chest.

"Yeah, well... back then I thought the more I had you to myself the better, even if that meant acting as your sleeping bag." Riku let his arm slip down to rest around Sora's shoulders. "Maybe I still feel a little bit the same. Never really happy until I'm alone with you." Riku looked back up to the sky; he missed those familiar constellations they'd see on their beach. "Which is kind of funny since you're practically _everyone's_ friend."

Sora shook his head at those last few words. His fingers started to draw little lazy patterns on Riku's cloak, nothing that made much sense, just small doodles. "I might try my best to be friends with everyone, but you're still my _best_ friend, Riku. Nothing will change that. You're very special to me no matter what." His smile stayed in place after the words left him. "So, it's not really all that odd or funny, because I guess I feel the same. I want to keep you near me, especially after everything. I want to make sure you're close and we're together."

"It's not exactly the same. But it's close enough I guess." Riku looked back down at Sora. "But there's not much that even I can complain about," he brushed a few fingers through Sora's hair, tucking it behind Sora's ear, "now that you're okay. Mmm... 'he' was right you know. You're never alone. You've never been alone. You're so very lucky to be you, Sora."

"Yes, other then the countless Heartless that have a grudge against me, my Nobody that hates me and the ultimate job of saving the worlds _again_ , I'm very lucky." Despite his words Sora managed to grin, making it obvious he was only playing around. He lifted his head to look down at Riku again and moved so he could place a quick kiss on the other's lips, pulling back to speak once more after. "All because I have you and my friends right beside me. I'll always be okay."

"See, lucky." Without warning Riku dumped Sora off his chest and pinned him down on the grass with a playful smirk. "Sides, third times the charm, right? That's the optimism I've missed these few weeks from you." He kissed Sora's cheek. "The goofy faces you make and that goofy smile of yours."

Sora blushed a little at suddenly being pinned so quickly. Still, Riku's words had him grinning as well and he was soon sticking his tongue out at the older boy before he gave a response. "Really? I couldn't tell. Which did you miss, hmm? This one?" He moved his face in a distorted fashion, crossing his eyes so the only thing in his vision was his nose and puffed out his cheeks. After a few seconds he let the face go and spoke again. "Or maybe this one?" He stuck his tongue out once more to try and touch the tip of his nose which resulted in odd whimpering noises as he attempted it.

Riku sat back a bit on his knees, dusting off his gloves as he spoke. "No, no, no. I believe it was this one." He hooked his fingers at the corners of his mouth to stretch it out as he stuck out his tongue, crossing his eyes. "Bleeegh."

Sora blinked his eyes at Riku's sudden face. He kept silent for a few seconds before a small laugh left him and soon enough it grew louder. His hands moved to his sides to hold them as he twisted around, trying to pull himself together from the sight he had just seen. It was a miracle he didn't wake the other two sleeping bodies nearby with his giggling.

Riku laughed as he straightened his face. Sora's giggling laughter was addicting and Riku tried his best to keep quiet. "Shhh." He leaned over Sora to try and stop his friend's squirming. He put a finger to his own lips. "Quiet. You never saw anything." He couldn't stop the next bit of laughter that escaped him. "Not a thing."

Sora tried his best to keep quiet, but it was rather hard after such a display. Although, he did stop squirming since Riku had moved over him once again. "Y-Yes... I d-did!" He managed to speak between more laughter that he tried his best to calm down. "Y-You're lucky I d-didn't have a camera." He settled down a bit more and smiled up at Riku.

"Hmm, you're lucky you don't have a camera, because you wouldn't have one anymore if you took a picture." Riku grinned down at Sora, half leaning on his friend half hanging over him. "Besides, I would never do something that immature. You may make faces, but I'm definitely not that silly. That's your department."

Sora tried his best to pout at such words, but in the end he was still smiling. "That's not true. I can be mature if I really wanted to." He moved a bit so he was sitting up on his elbows which caused them both to be near inches apart, their noses almost touching. It only had Sora smiling more. "I just choose not to most of the time. I've decided that it's really boring."

"Really?" Riku smiled just a little, leaning just a little to touch the smallest of kisses on Sora's lips. It was so soft it had even his own cheeks growing just a little warm, though he tried to keep a playful smile. "Prove it."

"Well...okay." Sora spoke the words as if trying to do so would be the most troublesome thing. Still, he smiled a bit before he straightened up as best he could despite their position. He cleared his throat and soon spoke in a voice that was much more authoritive then usual, but in reality was only an imitation of what he had heard from their parents. "Shame on you, Riku, you really shouldn't be awake so late at night kissing other boys..." Sora bit his bottom lip after he had spoken to try and keep his laughter in. So much for mature.

Riku feigned a deep thoughtful noise. "You're right. I should go back to sleep and stop kissing other boys. Even though the boy I'm kissing isn't all that boyish; so I'm not sure if he really counts." He raised a hand to stroke Sora's cheek with lazy affection. He couldn't help the small chuckle that left him. "You sound like your dad, Sora. Which is a little disturbing."

Sora had leaned into the gentle touch and started to nuzzle Riku's hand. It was the last few words which gained his attention and one of his eyes narrowed on his friend in mock annoyance at such a thing. "For some reason it sounds like most, if not everything, you just said was meant to tease me." He lifted a hand to push at Riku's shoulder gently while he rolled his eyes. "Besides, my dad isn't that bad, come on."

Riku raised his brows in amused skepticism. "Has he ever said something like that to you?"

The small blush came back to Sora's face and he suddenly had a difficult time keeping eye contact with Riku out of embarrassment. "W-What? I-I mean, no." He quickly shook his head back and forth and almost made himself dizzy with the action before he finally glanced up at the other again. "No way."

"Because neither of our parents has seen us kiss." Riku's eyes sifted half way shut and his brows rose disappearing under his long silver bangs. He took Sora's chin with his fingers and the way he looked at Sora it was hard to tell if Riku was joking or being serious. "You haven't been kissing Wakka or Tidus behind my back have you?" He leaned nearer to Sora, leaving little room as there was.

Sora started to shake his head once again, but realized it would be hard with the hold Riku had on his chin. Instead he narrowed his eyes while he started to pout again. The blush never left his face and only seemed to get stronger as it moved across his cheeks. "O-Of course not, Riku, you know me better then that."

Riku gave a slight shrug. "People like you. Makes sense people would like-you like you. You're very likeable." He let go of Sora's chin in favour of running a few fingers down the front of Sora's throat. "... I often worry you'll find something prettier and nicer than me. Guess that's why I act like a jerk sometimes, to other people, to you. I want to keep you far away from everyone else, from everything, so that it's only me you look at." His fingers ran back to Sora's cheek. "Makes no sense... and yet it makes perfect sense."

Sora's fingers had started to twirl among the blades of grass underneath him as his eyes watched Riku's finger. As soon as it moved along his throat he swallowed hard and took a deep breath before his eyes shot back up to Riku's face. "I'd never look at anyone else the way I look at you, Riku..." His face became a bit redder after those words and he glanced away towards a tree. "Y-You don't have to w-worry."

Since Sora had his head turned Riku took the initiative to touch his lips to the side of neck bared. "I better not," he murmured the words against skin. "... You know how jealous I can get." Mouth bruised Sora's neck with a nip.

Sora almost jumped at the sudden contact since he hadn't been expecting it. The words against skin had a small shiver running through him, but it was the bite which caused him to let out a quiet squeak of surprise. "R-Riku!" He tried to speak his friend's name in a startled voice, but it only came out as a soft little moan which only had Sora's embarrassment rising further. He moved on, trying to push it all away. "I-I know, R-Riku. Geez."

Riku gave a quiet mischievous chuckle. He took Sora's scarf between his teeth to tug it down, revealing more of Sora's neck despite the collar there. He enjoy the flustered state he'd put Sora in; he found it rather cute. Riku couldn't help continuing what he'd started by placing a few lingering kisses on the side of Sora's neck. "Don't shout," he quietly whispered near Sora's neck. "You'll wake the others up. If you haven't already... and now they're listening in." Riku grinned a little as he drew his fingers up Sora's side.

Sora gave a rather startled noise at such a thought and seemed to look around their small camp as if both Mickey and Naminé were listening in at that very moment. "Really? You think they are?" It was the fingers at his side and constant kisses near his neck which had him easing up in his worry. He squirmed a little, but relaxed just as quick and settled back down as he let out a little noise along with his friend's name. "Riku..."

Lips touched the small mark left on Sora's neck, apologetic. "I missed you. You have no idea how much I missed you, Sora." Riku crawled closer on Sora. "You were there, but not there." He placed small kisses to Sora's jaw. Sora's skin was so warm from the blushing; Riku missed that warmth so much. "... I," Riku swallowed and turned his head, resting it against Sora's scarf, "... I'm sorry. I didn't try hard enough."

Sora frowned at his friend's sudden change in mood. He hadn't been expecting the words, but in the back of his mind he knew what had happened would probably continue to bother Riku. The older boy always let problems linger no matter what. "You tried as hard as you could." Sora spoke up softly while he turned his head to rest it on top of Riku's own. "Don't apologize, Riku. We're both trying our best. I'm here now and with you. There's no need to worry anymore."

Riku made a small sound that was a little amused. "... You know, I think I was far more stable back home. Back home I always knew who I was and what I was doing. Things were simpler. So much easier. Every part of you was mine, and didn't seem to mind that. I thought that was our 'happily ever after' but..." Riku disturbed Sora's head by moving his own, pushing himself up to knee. He gestured out, offering palms to the air, it was plain to see he meant himself; the dark clothing that clung to his person, it was proof enough for his next words. "I always knew it would never end."

Sora's eyes traveled over Riku after those last few words and the frown never left his face. One of his hands had fallen away to cling over his chest where his mended heart lay. Soon his eyes were moving up to look into Riku's own and he tried not to look as horrible as he really felt. "I'm sorry, Riku." He felt the need to apologize much like the other teen had, but for so much more. "This is so much different from what we wanted out of a normal life. It's all too much sometimes and because of me... because of..." He trailed off and shook his head, continuing on. "You have to deal with so much because of it, but I'll always be by your side through it, Riku, no matter what."

Riku realized the guilt he was laying down on either of them, mixing his bad emotion with Sora's reclaimed optimism. It would do either of them no good. Riku nodded. "Sorry." They were throwing that word around a lot now. He tried to smile like Sora always did for the hurtful situations but it came out more sad. "I didn't mean to bring all this back up. I never doubted you. I always know you'll fix everything." He got off Sora and offered him a hand. "C'mon, let's go for a quick walk under the stars. Just you and me, it'll clear our heads."

Sora blinked his eyes up at Riku and took a quick glance around their little camp. In the past he would have protested about leaving their friends behind by themselves, but he wanted to be alone with Riku just as much as the other boy did with him. With a quick nod he placed his hand in the one offered to him to right himself as well. He kept his fingers clasped in Riku's own and gave his friend a small smile even after everything that had been said.

Riku started walking with Sora's hand in his. "At least this way we know no one can eaves drop. So you can carry on with all those mushy things you like to say." He gave Sora's hand a squeeze. "I guess I even missed how much of a sap you can be, too. How lovey-dovey you are. Heh, you don't know what you actually miss until you lose it."

Sora rolled his eyes at a few of Riku's words, but it was the last bit that had him smiling once again. He knew exactly what Riku meant after having been away from his friend as well. "So, you missed things like this? Being together on such a quiet night, just the two of us?" He swung their hands a little before he turned a bit to face Riku, walking backwards while he held their clasped hands in front of him. "You missed hearing me tell you that I love you? Because I do." He grinned playfully. "I love you, Riku."

Riku couldn't help but smile at Sora; his friend just had that way about him. "I missed all of those, especially that." He looked down to Sora's legs. "I missed the way you stood upright. Although," he looked back at Sora's face with a slight smirk, "it was cute how you crawled around. I felt like I had a puppy than I did a boyfriend." It felt a little strange to refer to Sora as that. He wasn't one to be extroverted about affections like Sora; Sora was always so passionate about things he felt, never shy about anything. Still, Riku didn't regret it. It felt good to admit things; it made everything feel just that much more solid and real. "Heh, maybe I even missed your twirling."

Riku's admittance to what they were only had the smile on Sora's face growing wider despite the teasing words that it was attached to. He bounced on his feet a bit while he continued to walk backwards, but still managed not to bump into anything that was in his path. The last few words had him laughing louder then he would have had they been back at camp. "Really?" Without waiting for a response he used their clasped hands as an aid to twirl himself around as they were walking, giggling the entire time.

Riku laughed a little. "Yes, sadly." He gave a quick tug on their linked hands to twirl Sora towards himself capturing him in their arms. "And this." He kept Sora near as he nuzzled his cheek as he hugged him close. "And this." He placed a few lingering kiss on Sora's ear.

Sora couldn't keep his shy laughter in during the kisses. He kept himself comfortable in Riku's arms, but after a few quick seconds he turned his head. The movement allowed him to catch Riku's lips and give the other a kiss, but he didn't pull away. He kept his lips on Riku's own, still smiling the entire time.

Riku couldn't help playfully biting Sora's bottom lip, giving it a small nibble before he pulled back. "I missed you." He placed another kiss on Sora's lips. "All of you." He relinquished a hand to brush fingers through Sora's hair, tucking a few strands behind the boy's ear affectionately. "Especially being with you under the stars."

Sora closed his eyes for only a second while Riku's hand moved through his hair. He leaned against the taller boy a bit more while he opened his eyes only halfway to glance up at Riku with that same smile still on his face even after their kisses. "Now who's the one being mushy?" He couldn't help but tease. Still, he seemed just as content with the situation which was obvious by his next words spoken. "I missed you too, Riku. I mean, I may have still been there. I may have still been me, but at the same time, I just felt so detached from myself, so it was as if I was far away..."

"It's over now. Like you said, you're back and you're with me." Riku slipped his hands down so he could knit his hands at the small of Sora's back. "Everything's alright now. Though, I have to admit, it's a little odd to think that part of me is in you." He relinquished a hand to tap Sora's chest. "I half expect you to start acting like me or something strange like that. But no, you're still your old silly self. Same eyes. Same smile. You can say what you feel again." Riku backed up with Sora until he could lean his back against a tree, letting Sora lean against him comfortably. "Weird though, I haven't changed much at all with half my heart gone. Not like you did. I don't feel much different at all. In fact, I feel much better now that you're alright, Sora."

Sora thought over those words carefully while he had began to toy with Riku's cloak once more much like he had done back at camp. "You always say that I'm your light, Riku." He spoke the words quietly while he kept his eyes on his hands. "Maybe... since everything is okay again with me and with just everything around us for the moment, maybe that's why you feel okay again." One hand clung as tight as it could to the taller boy, but still he kept his eyes down. "And I want to be able to keep it that way."

Riku gave half a smile although Sora couldn't see it. He glanced up at the stars from between the leaves of the tree they leaned against. "Hey Sora." He tapped his friend's head to gesture to the sky. "That star right there." He pointed to a rather small and faded star so far away. "That's gotta be one of ours. Looks a bit small now, but I'm sure I recognize it. It was one of the first stars that came out at night back home. You'd always wish on it." He gave a soft laugh.

Sora's attention had immediately gone to the glimmering star in the sky that Riku pointed to. The expression on his own face was that of wonder for a few seconds before a smile came back to his face and he let out a small sound. "I bet it is. Wow, I haven't wished on it in such a long time..." His voice trailed off as he continued to stare at the star. He chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds before the smile came back to his face. "You'd always think basing wishes on a star was such a silly thing to do, but I'd still try to get you to do it anyway, at least once."

"Yeah, I remember that. You wouldn't stop pestering me until I did. I was about to make you eat sand but decided to give in and try it. At least once… And if it didn't work as mystically and magically," Riku wiggled his fingers, "like you said it would, I wasn't going to do something that stupid again." He rested his hand on Sora's shoulder, resting his head back on the tree as he watched the far off star.

Sora's smile only widened into a grin at Riku's words. He couldn't help but find the memory a little funny and nice to fall back on. His eyes kept on the star for a bit longer before he turned his gaze on Riku and looked up at the other teen with a curious expression. "So, did it work? You never did tell me. Was it mystical and magical?" He tried his best not to giggle after the question and had to bite his lip to keep it in until his next words. "What did you wish for?"

Riku looked away from the stars down to Sora. He raised his hand again to toy with the brunette hair at the side of Sora's face, brushing his thumb against his cheek. "Guess." Riku gave a sly grin with that one word. He leaned down to touch a slow affectionate kiss to Sora's lips, placing either of his hands on Sora's cheeks. "You tell me if it's mystical and magical." He stroked Sora's cheeks with his thumbs, all the way down to the corners of his lips. "But I will hint: I have made more stupid wishes since."

The blush that had long ago left Sora's face came back because of words spoken and such a kiss given. Still, his smile stayed in place and he lifted his own hands to place them on top of Riku's own. He soon dropped his eyes down as he tried to find his voice again. "I'm going to guess that it could have been for us to have grown even closer. For me to care about you just as much as you did me." He gave a small thoughtful noise before he went on. "It might not be as mystical and such as going from new world every chance we get, but it's still pretty nice, you know? Being together."

"Oh I don't know, I beg to differ. I was pretty amazed when you went around asking any and everyone before where I was. And when they didn't know you'd just smack them upside the head with the keyblade. And when both Kairi and you found me... you were so happy to see Kairi after those long years, but you clung to my hand and fell to your knees crying." Riku rested his head down on Sora's with a small shaky exhale. "... I just never expected you to... do that for me. As stupid as it sounds... that was pretty 'mystical' and 'magical'." He gave a small soft laugh. "As big a cry baby as you are."

"I thought I had lost you." Sora's body had gone almost rigid at the distant memory. "So much happened and then you were trapped on the other side of the door. I didn't think I'd ever find you again." He moved one of his hands to wipe at his eyes. He could feel the tears creeping up because of all the old thoughts. Even with Riku right there in front of him, holding onto him, it still hurt after so many years. "I missed Kairi, yeah, and I was glad to know she was safe, but it was so good to see you again and to know that you were okay after so long. No one could tell me anything and no one would." He tried to calm himself down and gave a small sniff before he looked up at Riku with wet eyes and smiled as best he could. "But, it's okay because you're back with me."

Riku ran his thumbs gently under Sora's eyes. He gave his friend a slight look over his ability to get so wrapped up in memories that happened long ago. But that was the Sora he loved; always caring to tears. He gave Sora a quick kiss just to help prove he was there and not going anywhere. "So what about you?" he continued quietly. "Any of your wishes come true?"

"Oh, tons!" And just like that Sora was easily smiling a real smile once again at the change in subject. He wiggled a little in Riku's arms as he tried to free his hands a bit more so he could use them to count his own wishes on his fingers as he spoke them. "There was this time that I forgot to study for that quiz in school, remember? So, I wished that something would happen so that I wouldn't have to take it and sure enough I was sick the whole week and didn't have to go. Then there was that time I wished for a dog, but, um, that didn't really come true per say. I forgot that my dad is allergic to dogs, but my mom did buy me a stuffed dog and had it waiting for me when I got home from school the next day, so it counts I guess." He blinked his eyes thinking about it before he looked back at Riku and smiled once more. "And there are tons of wishes I've had that included you that came true, Riku."

Riku shook his head at Sora's wishes that came true. Riku was more of a skeptic than Sora who believed it was the miracle of wish making that made him sick and brought that dog plush to him, rather than the fact he'd been playing out in the cold weather in puddles and rain instead of studying had made him sick, and that all his none stop 'hinting' towards wanting a dog had pushed his mom into getting him the next best thing. Either way Riku didn't want to break that shining hope Sora had in wishes.

Instead Riku perked with curious interest that Sora made wishes about him. "Oh." He captured Sora nearer in a hug. "Like what? I'm morbidly curious."

Sora allowed his arms to move up to rest around Riku's neck since he was so close to his friend once again. It was the best he could do since Riku was much taller then him. "Well, even before we knew about doors, and keyblades, and other such things, when we were young I wished that I could be your friend forever because you were just so cool and you seemed to know so much." He laughed a little after his words, remembering so long ago. "Then Kairi came to the island and I thought maybe it would break us apart, sharing a friend, so I wished again that we would always be together no matter what, even if we fought over stupid things." He shrugged a shoulder. "Of course once everything died down and we got home and had some peace I wished for other things and my wishes came true just like all those time before, because you ended up sharing the Paopu with me."

Riku blinked and gave a small laugh. "You're a regular wishing machine. Wow, I can't believe your wishing goes back so far. And that you wished for so much. I guess I never expected you to be wishing the same things I wanted. I guess I never have to worry about wishing, not when you've got everything covered." He smiled a little and glanced up again at the sky. "I bet that little star misses your wishes. Its light may be far away now, but it's shining brightly at home." He looked back down at Sora, taking the moment to brush a few locks of hair from Sora's brilliant eyes. "You should go and give it a wish. An extra special Sora wish."

Sora turned his attention away from Riku to look back up at the sky. In an instant that one star caught his eye again and he kept his focus on it for a few long seconds. "An extra special wish, huh?" He stuck his tongue out in thought after those words. Finally his eyes slipped shut and he began to hum in thought as he started to wish on the star. After a long while he opened his eyes again only halfway and kept them on the sky above.

Riku kept silent for a moment before he gave a playful nip to Sora's chin. "So, what did you wish for? Or is it still a secret until it comes true?" He touched a kiss to Sora's throat. "Maybe I can coax it out of you." He pressed a few more kisses on the side of Sora's neck where he knew the boy was ticklish.

Sora blushed at the attention, but didn't pull back. The kisses did succeed in pulling a giggle out of him, but he still denied Riku the satisfaction of knowing what it was he had just wished for. "No way, Riku. You know it has to be kept secret." His arms tightened around the older boy. "This wish especially. I want it to come true, so I can't tell."

"Well, since you're the one wishing it I'm sure it'll come true. Sounds like all your other wishes made have come true every time you've made one." Riku nuzzled the same place he kissed on Sora's neck. "I have no doubts that this one will come true as well." Riku ran his hands along Sora's back, following up the other's spine up under the jacket. "Who knows, maybe I'll make a small wish on your star too."

Sora let out a tiny noise which he bit his lip to keep in. It wasn't every day that Riku was so affectionate. He usually had to twist Riku's arm, in the figurative sense, to even get the other boy to at least cuddle with him. Sora was easily enjoying the extra attention after everything they had been through. "Then you have to make sure it's something extra special too, and it won't just be my star. It'll be our star." He turned his head to nuzzle Riku's cheek.

Sora could feel Riku swallow, something between touched and a little nervous. "Our star," Riku echoed quietly. "I'll try my best. I haven't wished on a star for a long while. I'm a bit rusty, heh, if someone can be rusty at making wishes. I guess I'm not used to leaving my fate to chance. I've always admired your ability to hope, have faith and dream." He pressed his cheek against Sora's. "One extra special wish, coming up." Riku raised his head to look up at the star and like Sora he closed his eyes. Several ideas passed through his mind of what to wish for, but none of them seemed special enough. Then one came to him and it was that one selfless hope that he wished upon their star.

Sora had turned his eyes back on the star as well and kept quiet as Riku wished. It was after a long time that he turned his eyes back on his friend and looked him over. Slowly he moved both his hands to place them on Riku's cheeks, bringing the other teen down so that they were sharing the same breath. In seconds he pressed his lips to Riku's own, letting out a tiny sigh against the kiss he gave as his eyes slipped shut.

Riku didn't bother to open his eyes as he felt Sora's breath and lips on his. He kissed Sora back, keeping it soft and affectionate. His chest felt heavy with the emotions of thoughts and yet his head felt light with Sora near him. Even with their wishes on stars it was hard to say when they'd ever have time like this to themselves ever again. They still had so much to do, and so much that still needed fixing.  
Riku gave a little lick to Sora's lip before he pulled back. "... I love you." It was such a cheesy thing to say after a kiss Riku knew, but it wasn't something he could help. They'd learn the hard way that they might not have the luxury of saying it tomorrow or the next day. Even if Sora knew and would always know, Riku just wanted to say it for Sora.

"I love you too, Riku." Sora was quick to cling tightly once again. It was becoming a bad habit, but he couldn't be blamed for such a thing after they had nearly lost each other again. He buried his face against Riku's neck and nuzzled the other's skin, placing his own kisses much like Riku had done much earlier. "I always will, forever and ever." The words were spoken softly against skin.

Riku gave a small sound now having Sora clinging to him like that. He rubbed Sora's back, letting his hand drift further to his lower back. "Forever and ever." His other hand buried in Sora's hair as he held him tighter.

For a second Sora wondered if it was alright for them to continue to stay so far away from camp as they were. In the end he settled for just letting things go and giving into Riku's arm around him and the hand buried in his hair. It felt good and comforting and a small noise left the back of his throat to make it more then obvious. It felt normal enough, something they hadn't had in a while, and Sora wanted to keep it for as long as he could.

"We'll be home in no time. You'll see. Nothing can pull us apart or stop us." Riku ran his hand through Sora's hair, petting down those brunette spikes. "We've got both sides of the spectrum covered between us: light and dark. We're doing okay. See." Riku placed a quick kiss to Sora's temple. "We're ready to do things right. And we'll get it done so fast that we'll be home in time to hear your mom complain about cleaning your room for the ump-teenth time."

"You think we should let them know?" The words left Sora right after the mention of their parents and he realized he would have to be more specific then what he had just spoken about. "I mean, obviously not about all of this. I think it would be hard for them to swallow where we've been and what we've been doing. Nobodies and Heartless. My mom would go into shock, especially if I told her about Roxas." He shook his head, knowing he was rambling. "Anyway, what I mean is about us. We always thought it best to keep it secret from everyone, but does it really matter anymore?" He pulled back a bit while his hands fidgeted, but he didn't dare look up.

Riku blinked, letting his hands rest down to Sora's sides. He glanced aside at a few of the trees beside them as he gave it some thought. They'd mostly kept it hidden for Kairi's sake, not wanting to hurt their close friend's feelings with this. But the secret had already left such a damaging impression in their lives. Still, Riku had liked their privacy. Perhaps it was for more selfish reasons, keeping Sora and their relationship all to themselves. But it also meant that no one would judge them or think of them differently when they were together. Riku never felt like what they did was any body's business, least of all his parents. But Sora was the type of person who liked to shout his feelings from the tops of the trees so everyone knew.

Riku wasn't sure how to answer Sora. He fiddled with a lock of Sora's hair by his cheek. "If I had to take a guess I'm sure your mom already knows." He gave a weak laugh. "... You're sixteen, you still sleep with stuffed animals, you love to dance, you braid hair, you've never asked a girl out let alone even glanced at one, and you spend every waking hour with me."

Sora blushed at the accusations and tried his best to defend himself. "H-Hey, that's not true! Besides, she usually tells Dad that some of that stuff means I'm really outgoing that's all, and you're my best friend anyway. Of course I spend a lot of time with you." He glanced away, but the blush stayed in place even though he tried his best to push it away. "Plus, Dad has hinted that I need to get a girlfriend, but Mom just keeps telling him to stop pushing it." He glanced back at Riku and narrowed his eyes. "So, see. They don't know anything."

Riku gave a roll of eyes. "You're so naive, Sora." He tapped Sora's shoulder as he thought back. "Remember when we got back and my birthday rolled around? You were going to do odd jobs around your house to get some money to get me something. Your mom handed you a bunch more than asked and said you didn't have to do any work for it. And she said to treat me out, take me to dinner somewhere nice." He raised his brows with a smirk as he clunked his head against Sora's. "Don't tell me you didn't see that she was helping you take me out on a 'date'. You definitely get your naivety from your dad."

Sora gave Riku a bit of a blank look after the memory and explanation. His mouth opened and closed a few times before a blush came across his cheeks and he huffed in annoyance. "I am not naive. Besides, how do you know she didn't just want to do something nice for you since it was your birthday?" Of course even to Sora's ears it sounded a little weak. He gave a small pout before he tried his best to turn things on Riku. "Well, what about your parents, huh? They know how much time you spend with me while they're not around. What's to say they don't already know either? Well?" He poked Riku in the chest.

Riku looked down at his chest. His smirk began to fade. "My parents are never all that interested in what I do when they get home from work." He shrugged it off as if it was of no importance. "Too tired from work. I don't think they notice that I spend an unhealthy amount of time with you." He gave a slight scoff. "I dunno, they probably assume I like Kairi, since she's a girl and she's the other person I spend most of my time with aside from you." He poked Sora's forehead in gesture and retaliation. "Their heads might explode if I told them the truth."

Sora dropped his own hand and looked up at the finger pointing at him. He went cross eyed for a few seconds while a few of the things Riku had said caused him to frown. He nearly forgot the reason Riku hung around his home more then his own in the first place. "Sorry..." The word slipped from his mouth before he had a chance to catch it, but he really did mean it. He looked back at Riku and tried his best to smile again, grabbing the other's hand so he could hold onto it tightly. "But, if what you said is true and at least my mom knows then it's not a problem, right? She's always liked you, Riku."

Riku gave a weak smile. "Your dad is going to freak though I bet. I'm sure he had his heart set on his son marrying some nice girl in a short skirt. Heh, so he can have some grand kids to take fishing with, right?" He smirked some, trying not to let his usual moodiness take him. "His head might explode right along with my parents. He'll give you," Riku raised his brows," 'The Talk'."

Those words only caused Sora's face to redden once again. He quickly shook his head to try and hide it, but found his best bet was to just duck his head and try to avoid eye contact. "Shut up, Riku. No he won't." He pushed at the older boy's shoulder, but it was a rather weak attempt. "Besides, he won't be that bad about it. I'm sure he'll be fine. He won't bug me about it."

Riku leaned more heavily against the tree. "I don't know, Sora. I don't see what the big deal is about telling them... I mean, is it really their business?" He blinked and tilted his head, leaning to see Sora's face. He gave a small laugh. "Whoa, Sora, your face is beat red."

"Is not." Sora moved his hand up to rub at his face, but it obviously didn't help. He continued to look away from Riku while he tried to will the red in his face away as he changed the subject. "I guess I just don't really mind that much. They're our parents so it would be nice to let them know, but, if you still don't want to then that's fine..." He trailed off and finally looked back up at Riku, hoping the red was gone from his cheeks enough as he blinked his eyes.

Riku gave a small shrug as he found Sora finally looking at him. "I don't know... Fighting against Nobodies and Heartless just seem so much easier than telling my parents I like my best friend." He could feel his own cheeks growing hot at such admittance out loud. "I'm not afraid," he quickly stated, refusing to be called a coward over such things. "It's just..." His brows unfurrowed as he glanced away, rather at a loss for explanations. "... You know." Riku's gaze downcasted.

Sora tilted his head this way and that to try and catch Riku's gaze again, but had no real luck. It caused him to let out a small little whine before he gave up and righted himself again. "Not really, Riku. Besides, I never said you were afraid. I guess I just don't see what the big deal is, that's all." He scratched at his cheek idly while he thought over his words carefully, looking away as he spoke up quietly. "I just thought it would be nice not having to hide away all the time, you know? I mean, don't get me wrong, I like spending as much time as I can alone with you. I really do, Riku. I guess I just want more then that, but it's a little selfish of me to say such a thing." He frowned after those words and instantly apologized. "I'm sorry, Riku."

"N-no, Sora, that's not what I meant. Don't apologize." Riku looked to Sora with a sigh. "I never meant for us to hide. I'm not ashamed. It's me who's being selfish... I can't help it." He touched Sora's face, brushing a few fingers just barely down his cheek. "I don't know. You think we're old enough to be telling our parents this stuff? That's a big jump in the relationship. It means a lot of commitment." He smirked a little "The big dreaded 'C' word followed by the feared 'E' word and then the deadly 'M' word."

Sora flushed once more as he looked back at Riku after those words. Still, he finally managed a small smile as he tried his best to speak up. "Well, we've gone through a lot these past years. I think we should be allowed to take that jump if we really want to. And yes, I think we're old enough. We can make our own choices, and we've always been close friends. It's not like we're dating complete strangers or anything. So, nothing bad can be said, right?" A grin finally took place of the timid smile on his face while he moved back and forth on the heels of his feet. "They'll understand that we care about each other, right?"

Riku sneakily slipped his hands under Sora's arms and in a quick motion he picked up Sora and twirled him around, turning the tables so that it was Sora suddenly pinned against the tree. "I don't know. I think I heard your dad call me a bad influence years ago." Riku didn't wait for Sora's answer as he slipped his hands down the other's sides, attacking Sora's neck with a few playful bites and kisses.

The most Sora could do was let out a squeal before his neck was attacked and he was squirming against the tree. He could feel the rough bark even through his jacket and clothing which only caused him to try and push himself against Riku instead. The bites and hands at his sides had him letting out a few loud laughs as well as quiet noises that he tried his best to hush, but he just couldn't help it. "R-Riku, stop it." Of course the words didn't sound all that convincing.

Riku laughed against Sora's neck. The boy was squirming so much; it was almost hard to keep him pinned against the tree. "I'm a bad boy, remember." He nipped Sora's ear before he digressed into tickling Sora's sides as he tried to keep the boy pinned.

The tickling only caused Sora to laugh harder and he could no longer keep himself quiet. It didn't help his squirming either and only caused him to try and move away from Riku's fingers to get a decent breath of air into his lungs. "S-Stop, R-Riku! It t-tickles!" The words were broken up badly because of his laughter, but it was the best he could get out at the moment.

"Nope! First you must proclaim my greatness." Riku continued to tickle his squirming friend, refusing to let him get away from the tree. "Who's the best? Who's the king! Who do you worship above all else, Sora!" Sora's laughter had started up his own loud laughter. Sora's wiggling around was just too hilarious.

Sora shook his head back and forth against the tree as best he could. "N-No way!" He breathed the words out along with even more laughter. "I'll n-never admit d-defeat!" Among his laughter he let out a small whine, but still the smile stayed on his face through it all. Tears had started to catch in the corner of his eyes and for once they weren't out of sadness.

Riku laughed. "Fine! Have it your way!" He tickled right under Sora's arms easily slipping past his friend's defenses. "But I know all your weaknesses! So you better fess up!" He tickled Sora's neck on either side before one hand went to tickle to his middle. "I'll pin you to the ground and pull off your shoes and tickle your feet if you don't give in!"

"No!" Sora shouted out in between more fits of laughter. "R-Riku, no!" He tried his best to squirm even more against his friend, but Riku was bigger then him and seemed to be determined to keep him pinned against the tree. "Y-You wouldn't d-dare!" He coughed a bit after his words, but didn't care.

Riku paused, his hands falling to Sora's hips. It was then a wicked grin snapped across Riku's face as he gave Sora a devious look. "Oh, I'd dare." He then grabbed Sora, tripping him over to land him on the ground. He didn't waste time pinning Sora by the waist so he could have at with his friend's legs without him interfering. "So, who's the champ?" Riku started unbuckling the side of Sora's boots to loosen them up, grinning all the while.

Sora was startled for a moment at the sudden change in scenery, but when it caught up to him what happened he flushed at their position before he realized what was going on. "Riku, stop!" He was quick to shout the command between giggles that had started up again. He tried kicking his feet, but Riku had a good grip on them. The most he could do was squirm much like he had while against the tree while he continued to be stubborn. "I still won't say it!"

Riku undid the last buckle and slowly began to slip Sora's boot off. "Suuuure about that?" He looked back at Sora from under the fray of bangs and arched a brow devilishly. He popped the boot off and tossed it aside. Now all there was left was Sora's foot in his sock. He kept a firm grip of Sora's ankle and poked each of Sora's toes. "Suuure you don't want to change your mind?"

Just each small poke had Sora's foot twitching and caused him to bite his lip to try and keep the obvious smile off his face. He looked back and forth between Riku and his own foot a good number of times as if it was one of the most important decisions he would make, until finally he shook his head and gave a small grin. "Do your worst."

Riku laughed. "Alriiight, Sora." He took the toe of the sock and slowly pulled it off and tossed it aside. "You asked for it." He started with Sora's toes tickling them first, following down to the rest of Sora's foot before he full on attacked his friend's foot with no mercy. "HA! Take that!"

Sora had tried to hold in the noises he wanted to make, but it was no use. As soon as Riku started to touch his foot he was doomed from the start. The full on tickling was what did him in and he was soon squirming again worse then before despite having Riku on top of him. He couldn't even form coherent words; only loud laughter would leave him as he tried his best to take in air.

Riku continued for a few seconds longer, stopping to let Sora get in a well needed breath. He quieted his own laughter enough to talk. "Do you finally give in? You've probably woken up the entire planet by now with your laughing. So c'mon, who's your king? Your lord and master? Give in or else I'll tickle the tears outta ya." He wiggled Sora's big toe.

Sora finally managed to breathe since he was given the chance. Although, the small wiggle caused him to squeal and quickly shut his mouth to stop the offending noise that had him blushing. He shot a glare at Riku before he stuck out his tongue and nearly snorted. "Lord and Master? A little full of yourself, don't you think?" He grinned at his friend, making it obvious what his answer was.

Riku raised his brows as he gave Sora a rather skeptical look, the smirk never leaving his mouth. He wiggled Sora's big toe again. "This little Heartless went to Darkness." He wiggled Sora's next toe, and each after another phrase. "This little Heartless stayed home. This little Heartless had a paopu. This little Heartless had none. And this little Heartless," he wiggled Sora's pinky toe with a mischievous grin knowing exactly what would come next, "went kwee kwee kwee!" He then attacked Sora's foot full on again knowing exactly where he was weakest. "All the way home!"

Sora's eyes went wide as soon as the assault started and he was back to trying to control his laughter in a matter of seconds. He tried to kick and wiggle, but still Riku kept his hold no matter what. It caused him to whine and complain as best he could until finally he gave in despite his earlier words. "F-Fine! I g-give! You win, R-Riku! You win!"

Riku didn't stop his tickling just yet. "No, no, you said do my worst- so I'm doing my worst!" He tickled harder on Sora's foot. "Now you really have to give in: who's the king of all the worlds! Hmm! Who is your supreme lord who has you utterly defeated with just foot tickling!" He laughed with Sora.

Sora tried to keep his mouth shut, not wanting to give into such a thing, but it was too much. He laughed even harder as soon as his mouth opened again and had a hard time controlling himself to actually speak. "Y-You! R-Riku, you a-are!" He hiccupped through his laughter as tears once again fell from his eyes, but he managed to continue. "N-Now s-stop!"

Riku finally stopped, letting his laughter slow as he watched Sora catch his well needed breath. When he was sure Sora was done kicking and squirming he got off and crawled over Sora so they were face to face. "That's right, and you better remember it." He wiped away a trail of tears under one of Sora's eyes, grinning down at him. "Now tell me who you love and worship more than anyone. Hm?" He couldn't help but laugh.

Sora managed a shaky grin of his own since he was still pulling himself together. He pretended to think about the question for a few seconds as he looked away from Riku. Finally a quiet answer left him as he tapped his uncovered foot on the grass. "Oh, I love you. There's no doubt about that." In a matter of seconds Sora's hands were on Riku's shoulders and he was quickly flipping them over so Riku was the one pinned under the shorter teen as Sora kept both of Riku's hands pinned above his head and locked his friend's legs down with his feet. "But you've got a bit of an ego to talk about worship, Riku." He continued to grin down at the older boy after the quick switch.

Riku blinked at the turn of tables, especially at having his hands pinned above his head. It had Riku grinning a bit for reasons he was sure Sora was too naive to think about for the moment. "Oh I don't know. You pretty much worshiped me growing up. I was 'so cool', right?" Riku moved either of his feet in idle casualty, as if being pinned was as normal as breathing. "And you can't resist me now that I'm older." Riku tilted his head, letting gravity fall the hair from his eyes. "And cooler." He purposely gave a cocky grin.

Sora rolled his eyes at such words as well as the look Riku gave. He looked back down at his friend afterwards and stuck his tongue out before he was back to grinning. "You're not so cool right now. Last time I checked cool guys didn't get pinned so easily and let their guard down." He wiggled his fingers at his own words against Riku's wrists while he let out a little noise of triumph. "See? I'm waaay cooler then you right now, Riku."

Riku shrugged as best he could for his situation. He curled and uncurled his fingers, brushing them against Sora's hands holding them hostage, though never fighting Sora's grip. "How do you know I'm not letting you keep me pinned? Maybe I have you right where I want you because you think you have me right where you want me." He gave a lazy blink as silver hair fell onto his face while he gave Sora a rather sly look. "Or... maybe I'm just messing with you."

Sora blinked his own eyes after Riku's words as if thinking them over carefully. His gaze flicked up to where he had the other's hands pinned down before quickly moving back to Riku's face. "Nah, no way." He smiled once more after the thoughtful look left his face. "I'm clearly just way better then you and that's all there is to it. You'll just have to stay right here under me until the sun rises and deal with the fact that I got the upper hand." He gave a short nod after his words.

Riku's gaze fell more heavily lidded. "Kiss me," he ordered in a firm husky tone.

The simple command left Sora speechless for a few seconds, considering the tone it was spoken in. He hadn't been expecting that of all things, but he wasn't going to just say no. He gave a shy smile to Riku while he tried his best not to flush and leaned down to press his lips to Riku's own.

Riku waited for Sora to come to him, lips touching his before he kissed back just a little. He never lifted his head to touch their lips flush, denying Sora just enough. A slight grin perked his lips and he let his tongue slip out to give a small lick to Sora's bottom lip.

Sora didn't manage to hide his blush when he felt the lick Riku gave his lip. It wasn't something that the other boy did very often, but when he did it always left Sora more then a little embarrassed that something such as that had happened. Still, this time around he couldn't help trying to be a bit bolder, if not timid about it. He pressed forward to nip at Riku's tongue with his lips gently before he touched it with his own for only a second, pulling back just as quick and looking away as his fingers fidgeted near Riku's wrists.

Riku blinked a little dazed before he realized just how embarrassed Sora was at his action. He couldn't help laughing; Sora was rather naive and innocent when it came to certain things. "You can be cute sometimes, Sora, when you're so shy." He gave a sly grin. "It's almost as bad as the first time we kissed."

Sora blushed even harder at the memory not to mention the fact Riku had started to laugh over his misfortune. "I was just nervous back then, that's all." He finally looked back at Riku and pouted down at the older boy because of the grin on is face. "Stop laughing at me or I won't even kiss you anymore. We'll see how you like that." Of course it was an empty threat, and after Sora just stuck his tongue out.

Riku sat up as best he could from the ground to run his own tongue slowly across Sora's. He felt an elated wicked streak as he took the other's tongue in his mouth for an unannounced deep kiss. Just as quickly as it started, Riku pulled away with a satisfied grin. "You win." He rested back down on the ground, keeping his laughter to himself; though never his grins.

Sora could only blink his eyes in a dazed way after such a kiss. Riku's words didn't even seem to register with his brain until after a while he began to echo them quietly to himself as if he had only just heard them in his head. "I... win..." He seemed to snap out of it after that and looked back down at Riku. He stared at his friend while he bit at his lip. Without warning he was soon moving his head down to capture Riku's lips with his own as his bold streak came back ten fold, wanting more of what Riku had given him. Even his hands went a little slack while his eyes slipped shut.

Riku let out a muffled sound, not expecting Sora to be ever so bold. His hands unconsciously curled but he didn't break from Sora's weakening hold. It was different to have Sora instigate a kiss, especially a kiss much more intimate than they had ever done. It wasn't a change he hated at all.

Sora had pushed past Riku's lips to touch their tongues together as the kiss was deepened. With that one action he let out a small muffled noise of his own as his one foot which was free of its shoe and sock curled only a little. His hands slipped down from wrists to rest on arms instead and it was only after a few quick seconds that he pulled away from the deep kiss with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

Riku gave a breathy laugh. "You should see your face." Since his wrists weren't restrained he took the chance to push himself up to sit finding little resistance from the embarrassed Sora. He kept Sora on his lap, slipping arms around his waist to keep him near. Riku couldn't help more laughter. "You look so shocked." He kissed Sora's hot cheek, placing a few more lazy kisses to his neck with a hint of playfulness. "Like someone's dropped a beach crab down your pants."

"D-Do not..." Sora managed to find his voice with those few words. Of course, he ended up burying his face against Riku as soon as the other boy pulled him close. He didn't pull away from the kisses and instead was comforted by them after his own quick actions a few seconds ago. His hands slipped down to cling tight to Riku for the time being. "I'm not that bad." The words were muffled.

Riku tried to keep his new laughter in, he didn't want to upset Sora more than he was. Instead Riku just rubbed Sora's side in assurance. "No, you aren't." He rested his head against Sora's, grinning against whatever part of Sora's face wasn't buried against him. "Not bad at all. You just need more practice. Practice I'm happy to help with." He chuckled as he nudged Sora's head with his own, trying to get his friend to stop hiding against him.

Sora managed a smile at those words. He turned his head to glance at Riku and gave the other boy a quick kiss before he spoke up. "I'm sure you would be." He let out a quiet laugh after his own words. His cheeks were still plenty red, but it was obvious he was getting over his embarrassment well enough. "I wouldn't mind." The quiet words left him with a shrug of his shoulder as soon as his laughter died away.

Riku tugged the long trail of scarf that hung half hazardly around Sora's shoulders with all their playful activity. He pulled the tail of the scarf loosely around his own neck tossing the end over Sora's shoulder so it was either of them in the scarf's loop. Riku nuzzled Sora's face with his own, smiling inside while his lips weren't.


	43. Chapter 43

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 43

With hours of school and mountains of homework piled onto him Roxas didn't have a lot of time to go about his day searching for a friend that had been avoiding him like the plague. Even Pence and Olette hadn't seen Hayner except for brief moments in classes and small seconds in the halls. Other then that it was as if the other boy was hiding away in town where he could be far enough away from them all, especially Roxas.

It was after school Roxas would forget all about the heavy books in his bag, throwing the annoyance on the floor of his room just to quickly change into normal attire so he wouldn't be walking the streets in school clothes. It was up to Axel whether he wanted to come along to search for his missing friend, but mainly the Heartless stayed behind just in case he did manage to run into Hayner. Usually Roxas would come back just as empty feeling as he had going out and would just pick up his bag to start on his homework with a little try from Axel to cheer him up.

For once it wasn't the same old routine.

The door to Roxas' bedroom opened with a gust of air behind the force and closed with a rather loud sound of wood and creaking hinges. Roxas' whole body slumped against it as soon as it was slammed shut and his eyes stayed glued to the floor beneath his sneakers. It was just like everyday. The same cold shoulder at school and the same disappearing act around town. It was disappointing and overall aggravating and so completely childish. He couldn't help but scowl at the thought of how hard he was trying when Hayner didn't even seem to care.

Axel peered up from his note book, text books and reference books strewn around him on the bed he lounged on. His spiky red hair was tied back and he tilted a pencil this way and that way in his mouth. He had tried to keep himself busy with homework while Roxas was always out searching for Hayner. He could have just as easily let the computer do it for him, but he had little else to do when Roxas wasn't around. So he was stuck writing an essay for socials about the history of Twilight Town; which had amused him greatly since he knew the true origins of the town they currently resided in. He'd been tempted to write that the town was actually a program created by a man, who was constantly the victim of identity theft, to distract a local (which shall remain anonymous) for seven days while he was amalgamated into his true form. And for extra credit- he is the soul creator of the Twilight Town beach; created in loving memory for the local the program was originally made for. An 'F' would have been well worth the reactions.

Axel took the pencil from his mouth to tuck it behind an ear. Roxas looked in worse shape than all the times he'd seen him come home empty handed. Being a Heartless or not it wasn't hard to pick up on the frustration when it was so plainly there on Roxas' face. Axel clicked his tongue. "Looks like you've had about as much success as last time. Maybe you should give it a rest. Let him come to you. I mean, it's at least been a week or so. And you're both stubborn as all hell about this."

Roxas barely lifted his head at the words spoken and only glanced at Axel as best he could through his bangs. He almost forgot that the Heartless was in the same room with him until he had spoken up and because of his sudden bad mood it only had him narrowing his eyes even further. Just the mention of his own bad luck did nothing to really help him feel better and he quickly looked away towards his lamp instead. "I can't just give up. He's just being an ass about this. That's all." The words were spoken in a clipped tone as Roxas clenched his hands at his sides and finally moved away from the door.

"Won't argue with you there." Axel watched Roxas shuffle from the door. He pushed himself up to sit, crossing his legs. "But if he's going to be a bastard about it, why bother. No point in getting yourself worked up if he's just going to ignore you day in and day." He shrugged with an arm. "You've explained everything the best you could. There's not much more you can do. A 'family emergency' is a 'family emergency'. He makes it sound like you went away on purpose."

"I could tell he didn't believe me when I said that." The words left Roxas just as bitter as he stopped to stand in the middle of the room where his bag lay. "He wants answers. He wants me to tell him where exactly I've been and I can't tell him that! I can't sit there and say, 'Hey, Hayner, the reason I left in the first place so long ago is because I was never meant to exist in the first place and now I've been fighting tooth and nail to get a heart of my own.' he'd think I was crazy." Roxas kicked his bag and felt only a little satisfied when it fell over and skidded across the floor.

Axel narrowed his eyes on the bag. "If it startles him enough into talking to you, go for it." He pulled the pencil from behind his ear to twirl it effortlessly between his pointer and middle finger. "If he thinks you're at wits end, enough to be thrown into the loony bin, that might be enough to make him feel guilty for the B.S. he's putting you through." He twirled the pen to his ring finger and back again.

"That's the last thing I need." Roxas was quick to bite back without really noticing how his words sounded. He kept narrowed eyes on his bag even as he kept speaking. "I just can't get my mind off of this. I keep thinking it's my entire fault that he won't talk to me, but he's the one acting like a baby over it. All I did was talk to Pence and Olette about it. That's it. It was no reason to punch me and then disappear." One of his hands moved up to dig through his pocket and in a quick second he pulled out the red sphere he had been given which his gaze moved to. "So much for being friends. Such a joke." The scowl came back to his face.

"Relax, Roxas. It'll turn out if you just give it time." Axel held the pencil between either hand. "Any tenser and you seem like you'll-" _Snap_ ; his pencil broke in two. He blinked and just tossed the pieces aside with a sigh. "Eh, I didn't want to do the stupid homework anyway." He dusted his hands off. "Don't stress about it. You didn't come here to go grey in the span of just a few days."

Roxas stared at the jewel for a few more seconds with narrowed eyes before he tossed it aside near his bag much the same as Axel had done to his pencil. He took the last few steps towards his bed and sat down next to the Heartless, having to push a few books aside to get some room. As soon as he was comfortable his eyes were on the floor again. "I already feel like I'm about to snap. Between Hayner's jealousy issues and his stubborn attitude, I don't know which is worse."

Axel had watched the red bobble get tossed and roll aside with quite a lot of surprise. The friends here were something Roxas held sacred above all else, to watch Roxas toss the marble like it was something equally as worthless as a broken pencil left Axel in a bit of shock. He slowly looked to Roxas; he could feel the distraught ebbing from the boy's heart. Roxas was trying to compensate the hurt with his usual stubbornness but it was turning into anger. A rather dark anger.

"C'mon, relax. Screw Hayner and his bull headed coding." Axel reached out to brush his knuckle against Roxas' cheek. "He's not worth pouting over."

Roxas allowed the simple touch, but didn't do much about it. It was hard to take the advice given to him when all he wanted to do was give Hayner a black eye to match the one that had finally started to fade. It was those thoughts that had him gritting his teeth in annoyance for a few seconds until he finally gave Axel his full attention, turning his head to look at the Heartless. "I'm not pouting. I'm just frustrated."

Axel let his hand fall to Roxas' shoulder. "I know. And you're doing a very good job at scowling." He gave the boy a bit of a shake, trying to literally get the boy to loosen up. "But try not to let it bother you. Your emotions are going a mile a minute. I think you've experienced enough frustration and anger to last your heart a life time."

Roxas was easily shaken and looked away from Axel after the action. "I can't help that. I can't just brush everything off. It's not that easy anymore, you know. All of this is really bugging me." He lifted a hand to run it through his hair, making it look even more ragged then it normally did. "I'm not scowling either..." The words were mumbled as he narrowed his eyes on the floor once again.

Axel flopped back down on the bed. "Of course you aren't, sweety." He twirled a finger. "You've got everything under control as usual." His hand flopped back down to rest on his chest.

Roxas snapped his head up to look back at Axel with a slight glare for those words. They didn't help his mood very much and he could already feel his hands tightening around the sheets under him. He didn't snap back at Axel with any words, instead he moved across the bed to settle himself between the Heartless' legs. Soon enough he was moving up further until he was straddling Axel's lap and grabbed both his arms to pin him to the bed, making sure to dig nails into the tattoos that lay on skin. "You're not funny." The words were near whispered as he looked down at the Heartless.

Axel's fingers twitched at the nails digging into the place where he personally kept his weapons. Given the emotions that ebbed from Roxas' heart, the restrictive action and nails clicked something offensive in Axel. Still he kept his cool, trying to be patient since Roxas just needed to blow off some steam. "And you're not playing nice."

Roxas continued to keep his grip just as it was even after those words. For him it was only a small satisfaction to be in control of something after such an insane week so far. He wanted to keep it up for as long as he could and that thought came across perfectly clear by the determined look on his face. "Who said anything about playing nice?"

Axel narrowed his eyes as he kept quiet for a second. He wasn't amused at being the one to receive the brunt of Roxas' frustrations over his friend once more. "... Let go, Roxas," he calmly spoke each word.

Roxas seemed to ignore the demand since his eyes had strayed away from Axel's face and towards one of the Heartless' arms he had pinned instead. "You remember before?" His words started out quiet and in a steady voice. "Remember when we used to spar for whatever reason we wanted?" He blinked his eyes slowly as if in a daze and for a split second his grip tightened around the one arm he kept his attention on before going slack again. He finally looked back down at Axel with narrowed eyes. "What if I don't want to let go?" He finally spoke up against Axel's earlier words, dropping the subject he had just brought up entirely instead of waiting for an answer.

Axel blinked away his cold gaze as he just stared up at Roxas. He wasn't sure which subject he wanted to follow up on. Either way Roxas' attitude was rather alarming. "... Roxas." He was at a loss of what to do or say. Roxas was goading something he really shouldn't; crossing into dangerous territory.

"Hmm?" Roxas finally let a small grin slip past his lips, although his eyes still stayed narrowed. All day he had been afraid he would lash out at the first person he would see on the street and had even snapped at the ice cream vendor who had only said hello to him. He just couldn't help it. His frustration had reached its peak and he had no escape out of it until now. "I just want to have some fun, Axel." The words had left him quietly since he had leaned down to speak them near the Heartless' face while his hands finally loosened their tight hold somewhat.

Axel's fingers twitched again since he couldn't figure out any action that wouldn't have any negative results. "... The kind of fun you're thinking of we've left in the past." His eyes narrowed as his expression grew stoic. "You can't always solve everything by beating it senseless, Roxas. I've been nothing but patient with you. And given that I'm a Heartless, that's pretty damn good." His own voice fell quiet. "... We all have our breaking points. Don't push it, Roxas. Not with me."

The quiet threat seemed to be enough to finally detour Roxas. With a quick blink of his eyes he backed away and let go of Axel's arms completely as well. It was more then obvious he was still troubled by the expression that had settled itself back on his face, but he ignored his own thoughts for the moment. "I wasn't going to beat anything _senseless_. I'm just sick of feeling so messed up. I don't have any kind of escape." He stared at Axel for a few seconds before he finally moved off of the Heartless and got off the bed to grab his bag from the floor.

Axel immediately sat himself up when Roxas got off him. He rubbed his wrists, the little black chakram that had been dug into by nails. He then rested his hands down on the bed, when he did the human guise flitted away from him in a whoosh of dissipating pixels to reveal the pale Heartless form underneath. Axel moved to perch on the edge of the bed watching Roxas for but a moment but with the blink of an eye he was gone.

"You wanted this," the words were whispered darkly behind Roxas' ear. The boy's own wrist that had grabbed his back pack was caught in an unyielding hold. "... You have no idea what it's like to fight your own nature; the need to damage hearts right inside their ribcages where they stand." Roxas' other wrist was caught up. "And despite being in a populated town, each life is dead, hollowed inside... the only living heart you have to corrupt is the one you've given _everything_ to breathe life into." Roxas' free hand was pulled back as the hand around his wrist tightened. "... You can't imagine that temptation." Axel's lips barely brushed with their cool breath against the rim of Roxas' ear. "The raw emotion it gives off beckoning you like a lover's touch in the most intimate of places... Remorse, regret, both are very easily forgotten in the heat of the moment." Roxas could feel the dark grin against the back of his ear. "So let's not get dramatic about 'escape'."

Roxas swallowed hard after each word that had been spoken. The sudden tight grip that Axel had, had him easily startled. He didn't even see the Heartless move since he had been so preoccupied with his bag. The heavy item dropped to the floor with a loud noise as he let it slide from his fingers, which was difficult with the way Axel held onto him. He glanced to the side to try and get a better look at the Heartless, but he couldn't see that far back. Roxas twisted both his hands as best he could and scowled when he had no luck in really moving them much. "Whatever happened to not pushing it, Axel?"

Axel gave a 'heh' against Roxas' ear. "What's wrong, Roxas?" Without mercy he yanked Roxas' hands back to gather his wrists together in one hand. "Can't take what you dish out?" His free hand gripped the back of Roxas' neck, slipping around to run across the front of his throat. "I think you'll learn very quickly that Heartless are _very_ different than Nobodies." His hand slipped down Roxas' chest. "We thrive on that aggression, frustration, anger." Dark fingers lingered over the boy's heart stirring the emotion that was there with just a few movements before his hand fell lower. "And I think you'll learn even more quickly," his fingers slipped under the hem of Roxas' shirt, "unlike Nobodies," Axel's touch invited itself across Roxas' skin under his shirt, "we make terrible emotional punching bags." He raked nails down Roxas' chest.

Roxas had sucked in a breath as soon as Axel's fingers lingered over his heart. His anger and annoyance made itself known more then ever in that one moment and he once again tried to fight against the hold Axel had on his hands. The struggling only had him flinching since the Heartless had his hands pulled back so far, but his mind was snapped out of it quick as soon as he felt Axel's other hand under his shirt. It wasn't like usual. Something about the touch felt vindictive and it caused Roxas to squirm as soon as he felt the nails. "Let me go, Axel." He spoke the words through gritted teeth. He knew the small demand more then likely wouldn't be enough, but it was the only thing he had after such words and the touches Axel had been giving.

Roxas didn't need to see the grin to feel it, without breath on his skin. Axel's voice was a mock echo of Roxas' previously spoken words. "What if I don't want to let go?" His lips brushed along the rim of Roxas' ear, the tip of tongue running along its edge. "I just want to have some fun, _Roxas_." He then playfully bit Roxas' ear much harder than he normally would.

At first Roxas had been fine with the simple lick, but it was the hard bite that had him letting out a quiet hiss. Whether it was playful of not, it still hurt, but he was sure at the moment that Axel probably didn't care much. Still, he played along with the mocking words while his eyes strayed to his bedroom door and narrowed. "So far I don't like your idea of fun as much as I usually do."

Axel ran his tongue over his own teeth, his grin spreading with interest. "No?" His hand smoothed over Roxas' chest, invading personal contact while keeping Roxas close. "Because I'm having one hell of a time. Very cathartic." He took the rim of Roxas' ear again, this time being much more gentle with his mouth, his tongue a thorough contrast to his fierce bite before.

The sudden change had Roxas tensing up for a split second. It wasn't long before he was letting out a low moan at how good the difference felt against the sensitive area. He tried to squirm once again, but the effort wasn't there half as much as last time. "Sadist..." The word slipped past his lips in response to Axel's own spoken words when he finally found the voice to speak again.

Axel let go of Roxas' ear. "Masochist," he countered expectantly. He blew cool air to the wet skin he'd previously sucked on. "You build yourself up... just to be knocked down. You fight so hard." Underneath Roxas' shirt he took one nub between two fingers. "But all you really want is to lose." He pinched hard. "You can't respect someone until they've beaten you down. _Hard_."

Roxas had been about to open his mouth to try and get a word in, but it was Axel's fingers that did him in and had him near squirming again. As much as he tried not to let out a sound it was no use as a louder moan left him in the form of Axel's name. He tried to yank his wrists free at the same time, suddenly hating the fact he was bound, but still getting nowhere.

The Heartless couldn't help but enjoy every bit of his captive; the writhing, the sound of his name in whining plea, but mostly that spike of hatred that nailed it altogether. "That's what I like to hear," Axel barely murmured the words below Roxas' ear near his neck. "I'm sure if I had you exactly like this years ago, you would never have left... Who needs 'love' when you have such powerful bonds like: possession and lust." Axel's hand splayed over where Roxas' heart lay underneath. He could feel the quick flutter of heart, delicate and fast like a bird caught in someone's hand. "Puts a new perspective on our 'could be', 'should be', 'what if's', doesn't it?"

Roxas hated himself for the needy little whine that left his lips, but did his best to ignore it while he glared at the door once again. He chewed at his bottom lip for a few seconds while he tried to find his voice since it seemed to have left him. When he did it came out more then a little annoyed. "If you had me exactly like this years ago I probably would have punched you in the gut." His fingers twitched, but he made no other move to break free. "Besides, you're possessive enough already."

Axel smirked all the more. "Sorry, Roxas," his dark fingers traced over skin, it wasn't the anger nor the loathful emotions he toyed with this time, but the same ones that had that noise leaving Roxas' lips, "but those words don't match that needy sound." He traced around the nub there before trailing down, following down one side's set of ribs and around Roxas' belly button before skirting a little past waist line. "Say what matches your heart." Axel's hand slipped out from under Roxas' shirt only to grip the bottom of it. "Or don't say anything at all." He began to slowly drag the shirt up.

Roxas felt as if that one hand would be the death of him with just simple touches and nothing else. He could feel his heart quicken in his chest with just the play of emotions and what was stirred up caused him to let out a louder moan he just couldn't stop. His breath quickened when fingers traced lower down his skin and his eyes were soon dropping to watch when his shirt was moved up. He opened his mouth again to speak; making it obvious each word and touch was getting to him. "Damnit, Axel..."

Axel let a nail drag along skin as he dragged the shirt up. "'Damnit, Axel' what?" He tucked the gathered up shirt under Roxas' neck and over his shoulders so it wouldn't fall. He let just his nails trail over the skin now exposed to the air. "And you better make it _good_." The Heartless nipped the lobe of Roxas' ear, speaking quite near in a hissed whisper after. "Because I know you want it _bad_."

Roxas was determined to try and keep his mouth clamped tight shut, but those nails were rather malicious. His head felt clouded and he couldn't bite back with any usual angered retort because of Axel's play on his emotions. His eyes fell half lidded and he soon found himself letting out a quiet hiss after the small bite to his ear. "Damnit, stop teasing me..." The words were spoken much quieter then last time and he finally tried once again to free his hands from the Heartless' grip.

Axel tightened his hold on Roxas' wrists, yanking his hands back as he kept him restrained. He nosed away Roxas' shirt from his shoulder so he could touch a possessive kiss against bare skin. "I bet you like this frustration much better." He gave a fierce love bite to Roxas' shoulder. "Because I know all you're thinking of is me. And each thought isn't all that chaste, dear Roxas." A few fingers brushed across Roxas' waist line and with a simple flick the top button of his skater shorts was undone. "... So give in." Axel cheated his murmur to Roxas but a deeper part, to the quick pounding in his chest.

Roxas gave another small whine in his frustration. The one bite and flick of a button already had him nearly crumbling as it was. The way Axel continued to play with his heart didn't help matters, but the quiet murmur of words that struck him much harder then any of the touches given so far seemed to push him much farther over the edge. He couldn't help the small clench of fists despite the hold the Heartless had on his wrists that had become more then a little painful. "Axel..." The name was spoken out in a low moan between teeth and short breath.

Axel pinched the metal pull to Roxas' shorts between two fingers and slowly drew the zipper down, slow enough so Roxas could feel each metal tooth part as it was pulled lower. "'Axel' what?" He stopped completely, never moving or taking a single breath as he waited for Roxas' answer. Sometimes nothing was the absolute torture.

Roxas groaned low in his throat as he felt the zipper move down inch by agonizing inch. It was hell and put his mind into even more of a daze then it was already in. When the movement stopped he couldn't help whining once again since his self control had left him long ago. For a few long seconds he stayed silent after Axel's words, but soon he answered in a shaky voice. "Don't stop..." They were the words that made it obvious the Heartless had won.

It was those two words that had Axel grinning once more, that was all he needed; for now. He continued to pull down the zipper, still pulling each metal tooth slowly apart as he dragged it down. He enjoyed each needy noise Roxas made to encourage him to hurry; if anything it only slowed his actions. Each second was so much more enjoyable when it was drawn out. "Tell me exactly what you want," Axel ordered in a low husky tone. His thumb pushed the corner of Roxas' undone pants down just a little before it stilled, waiting for the other's answer.

Roxas squirmed at the torture of having hands stop so abruptly once again. It was so aggravating and he felt like snapping at Axel for it, but the Heartless wouldn't even give him that satisfaction. He was toying with his feelings too well. In the small space of his room only his quick breath could be heard along with a few trembling whimpers until he decided to speak again. "You." Roxas swallowed hard after the one quiet word, frustrated that he was reduced to near begging. "God... Axel I want you, damnit." He continued in a whine.

"Beautiful." Axel's grin was nothing short of pleased. He granted Roxas the touch he wanted, slipping his thin fingers dangerously low beneath the boy's waist line. He traced the curves of hips, dragging nails across hip bone. But the touch didn't last long, not how Roxas wanted it. Axel pulled his hand back taking the shirt that was still around Roxas' shoulders. He pulled it over Roxas' head, down his arms, letting the tangle of shirts keep the boy's wrists restrained for him. Now with both hands free he placed either on Roxas' cheeks to tilt his head back to look at him, letting him see just who had him so mastered. Axel trailed one hand up and down the front of Roxas' throat while his other held tight to his chin. "How much?" Axel's eyes fell heavily lidded his normally brilliant green eyes now dull and glowing since he gave into his Heartless nature. But how he grinned; he wanted to see Roxas' face when he answered.

Roxas' eyes widened at the faint glow of Axel's own. It wasn't something he had ever seen before, but for some reason it didn't alarm him and his gaze fell half way once more. Only need and lust in his own eyes instead of the fear most people would have shown in the face of such a thing. "So much..." He breathed the words out in a near whisper and swallowed hard afterwards. The action only caused him to feel the fingers at his throat even more. "So bad..." He couldn't help but speak out in a whine again. Since his hands had more freedom, despite the binding shirts, he was able to reach a few fingers back to grab onto Axel. Satisfied at the fact he was finally able to touch the Heartless on his own.

Axel pursed his lips a little before he leaned down, tilting Roxas' head back just that much more. It seemed as if he'd touch his lips to Roxas' but he stopped suddenly. He let his tongue slip out and gave a slow lick across Roxas' lips. He lifted his head up before Roxas' tongue could join in the fun. "… By the time I'm done," he grinned teeth, "you won't remember your own name."

-

Darkness had taken over the small bedroom as evening had turned into night by just one long look out the large window. It was hard to tell what time it was though, since there was no clock. Books that had once been laid across the bed had been thrown aside wherever they would land on the floor along with clothes since that piece of furniture had long since become occupied. The once perfect sheets were no longer that and even suffered a few holes when the rough and tumble got particularly interesting in the way of a few burns.

Arms that had clearly suffered the brunt of such a session, from the obvious signs of branded hand prints on wrists, were the only thing that stuck out from beneath those same sheets. The rest of the small body was as covered as it could get, cocooned from the outside world and had been for a while. Only small twitches from fingers even signaled the body was remotely alive.

The Heartless responsible for the intense throes lay beside the unconscious human. He lay sprawled on his back; though the sheets did little to cover him since Roxas somehow greedily required them all. It was with the pooling of shadow around him that Axel finally let his eyes slip open; glowing yellow. The night there might have been farce, but in the real world where the computer that housed their program sat night had settled in at the same time. The computer itself was hidden away in that forsaken mansion, plunged in darkness thought to be broken and forgotten. It was easy to pull strength from that pitch blackness, replacing what had been spent exhausting Roxas' frustrations.

With a few blinks yellow dissipated to the normal green as Axel took in his surroundings with new consciousness. His head swam with the excess emotion Roxas' heart had given off, like a haunted echo of thoughts and passion that throbbed deep in his skull; best described as a 'Heartless hangover'. But the cool dark of night was soon mending all evidence of what had happened. The few deep bite marks that Roxas had managed to give him began to heal away along with the many ragged scratches along his arms over the tattoo that curled around them. The passionate scratches along such a personal place had been the cause for the burns in their fiery moment.

Axel gave a long unneeded breath, closing his eyes a moment as he gathered himself. When he opened his eyes again he glanced out the window and soon a crooked smirk crossed his lips. They didn't close the drapes again. Though he supposed he should have realized that when he had Roxas pressed up against it, but his mind had been on far more important things; even if it was perhaps exhibitions.

Axel turned his attention next on Roxas; who for the moment seemed as if he'd never find consciousness again. What a way to go. He reached over and pulled the sheet down from Roxas' head to check for life.

Roxas seemed to feel the sudden draft that the better part of the sheet had been keeping away from him. It had his brows lowering in annoyance, but the expression was weak at best. His hands twitched on top of the pillow his head rested on, trying to grab the blanket that had already been taken from him. When they met nothing but air he instantly gave up on it, too exhausted to really care much even if he had only moved his fingers an inch.

Axel was little more than amused looking over Roxas' state, had he known better he'd of thought the boy looked as if he'd been in a fight and lost horrible. The downfall with being human was how easily the soft skin was marred. The damage was greater than he thought, but he didn't feel any guilt for every scratch or bruise he'd marked Roxas' skin with. If anything he was proud; it only proved that every inch was his to keep, inside and out. He was sure Roxas wouldn't forget it now either.

The Heartless reached out to gently brush his knuckle against Roxas' cheek; a contrast to the roughness they'd indulged in prior that day.

A soft sigh left Roxas' lips at the simple touch and for a split second he moved his head towards it until the action had him flinching. His whole body ached from so much abuse and it was that which had him finally letting out some semblance of noise. It was only a small groan and in the end he turned his head to bury his face as far as he could into the pillow he rested on, hoping to be left alone for maybe a year or two, tops.

Axel gave a soft sound of amusement at Roxas' painful misfortunate. Since the boy turned his head he ran his fingers through Roxas' hair, still damp from sweat. He was sure that if let be Roxas would sleep through school, if not an entire grade if given the chance. He'd taken so much from Roxas, more than just physical, but mental and emotionally. He'd toyed and manipulated a side that Roxas had only just gotten. Axel wasn't entirely sure why he'd allowed his darker nature to get the better of him. Perhaps it was more than just a week's worth of frustrations, but a second life's worth as well. Either way it left him truly satisfied; it was well needed. A darker side of him mused that his Nobody would truly be impressed; if not shocked at what his Heartless had done.

Axel lazily turned his gaze back outside the window. The stars were watching the aftermath now that their neighbours were asleep; amusing, voyeuristic little dots of pixilated light. For all ironies he didn't have the heart to bother Roxas as he was. So with a raise of a few fingers and a weak gesture he made a shooting star go by, and made a small wish on it for something to preoccupy himself.

The shifts in the mattress did little to help Roxas rest not to mention he was losing air the way he had decided to bury himself. It wasn't long before he turned his head back to exactly how he had been resting it in the first place, but eyes had cracked open mere inches to peer over at the Heartless beside him. Although, his gaze seemed a little unfocused at best it was still one of the better signs of being alive that he had given so far.

Axel turned his head to look back at Roxas, surprised the teen still had enough energy to be conscious. "Hey," he quietly whispered, his voice just a little hoarse. "You live. Heh, barely." He reached out again to touch Roxas' cheek, brushing aside the blonde hair from those heavily lidded eyes. "You can go to sleep, y'know."

Roxas blinked his eyes slowly and the one action seemed to snap him out of the daze he was in for the time being, although his eyes never opened any wider. It took him a while to process what was said and when he spoke his voice was much worse then Axel's own, but still he managed. "M'fine." He turned his attention around the room, realizing just then how dark it was. "... Jus' can't get comfy. 'Sall." He swallowed thickly after just those few words and turned his attention back on Axel.

The Heartless turned on his side to face Roxas. He lifted up a corner of the sheets noticing a rather big burned hole. "Mostly my doing." He stuck a finger through the hole and wiggled it. "Hmm, I seemed to have ruined your sheets too." He dropped the sheet, amused. Axel turned his attention back onto Roxas. "After some rough fun, would some cuddling fix that?"

Roxas had given a small shiver when the sheet was lifted up, but still he watched Axel's every move. It was the Heartless' last few words that finally had a rather weak smile coming to his face. "I d'nno..." He tried his best to speak up once again and shrugged a shoulder as much as his body would allow. "Maybe."

That was enough for Axel and he returned Roxas' smile with a brief smirk, amused by Roxas' weak state, before he lifted the sheet up to scoot next to the boy. He slipped his arms around Roxas' middle minding the bruises at the teen's hips as he pulled him close. He pulled the sheet closer around them, ignoring the burn holes. Axel gave a small quiet laugh. "Mmm, sticky, how pleasant." Despite, Axel nuzzled Roxas' shoulder as he cuddled the poor sore, dazed Roxas. "Better?"

Roxas buried himself against Axel as soon as he was pulled near, ignoring every ache in his body to do so. He managed to move one arm away from the pillow to wrap it around the Heartless so fingers could tangle briefly in hair before falling back down around Axel's shoulders. "Mmm... much..." The words came out in a near purr and his next words made it obvious as to why. "You're so warm..."

It was nice to have some gentle touch and contact; it felt good in their drained state with languid motion, after such violent intimacies. Axel nuzzled Roxas' bed head, rightly comfortable now with the boy in his arms. "Fire Heartless, remember? It comes with the territory." He ran his hand lazily up and down Roxas' spine. "Mmm, this is nice."

Roxas hummed his agreement to the words and soon gave another soft sigh because of the hand moving along his back. "I like it... this." The words were still spoken just as quiet as usual expect this time around, a bit muffled. "You're better then a blanket anyway, Axel..." One of his fingers traced lazy circles on the Heartless' shoulder. His brow furrowed, but the usual look of annoyance that would come over his face just wasn't there. He seemed to be pouting more then anything. "You ruined my sheets..."

Axel let his eyes flutter shut, relaxed by the tracing easy, subdued by Roxas' docile behavour. "Hmm, no, _we_ ruined your sheets. We tend to ruin your sheets anyway with 'winding down'." He distracted Roxas from the problem with a few affectionate kisses on his jaw and neck; making up for each mark he'd left there. "Besides, you just said I'm better than a blanket," he gave a playful whine as he kissed Roxas' ear.

Another small lazy smile made its way across Roxas' face because of the few kisses he received. The whine that Axel gave only had him letting out a quiet laugh that tickled the back of his sore throat, but he didn't really mind much. "You are." Just to prove his own words he cuddled even closer to the Heartless as best he could and finally turned his head enough to look Axel in the face. He seemed to stare at the Heartless for a few seconds and his smile grew a little as he moved his arm back to tap a finger on one tattoo under an eye. "Heh... not glowing no more."

Axel blinked and raised a hand instinctively to rub where Roxas tapped. "Glowing?"

Roxas dropped his hand when Axel had brought his own up. "Yeah..." His arm slipped back around Axel to bring more of the other's warmth close to him as he kept talking. "Eyes... they were glowing. The entire time. They're not anymore." He tried to shrug his shoulder again and kept his gaze on Axel's face until he suddenly let out a yawn that had him scrunching up his eyes.

"Oh. Glowing," Axel weakly echoed. "My eyes, right." He drew his legs up to curl near around Roxas, keeping that naturally warmer touch near. "I'm a Heartless, that'll happen." But a lazy smirk crossed his lips as other things crossed his mind with the subject. "Y'know, if it wasn't for the dark of night I'd be as out of it as you. I'm rested without the need for sleep. But Hell if I'm going to leave this bed. You're so cozy like this." Axel cuddled Roxas nearer to prove it.

Roxas let out a little noise with the movements if only for the fact his aches and pains were made worse since he wasn't ready for it. He kept near though, and even let out another small purr at having more warmth, letting it be known that he didn't mind the small discomfort. "That's cheating." Roxas teased with his words over the fact that the Heartless was so quick to be okay again. His hand fell down once more, but instead of pulling away it stopped on Axel's chest where it drew an invisible heart in lazy motions with one finger. "But you always cheat anyway..." The smile was back on his face.

Axel rested his hand over Roxas' after the heart was drawn. "God moding is what I do." He grinned some. "I enjoy it immensely. Or rather, I enjoyed it immensely." He gave a quiet chuckle. "You're acting rather cute right now. Like a kitten. An over sexed kitten." He gave a lazy laugh.

"Hmm... really?" Roxas seemed to actually think about the words spoken to him as his eyes stayed on their hands. "Maybe." It was the only conclusion he came to, but it seemed to satisfy him enough. He turned his gaze back on Axel's face while he rested his head down, pillowed on his other arm. "I never did my homework." His smile grew a little after those words and his amusement turned into a quiet laugh as he looked back at their hands.

Axel laughed with Roxas. "I never finished my essay." He rested his head on Roxas'. "Screw it. Let's play hooky tomorrow. You'll probably sleep through it anyway. And I'm sure it'll be _very_ uncomfortable for you to sit in a hard chair all day." He nosed Roxas' cheek. "You can't say no, because if you do I'll just change your mind." With a sly grin he placed a slow kiss to Roxas' bruised lips.

Roxas gave a little whimper against the kiss, but still responded to it. It was with a few taps to Axel's chest that he pulled his lips away and let out a small drawn out whine as he licked at his lips. "Wouldn't dream of it. I'd much rather lay right here all day then go back to school." His eyes moved across Axel's face before he reached up to run fingers down the Heartless' cheek. "'Sides, if we stay here you don't have to change so quick for everyone. I get to look at you just like this." He rested his head back down on his arm after his words, but kept his hand right where it was, tracing down towards Axel's jaw.

Axel's eyes fell halfway shut as he watched Roxas with a soft gaze. "...Really?" His blink was lazy. "You don't mind it?" His smile was weak. "I thought appearance didn't matter to you." He couldn't help but feel a little touched, despite his original reasoning for letting the guise fall.

Roxas just barely shook his head before he answered. "It doesn't, but it's still just a disguise, right?" His hand finally fell away to rest back where it had been from the start, to rest near Axel's shoulder where he began to toy with a few strands of the spiky mess that was the Heartless' hair. "I miss the real you sometimes. The you that no one else gets to see." He leaned forward a bit to place a small kiss on Axel's arm before he continued speaking. "I don't want you to stay hidden from me all the time."

Axel let his eyes fall shut for a long moment. "…It won't be a disguise forever. Soon it'll be what I really look like." He looked down at Roxas, then to their hands. "We want a real life... to be normal. Heh, but I don't think we'll ever really be 'normal' even when I am human." He slipped his dark fingers between Roxas'. "We were made to live how we want. It isn't our fault that society wasn't made to fit our wild ways." Axel knew he was rambling, so to shut himself up he raised their hands and kissed the bruise that braceletted around the teen's hand. "... I miss you too."

Roxas smiled once again at just that one simple kiss and the words spoken after. It seemed to amuse him a little that Axel had gone off a bit, since he wasn't used to his friend rambling in such a way. "I think we'll be okay." The words were almost whispered as he wiggled his fingers playfully in Axel's hold. "Normal is so boring anyway. It's much more fun to just be ourselves." He kept quiet for a few seconds before he gave a small noise and asked a curious question. "Do you remember a lot about your Somebody... or... just your Other I suppose?"

Axel drew out a thoughtful noise. "My Somebody, huh? Mmm... no, I guess not. I think that knowledge was more my Nobody's department. He had all the memories of our former life. But even still, after he met you, I don't think he gave those a second thought." He looked down at their twined fingers; pale and black. "... He didn't lie, yknow. He may not have been able to love you, but I did." He made a soft sound. "I hate you so much, with such fervor, but... my better half loves you more. So, it makes me wonder what kind of person I'll end up as when so many disorganized pieces and emotions finally get glued back together." Axel slowly shook his head against the pillow. "I wish I could remember who I was and what I was like but... I don't remember much save for the moment _I_ was born."

Roxas chewed at his lip when the word hate had come into play during the conversation. It was an expected thing, but it didn't make it hurt any less even with the words spoken afterwards. His attention turned back to their hands and he stared for a few seconds more before he was able to find words again to respond with. "You'll be just as much a good person when you become whole as you are now, Axel." His words were tired and sluggish, but he still continued to speak. "I still feel a lot of guilt, you know? All because of actually being able to feel at all since what happened. I didn't mean for things to get so out of hand, for things to hurt so much. I guess... I thought because of who or what we were... it would be so easy to snip that little thread we had connecting us. Guess I was wrong."

Axel gave a shrug that seemed weak and uninterested; but it was just to mask the usual hurt that came with the subject of the past. "Yeah, well, the word 'no' was never in my vocabulary. Heh..." He watched their hands longer. "... I think you're rather mislead about me being a 'good person'. Especially after that enthusiastic romp not long ago." The grin was hard to keep on his lips at that. "I'm vindictive, manipulative, and so much more selfish than my other half. Most of that will probably change." He rolled his eyes. "I'll probably be some butt luv'n hippie, professing love every few minutes. Lame." He scoffed.

Roxas let out a loud laugh at that which was much different from the thoughtful state he had just been in seconds ago. It was a painful action and he ended up coughing afterwards, but still didn't seem to mind very much. As soon as he was quiet again there was still the hint of a smile on his face while he started to speak up again. "I don't think you'll be anything that bad. You never know. Besides..." He finally untangled their hands so he could lift his own up as far as he could, staring at the hand print that was branded perfectly around his wrist. "Everything you've done still makes you a good person whether you think so or not. You can't help it if you have to just _let go_ sometimes." He finally turned his attention back on Axel's face and gave the Heartless a weak smirk.

Axel looked at the same bruise around Roxas' wrist with a small bit of awe. His fingers drew up along the teen's arm, drawing goose bumps with the slow slight touch. When his fingers reached the bruise he wrapped his hand very loosely around Roxas' wrist, finding that his hand fit the darkened skin perfectly. "I guess if that's what you think, that's all that matters." He let go of the boy's wrist to slip his hand around so they were palm to palm; his hand was much longer than Roxas'. "But you're high as a kite right now, so I'm not sure how solid your opinions are right now." He gave a soft laugh.

"That's not a fair thing to say..." Roxas tried to defend himself, but the words were weak at best. His eyes had moved back to their hands as soon as Axel's fingers touched his wrist and his attention stayed there the entire time. He kept quiet again, only humming every few seconds to break the silence around them, until he gave a slow blink as he questioned their all around actions of earlier. "Mmm... mad at me?"

Axel pulled their hands back down to rest back down between them. He busied himself with running his fingertips over Roxas' knuckles. "Hm?" His brows rose a little at Roxas' question. "Mad?"

"Yeah, mad." Roxas repeated the word just as quietly as it had been spoken before. "Ya know, for making you snap like that. Just wondering if you were mad at me." His tongue peaked out from the corner of his lips as he tried to think carefully over his words in the fog that his memory was in. It was hard to point out the time between then and what seemed like hours before, and which more then likely was. "What you said about my heart being the only one around you, having to control yourself, that kind of thing. I guess I didn't help. Though, I don't think I regret it." He looked back at Axel and finally managed a small grin. "Was that solid enough?"

Axel quietly chuckled. "Yeah, solid enough." He gave a small sound. "Maybe I was. I guess I had enough of your usual attitude. You have a life, friends, everything, to come back to... and I was just an addition that already didn't fit. Everyone thinks I'm a no good punk. My _real_ life here, just you, you're my life. And I was getting attitude for all my patience that's already against my dark nature." Axel blinked and gave a sad smirk. "... Guess we both got our frustrations out. Me more than any of us." He grinned some. "I put you in your place." He leaned forward and nipped at Roxas' ear. "Lesson learned," he murmured against the boy's ear.

Roxas let out another soft little purr at the small bite and words spoken. He squirmed just a little against Axel, but kept still just as quick when the movement caused him to flinch. "Yeah you did and it was a really fun lesson I'll admit." He freed his hand so he could curl it back around Axel once again, pulling the Heartless as close as he could to use him as a pillow as well as extra warmth. "Mmm... I love you, Axel. So glad I can tell you now." His voice grew quieter as he nuzzled his face against the Heartless' chest.

"Heh, well I'll admit I love making you beg and scream, especially like you did." Axel settled his arms back around Roxas to encase him in a warm embrace. "Even if you won't be walking straight for a year." He rested his head atop Roxas' and against the pillow. "Mmm, sappy cuddles and 'I love you's' after angry sex, I love it." Axel nosed Roxas' hair with a nuzzle. "And you."

Roxas gave his own lazy 'heh' after such words. He was slowly drifting off since he had gotten comfortable enough to do so. He hadn't been lying when he said Axel was much better then a blanket. The Heartless was so much warmer then his ruined sheets and he easily took up all the warmth that he could since Axel had slipped his arms around him. In the span of only a few minutes his eyes had slipped shut and he fell into an easy sleep for the second time.


	44. Chapter 44

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 44

So the regular cycle of the day began: wake up, bathroom, eat breakfast, school, avoid Roxas, secretly get together with Seifer, lunch, avoid Roxas and the rest of friends, class, avoid Roxas' search while trying to go home.

Unfortunately this routine seemed to be missing a very regular piece of the puzzle: Roxas.

It startled Hayner to not see his determined friend scour the halls for him. Hayner found himself almost standing in wait between classes expectantly for Roxas to suddenly show up just so he could run off in the opposite direction. It seemed to derail Hayner's motivation for the day. Until he heard through passing word of mouth that the punk was also missing from school that day too. And just like that Hayner's mood with its clear skies soon darkened to angry dark clouds. It figured that Roxas would skip with that bastard; the city boy was a bad enough influence.

But the day only got worse. A few teachers stopped him in the halls, knowing that he was Roxas' 'best friend' they decided to do the kindly thing and give Roxas' home work to him to bring to his friend home sick. Now he was forced to face Roxas. Hayner half debated just going to Roxas' house, ringing the door bell and leaving the home work on the front steps.  
So with extra books and notes in his bag Hayner had started to head where he secretly was to meet Seifer that day. At least some angry back and forth would make him feel better. But luck wasn't his today. For the second time he was stopped again, this time the higher grade's teachers; Axel's teachers. Axel hadn't made any new friends in his classes, so there wasn't anyway for them to give him what he missed. It wasn't a surprise to everyone in the school that Axel was Roxas' 'friend', but since Roxas wasn't there to be given the work Hayner was the next best thing; once again being Roxas' 'best friend'. The faults of living in a small town; everyone knew everyone else. Hayner's mood blackened considerably.

Lunch ended by the time he stepped out of the class with Axel's homework now added to his bag. He'd missed his meet up with Seifer. Hayner was forced to hide his disappointment with nonchalance as he was now forced to go back into another class room, hunger adding to his irritability since he missed lunch as well. It was one of the classes he shared with Roxas. But despite the bitterness, Hayner found himself staring at the empty desk his friend usually occupied, his thoughts clouding out the lecture.

At the end of school Hayner didn't bother to hurry home. There was no point. There was no Roxas to avoid. His bag was heavy filled with homework for three. With an even heavier heart he dragged it along the concrete, deciding to settle himself in the nomads between school and town. It was just a walkway with a stone wall beside it that divided it from residences not too far off. On the other side of the walk way was some dingy grass and trees. No one really stayed in that area, no student wanted to hang around school longer than they had to unless they were in extra curricular activities.  
Hayner didn't feel like dealing with school or home; or to complete the mission of dropping off home work that had been forced upon him. Instead he sat himself down right there on the concrete, sitting against the wall. He dug through his bag and pulled out the text book he'd gotten from Axel's teacher. Opening it up to a random place he stared at the long winded text written on the page. So that's what the older student's were studying. It didn't look so hard. Unceremoniously he took the corner of the page and caused a small rip at the top of the page. It felt good; like he was damaging a piece of that punk vicariously. So he followed through on that destructive thought and pulled the corner down, tearing all the way down the page in a long strip. He tossed it beside him and did it again.

The minutes ticked by and with them shreds of paper continued to fall from the thick text book that had been settled in Hayner's lap. Of course it was no longer as big as it once was considering the destructive actions that Hayner had taken to delivering to it. It wasn't at all what the teachers had in mind when they told him to pass on homework, but it was a much better stress reliever in his mind. The fact that it was school property wasn't his problem. It wasn't his text book.

The continuous shredding of paper had echoed beyond the wall that Hayner sat near and had caught the attention of a few lingering students that had stayed after, but most of them ignored it, wanting to hurry on their way. It wasn't until the final sound of paper being crushed that made it obvious one of the few students left had walked in on Hayner's bit of privacy and stepped on the strips that were already torn out. "Why the hell are you hiding and ripping up some random text book?" The tone was curious, but demanding all the same and after the question the person flopped down to sit in a heap right next to Hayner, not giving a care about the paper trail the other had left on the ground.

Hayner was a little surprised by his company; though by now he knew he shouldn't have been. "No reason." He tore another strip of glossy text book paper from the book, more quick and destructive than all the times he'd done before, just to show his company how much he didn't care. "Because I can." This time Hayner ripped out an entire page, turning it over to tear that piece in half and those pieces in half. "Stalking me now, Seifer?" He tossed the shreds of paper Seifer's way, letting the text and coloured picture pieces rain down all over the other teen.

Seifer rolled his eyes when the paper was thrown on him and blew off a particularly annoying piece that landed on his nose. As soon as it was gone he decided to open his mouth to answer. "Nah, I don't need to stalk you. Besides, I had to stay after to finish up a test anyway. Wasn't all that hard to hear all the noise you were making over here." He picked up one of the pieces of paper that was still settled on top of his shirt and looked over it as best he could considering the state it was in. "Wait, this isn't even your class."

"I'm surprised you even know what the inside of a text book looks like," Hayner shot back rather casually as he went back to tearing strips of paper from the pages of the book.

"Better then you do, I'm sure." Seifer shot back just as easily while he brushed off the rest of the paper from his chest. Once he was at least somewhat free of the little torn pieces he finally looked over at Hayner and raised a brow at how involved the other teen seemed to be in ruining the book. After a few seconds he let out an annoyed sound and reached over to yank the book away from Hayner's hands. "Give me that!"

"H-hey!" Hayner tried to make a grab for the book but ended up with a torn piece of a page. He scowled at Seifer, tossing the piece of paper at him. "The hell you'd want that for? It's just a stupid text book."

"Because the noise is annoying the hell out of me. That's why." Seifer brushed the piece of paper off just as easily as he had done the rest and watched as it fluttered down before he turned his attention back to the book. He moved through the torn pages towards the back of the book and looked it over for a few seconds. It wasn't long before he moved around and settled himself so he could lay down with his head on Hayner's lap as he continued to filter through the pages. "Pretty boring stuff. No wonder you were ripping it up."

Hayner sighed when Seifer rested himself on his lap. "Sure. Go ahead. Make yourself at home," he muttered in aggravation to himself over it. He rolled his eyes as he shrugged his arms since it was such a lost cause. "Make yourself comfortable. It wasn't like I was busy defiling school property or anything." Hayner crossed his arms and thudded his back against the wall as he glared at the shrubbery across from him. "Hmf... got a lighter?"

Seifer didn't seem to notice Hayner's aggravation very much since he only continued to stare at the problems in the book, trying to solve them in his head with little to no success. "I don't make it a habit to carry one on a daily basis at school, so, no not at the moment." He flipped another page and began to read once again while he spoke up once more. "Why do you want a lighter?"

Hayner grabbed up a fist full of paper strips and let them flutter down onto Seifer's head taking residence on his lap. "A need to burn trash."

Seifer let out a long breath of air which only caused each strip to flutter upwards once again and fall elsewhere. Mostly above his head or lower to rest under his chin. "You know, the teachers are going to kill you if they find out you were out here ripping up school property. Not to mention a book that isn't even your own in general." He closed the book finally and tossed it aside on the ground, stretching his hands out before he let them rest under his head on Hayner's lap. "So, what's up with the need to destroy today?" He stared up at Hayner's face while he asked the question.

Hayner flicked a few of the paper strips off Seifer's hair. He gave a loose shrug. He didn't feel much like admitting the truth, least of all to Seifer given what it was about. Seifer would only find it petty. He plucked one of the strips of paper and blew it from his fingers, watching it flutter to the walk. "What's up with you thinking I'm some sort of pillow?"

Seifer shrugged his shoulders. "You're comfortable. What other answer do you need?" He moved one of his hands up from behind his head to fiddle with Hayner's tie to loosen it since the other teen hadn't done so himself already. It was something Hayner usually got to as soon as he was away from school, so Seifer decided to do it for him since it seemed it had been forgotten. "Compared to sitting for so long in that desk just for a stupid test, this is much better."

Hayner glanced down at Seifer's hand best he could as the other teen loosened his tie one handedly. He couldn't help the small unconscious swallow when Seifer's fingers brushed against his throat. His eyes fell halfway shut, though he stared at nothing in particular anymore. "... What subject?"

"Science, nothing major. I didn't study all that well for it, so it took me longer to figure some stuff out. I kept getting screwed up." Seifer finally managed to get the knot out completely and the tie finally fell apart afterwards without any real effort. He didn't stop until it was completely undone and hanging loose around Hayner's neck. Only then did he toy with a few buttons, but his eyes moved back to the other's face. "Didn't see you at lunch today."

Hayner didn't look back at Seifer. He glanced away at the dieing grass on the other side of the walk. "Yeah... I had stuff to do." He closed his eyes as he let out a small sigh, giving a nonchalant shrug as if none of it really mattered much. "That's all."

Seifer narrowed his eyes for a split second at such a short answer, but for once he didn't push it. It wasn't everyday he found Hayner ripping up books. He figured enough buttons had been pushed already. "Well, it's been a while since I've hung out with Rai and Fuu during lunch anyway. So, it's no big deal, just wondering." He finally dropped his hand back down, but not without brushing fingers against Hayner's throat for a brief second before he placed his hand back behind his head. "You okay?"

Hayner gave a small brief nod. He was quiet for a long moment after before he finally spoke up. "No," he finally confessed, frowning his aggravation as he remembered what he had to do. "I'm stuck playing home work delivery boy to that inconsiderate jerk who's off playing hooky." It was hard to lie to Seifer. He always had a way of wringing the truth out of him. Hayner found it easier just to say what was on his mind rather than delay the inevitable.

It wasn't hard for Seifer to figure out who the 'inconsiderate jerk' was. The explanation had him letting out a small sound as he tapped his foot against the ground. "I was wondering why I didn't see him around much at all today. Usually pass by him at least once in the hall." He shrugged a shoulder for a brief second while he kept his eyes on Hayner. "They only have you doing it because they figure you're close to him. Why didn't you just push it all on your other two friends and have them do it for you?"

Hayner narrowed his eyes and he frowned. He shrugged again. "Why don't I just push it on you?" He looked at Seifer with a slight glare; it was hard to tell if he was being serious or smart mouthed with the comment. "Better irony that way."

Seifer stayed silent for a few seconds as he stared up at Hayner. Finally he blinked his eyes before he closed them completely. "More awkward then it is ironic I think." There wasn't much annoyance in his voice with the words spoken. It was mostly just a lazy statement as he continued to lounge; more then satisfied just staying right where he was.

Hayner looked down at his tie, tugging the loose end of it for a moment. "... Less awkward than if I do it." He rubbed his throat where Seifer's fingers had purposely brushed before. He glanced down at Seifer's rather relaxed expression. And much the same as Seifer had done for him he loosened Seifer's tie; which was a bit harder one handedly than he thought. So Hayner reached his arm around the other side of Seifer's head as he untied the knot. "It would make things so much easier," he quietly added.

Seifer gave a sigh at having the constricting fabric loosened up from around his neck. The teachers had been giving him hell lately about how unkept his uniform was, so he had been forced to wear the tie much tighter then usual. "You have to talk to him at some point, lamer." Seifer turned his head just a bit to rest his cheek against the arm Hayner had nearby. "But, if it helps, then, whatever. I doubt he'll even talk to me though, so I don't know if I'll be able to give it to him."

It wasn't too long before Hayner got the knot undone and he begun to pull the pieces loose so they lay slack. "Yeah, well, it isn't just his home work I have." He fidgeted with the ends of Seifer's tie. "And quite frankly I rather just toss that in the trash." He let go of Seifer's tie so he could unbutton the first few buttons of his uniform. "... I rather not know what both of them are doing away from class." Despite the anger, Hayner carefully untucked Seifer's collar so it was more comfortable and casual.

"Ah, so that's why you're ripping up some text book that's not even from your classes." It all made sense to Seifer after Hayner's short and simple explanation. The other boy was annoyed that he had to lug around both Roxas and that guy Axel's homework when he still wasn't even on speaking terms with the other boy. Still, those last few words amused Seifer a bit. "Being a bit of a hypocrite, don't you think?" He knew the words would probably only upset Hayner worse, but he couldn't help it. "You shouldn't let it bother you so much at this point. Is there really a point to being so upset or jealous anymore?" He moved a hand once more away from his head to grab onto one of Hayner's own before the other boy could pull them away and before the other's anger could get too out of hand.

Hayner could feel his cheeks grow hot as his anger turned into embarrassment quite quickly. He didn't know exactly what to say when Seifer some how weaseled in sincerity like some kind of ninja while pin pointing the truth, as simply as giving a casual observation. It left Hayner frustrated that he couldn't come up with anything to bite back with. Especially hard when Seifer held his hand like that. Hayner had always left their relationship at 'don't ask don't tell'.

Seifer didn't seem to mind the silence all that much. He only gave another small shrug after a few seconds, but didn't let go of Hayner's hand. The quiet only allowed him to become more relaxed just as he was, especially since Hayner had loosened up his shirt for him. He was more then happy to just lay with his head in the other boy's lap for the time being until Hayner forcefully pushed him off.

Unlike Seifer, Hayner felt a little uncomfortable in the silence. There was so much bogging down his mind and the fact Seifer could lay there so relaxed didn't help matters. Still Hayner didn't open his mouth to complain. His fingers twitched in Seifer's hold unconsciously, not entirely used to such blatant like hand holding, especially so out in the open. But as time had progressed Hayner found himself caring less and less what people saw with him and Seifer. It was too draining to bother caring what others saw, pointless as well when most people knew they weren't exactly talking.

"... You really are an ass," Hayner quietly muttered, but there wasn't any real malicious energy to it.

"Hmm..." A small smirk crossed over Seifer's lips, but still he didn't open his eyes. "I know. I won't deny it." He finally peeked an eye open just enough to look up at Hayner once again so he could give the other boy his attention. "Still want me to do your dirty work for you? I don't mind trying, but you do realize this will probably be your only chance to finally talk to him. It's been about a week, right?" A few of his fingers moved up and down Hayner's hand as he held it, but he gave no real notice to the action he was doing. "Could it really hurt to talk?"

Hayner frowned, narrowing his eyes. "... Maybe. What if _he's_ over?" He glowered at the shrub again. "I don't think I could stop myself from slugging him." The idea of taking a baseball bat was starting to sound rather appealing. "And I doubt that'll help any of this." He grunted, shutting his eyes as he rubbed his shoulder trying to rub away the tension that was gathering there. "I don't know why the stupid teachers couldn't ask Pence or Olette to take him his stupid home work. It's not like I'm his only friend. Like being his 'best friend' means I'm suppose to pick up after him." He scoffed.

"Tch, the teachers don't pay much attention to what goes on outside of school. They probably just think the two of you aren't attached to the hip mainly because of how busy classes keep you." While he spoke Seifer lifted his other hand to move it towards Hayner's shoulder, pushing the teen's own hand out of the way. He pushed down with his fingertips to try and rub a little better then what Hayner had been doing. "They probably didn't think you would mind otherwise. Don't think too much on it."

Hayner flinched when Seifer's fingers delved into a tight muscle; he had such a bad habit of keeping his stress in his shoulders. He grumped, "Hmf. _You_ may be a brainless blonde, without a single thought in your head." But the tension was slowly leaving him with what Seifer was doing; it was hard to stay mad, though he tried. "Besides, I'm sure him and that punk are attached at the hip in more ways than one." Hayner flinched again. "Ow! Damnit, what are you trying to do- murder me through my shoulder?"

Seifer couldn't help laughing at Hayner's misfortune and continued to press down despite the way the other teen snapped at him. "No, it's the simple fact that you're letting all of this get to you so much that it's obviously going to hurt like hell when you're so incredibly stressed out, lamer." He finally sat up, removing his head from Hayner's lap so he could have a better look at what he was doing. He had to stop for a second as he moved around, but took no time to go back to the small simple massage, pulling his hand free from Hayner's so he could use both instead of only one. "If you talk to him maybe things will finally blow over."

Hayner opened his mouth to object but a low groan left him instead. Despite the pain at first the massage felt good, melting away the aggravation much quicker than he would have liked. "...Damnit." Hayner half effortedly grumbled as he let his head fall and his shoulders lax. It felt really good, especially after such a terrible day. He let Seifer continue as he liked, letting his troubles slip away with the tension. "... Go back to the way things were?"

Seifer shrugged at the question, although his eyes narrowed a little. He kept silent for a long while as he continued to move his fingers along Hayner's shoulders and a bit lower. Finally, he dropped his hands and moved to rest against the wall beside the other teen. He slipped one arm around the shorter boy, bringing him closer while he rested his head back against the wall. "Do you want it to?" He finally answered back with a question.

Hayner leaned against Seifer's side, finding the other teen more comfortable than the stone wall. He rested his head back on Seifer's shoulder, looking up at the sky. "Depends, if it means that bastard punk goes back to the dirty city he crawled from, then hell yes. But I doubt that'll ever happen." He tilted his head back enough to look up at Seifer. "This conversation seems a bit familiar." At least the topic anyway. How could he forget, he dumped Seifer, punched Roxas and got back with Seifer, all in the same day.

"Heh, yeah I guess so." Seifer raised his hand a little that rested on Hayner's shoulder so he could move a few fingers through the other's hair. Just as quick as the action happened his hand had fallen back down. "Eh, I suppose whatever happens, happens. That's the best I can really say. I'll admit it would be boring going back to the way things were, though. Such a small, quiet town, always the same old everyday, change has been refreshing." He blinked his eyes and finally looked over at Hayner. "Not counting the fights between you two. That's still annoying."

"You like me," Hayner spoke the words in teasing observation, perhaps a bit too smugly. He smirked wryly up at the other teen. "Seifer Almasy has a crush," he half spoke the words in a sing song tone.

Seifer's gaze narrowed at the blatant teasing until he rolled his eyes. He removed his arm from around Hayner's shoulders only to push at the other teen's face with his hand to push him away from his side. "Just for that you can deal with your damn boyfriend on your own. Count me out." After those words he slid up the wall to stand, but not before grabbing his bag he had brought along that had been thrown across the ground long ago when he first arrived.

"Aw c'mon. You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Hayner smirked as he gave a small laugh. "C'mon, don't go." He gestured for Seifer to come back. "You're the one that keeps saying not to worry what other people think. You can't own up to your own words?"

"You twisted my words around." Seifer had turned his attention back on Hayner as soon as the other boy started speaking. He didn't sit back down, but he didn't move away either. He kept standing against the wall, finding it easy just in case he wanted to leave at any sudden moment. "I never once said I had a crush on you, loser."

"Then what?" Hayner tried to keep the grin off his face.

Seifer narrowed his eyes further. "Nothing at all." He finally looked away and let out a frustrated noise at how easily his mood had suddenly taken a turn in just the span of a few seconds. "That's the last time I try to pull you out of a bad mood. I notice you always just seem to push it on me instead." He leaned back more against the wall. "You're so annoying."

Hayner gave a small sigh as he was forced to stand up as well. He dusted a few of the paper strips off his legs before he walked over to stand in front of Seifer. He pulled Seifer's head down by the loose ends of his tie. "Oh shut up, I know you like it." Hayner pushed himself up on toes to bridge the height so he could press a kiss to Seifer's lips to appease his sudden bad mood.

The kiss seemed to work well enough and had the anger slowly draining out of Seifer until he pulled away. He kept his eyes narrowed on Hayner for a few seconds more until he let out a sigh of breath between them and shook his head. "I should have just gone home and left you to your paper shredding." They were the only words that left his mouth, but they weren't exactly any sort of denial to go along with Hayner's own.

"No, instead you decide to come along and use me as a pillow. So, yeah, you did bring this on yourself. But you're a little late in the game to be regretting anything." Hayner grinned as he kissed Seifer again. He drew his hands down Seifer's chest as he pulled away. "So fine," he was quieter as he spoke up again, "if it makes you feel better you don't have a 'crush' on me."

Seifer blinked his eyes lazily after the second kiss and Hayner's roaming hands. It took him a few seconds to straighten back up and as soon as he did he was quick to bite back with his own words. "And you call me an ass. You're no better."

Hayner shrugged easily with a grin. "Yeah I know." He stepped away from Seifer and kicked around the messy pile of paper strips along the walkway. "I did just make confetti out of a text book. Hopefully with the pages he needed." He gave a sharp kick to a clump of strips sending it streaming across the walk way. "I really did wish I had a lighter. It would make the justice that much sweeter." He wasn't sure exactly why, but it felt fitting.

Seifer slung his bag over a shoulder while he finally moved away from the wall. "Yeah, well you better hope that guy doesn't decide to knock you around for what you have done." He walked over to pick up the text book that he had thrown to the side earlier and shook it free of excess paper before he looked it over. "It doesn't even resemble much of a book anymore." After that he handed it back over to Hayner with a smirk.

Hayner took the book, looking it over. It was rather obvious the big gap that had been torn out of it. But for once the worry over it didn't bother Hayner. He shrugged. "I'll blame Rai or something on it... maybe a stray dog." He shoved it back into his bag not really caring what got jostled or crammed. Hayner stared at his rather bloated bag looking rather unenthused about having to lug it around town.

"Is there really any difference between the two?" Seifer spoke up on Hayner's excuse while he watched the other teen. It was at Hayner's distraught expression that he let out another sigh and moved his own bag away from his shoulder. "Here, I'll trade you." He reached out for his bag to be taken by the other boy while he gestured for Hayner's own with his free hand. "At least until you want to part ways or something I guess. It'll make it easier."

Hayner blinked rather surprised at the offer but he wasn't one to pass up a good deal. He lugged up his heavy bag to hand it over to Seifer while he took the other's much lighter bag. He shouldered Seifer's bag. "Um, thanks I guess."

"Uh-huh." Seifer grabbed the bag and took a bit longer to shoulder it then he did with his own. It was heavy, but it wasn't as bad as Hayner made it out to be. It only made it more then a little uncomfortable to move around, that's all. "We might as well get going. There's no point staying around here and at some point our parents are going to wonder what's taking us so long to get home." He reached his free hand out that wasn't holding onto the strap of the bag and placed it on Hayner's head, bringing the other teen close to him so he could give a quick kiss to his forehead. "Ready to go?"

Hayner's sight went ground bound. "Not really. But there's no real alternative." He gave a brave exhale and looked up at Seifer. "I might as well get it over with." Still he wasn't in any real hurry to get home, or if he was finally going to, talk to Roxas again as he dropped off his home work.

Seifer gave a quick nod in understanding. "Let's go then." He dropped his arm around Hayner's shoulders for the time being. At least until they got out into a more open area. It was the only thing he could do to at least try and help calm Hayner's nerves. With that one action he moved with the other teen away from the spot they had been settled in to finally be away from school and make their way towards town.

On the walk Hayner couldn't help but watch the ground as they went. Hundreds of thoughts buzzed in his mind as he weighed his options here and there. It was all about choosing the lesser evils and how much longer he wanted to put off talking to Roxas. As much as he hated to admit it he did miss his friend, but letting Roxas back in meant facing his other friends as well. Roxas had only talked to them because he was worried and cared. And even though Pence and Olette now knew about Seifer, there were no real rumours about him and Seifer save for the talk about why he was spending so much time with the 'committee' leader and not his own gang.

"... Maybe I should go drop off his home work myself." Hayner finally spoke up, voicing what was going through his mind.

The words seemed to startle Seifer at first. It was the last thing he had been expecting to hear and it caused him to turn his attention away from the ground as well to glance over at Hayner. "You sure?" He shifted Hayner's bag for a moment, which held all of the excess homework inside of it, after the question in a bit of idle movement. "I thought you were completely against doing it alone earlier?" He raised a brow. "You're not going to try and find a lighter or something to torch his house are you, 'cause I'm not going to leave you alone if so."

Hayner smirked over at Seifer. "No. I won't burn his house down. Just, maybe some talking." He shrugged a shoulder. "Can't promise that I won't punch that city punk if he's there." He glanced aside. "I might just end up leaving if he is." His eyes fell half closed as they down casted again. "Which he probably is." He gave another shrug. "But there's always hoping. At least now you can't say I haven't tried. At least once."

"True, but even if that weird guy is there you have to at least still give Roxas a chance." Seifer briefly squeezed Hayner's shoulders after his words. They were coming up on the town and it was that knowledge which finally had him slipping his arm away so his hand could sway between them instead. "Maybe you'll actually make some progress, who knows. Of course I doubt it if you attempt to punch that guy. That certainly won't help."

"Course... it means owning up to a lot." Hayner shoved his hands in his pockets, glancing at Seifer. "And if even you, 'Mister cool and laid back', can't even admit to anything without getting mad, well, things seem pretty S.O.L." He smirked a little before looking ahead of himself.

"Heh, maybe." Seifer spoke up quietly as he glanced around them. He gave a quick shrug of his good shoulder and was soon moving around to stand in front of Hayner, but continued to walk backwards so they wouldn't stop completely. In seconds he was leaning in to press his lips to Hayner's own as they continued to walk, letting the contact linger for a while and well aware that the area they were in was more then a little public by now. When he pulled back he easily grinned while he continued to walk back. "Eh, doesn't seem too S.O.L."

Hayner was surprised to say the least. Shocked and mind reeling, Hayner's motor skills seemed to have been forgotten for walking while he was kissed. He opened his mouth to say something but his dragging step caught on the stone walk and with a yelp he ungracefully stumbled forward falling flat on the ground. Seemed things were just as S.O.L. as they were predicted.  
Hayner groaned against the walk way, keeping his head against the dirty concrete to hide the embarrassment that had flushed across his face. His pride felt far more wounded than anything the fall gave him.

Seifer had stopped a few feet away from Hayner and looked on as he tried his best not to laugh. He knew it was cruel, but Hayner had made fun of him earlier, it felt like such easy payback. With that thought he let a small laugh slip as he walked towards the heap that was Hayner and leaned down to try and help him up. He pulled the bag away first to get the extra weight off of Hayner's back before he tugged on Hayner's arm. "Come on, get up."

Hayner's face was completely scarlet. He tried to clear his throat and act as if the fall had never happened. He dusted his uniform off the best he could, keeping nonchalant. "If anyone asks: you punched me." A lame excuse, but that was Hayner's 'quick thinking' at work again. The teen picked up Seifer's bag again, and keeping his head down he continued walking, trying to ignore the staring of people he'd now acquired.

Seifer only shook his head at the excuse, but let it slide. He straightened back up as soon as Hayner got back on his feet. Instead of walking beside the other teen much as he had been before, he kept behind since Hayner was already flustered enough and stayed silent. Although, he did find the amount of people staring to be more then a little amusing.

It wasn't long till Hayner turned around in his step, walking backwards as he faced Seifer. The dark blush started to fade away on his cheeks and he grinned some. "Alright, sure, you're committed, I'll give you that."

"Glad to know you think so." Seifer gave a smirk along with his words as they continued to walk. It wasn't long before they finally came upon a small area where a few houses in town were settled. It was near the opening of the small area that Seifer finally stopped in his tracks, knowing it would cause Hayner to do much of the same. He shifted the weight of the bag he held, letting it finally fall away from his shoulder with a relieved sound from his lips. As soon as it was free he handed it back over to the other teen and tugged his own back in the process. "Good luck, hmm?" With the few words he made sure to sneak another quick kiss to Hayner's cheek since he was close enough.

"Yeah... I'll need it." Hayner hauled the heavy bag up on his shoulder, grunting some at the weight. The kiss did have a slight smile coming to his face, despite it being given out in the open. Seifer had perked his mood considering. Had Seifer not imposed like he always did, Hayner knew he wouldn't have decided to finally talk to Roxas. "You'll meet me later on today, right?" He grinned weakly. "It'll give me something to look forward to after more crap added to this already shotty day."

"Sure, no problem." Seifer stepped back a few feet, shrugging a shoulder as he continued speaking. "If I don't get around to meeting you just come and find me. It probably just means Rai and Fuu ended up dragging me off somewhere, for some reason. No big deal, though." He finally turned around completely, but lifted a hand to give a short wave to the other teen as he left. "Later, lamer."

"Yeah, later, chicken wuss." Hayner waved using one of Seifer's insults right back at him. He turned around and faced the way he'd have to head down to get to Roxas' house. He tightened his jaw, swallowing. With a long slow, procrastinating exhale, Hayner hefted up the heavy bag on his shoulder. He gave a determined nod and finally headed down the street to Roxas'. He was sure falling on the street must have rattled something loose in his head.

-

A good long series of knocks had Hayner waiting outside the door to the home that Roxas resided in to see if anyone would actually respond. If he was lucky enough maybe his parents would open the door and he could just leave the homework with them, then pretend he never had that small burst of insanity to come talk to his 'friend' in the first place. It was worth a shot and something that he considered while he stood and waited on the front porch for _anyone_ at all to just hurry up and answer.

As soon as Hayner was finally thinking of just turning and heading back the way he came a few noises came from the other side of the door. A muffled voice that was too low to really make out and the owner still took their sweet time answering the door. Still, the knob finally twisted and in a matter of seconds the door opened to reveal the one person that Hayner had been trying his best to avoid. Although, Roxas looked like he had seen much better days if his haggard appearance was anything to go by. The t-shirt and shorts he wore only seemed as if they had been hastily thrown on.

"Hayner?!" Roxas stared in a bit of shock at who was standing at his front door. He ran a hand through wet hair to try and get it away from his eyes as if it were the thing playing tricks on him before he gave up and just shook it away. "What are you doing here?" He frowned at his mistake. "I mean... that's not what I meant. I've been looking for you." He finished weakly.

Hayner stared at what had been dubbed his 'best friend' as far back as he could remember. Seeing Roxas was as much a shock to Hayner as it was his friend. It wasn't just the fact that Roxas looked as if he'd taken on a rough gang and lost terribly, and it wasn't the fact that Roxas' voice was just as haggard as his appearence, it was that he wasn't running from his personified problems. That shocked Hayner more than anything. And what perhaps surprised him more was that he swore he heard something akin to eager happiness to see him.

"... You look like hell." Was the only response that Hayner could manage to say, nothing else would come to him, and it was just as weak as Roxas' words.

Roxas blinked at that and did a quick look over of himself. It wasn't long before he was giving a weak laugh as he tried his best to shake off the words as if they were nothing. "Yeah, I guess I do." He pulled at his shirt with a few fingers, letting it fall back against him just as quick as he had picked at it. His attention moved right back to Hayner and he tried to come up with something to say, but it was difficult. "So... um... you okay? I've wanted to talk to you, but well, never got the chance. Pence and Olette told me you won't talk to them either..."

The heavy bag Hayner had been carrying dropped like a ton of bricks between them. Hayner rubbed his shoulder as he looked at the bag a moment before raising his eyes back up to Roxas.

"I brought your home work." Hayner was to the point.

Roxas' eyes stayed glued on the heavy bag near his feet. It certainly caused him to lose his train of thought for the moment, but it was Hayner's words which snapped him out of it. "O-Oh, I see..." He looked back up at Hayner and stared at the other teen for a few seconds before he tried to find his voice again. "Is that all?"

Hayner glanced aside, slight aggravation crossing his face. "No... they gave me _his_ home work too." It was obvious he wasn't very impressed that the teachers of the higher grades would pack that responsibility on him too, especially given who it was. But Hayner didn't voice his annoyance.

"Axel's?" Roxas was quick to question the other's name, possibly because he was only sick of hearing Hayner talk about the other in such a way. It was cruel, but in truth Roxas wasn't in the mood to be dragged out of bed for just a fit of jealousy. "Ah, well, sorry about that. Thanks for bringing it, though." He leaned over so he could dig through Hayner's bag and get their books and such out and was glad that the small flinch he gave was hidden because of his hair.

"It's alright I guess," Hayner shrugged it off. Even if it was the source of all his troubles that day, he wasn't about to bring it up. The conversation was awkward enough as it was. He glanced past Roxas into his house, but he didn't see what he was hoping to avoid. It brought a little relief but it didn't make things feel less uncomfortable. "So... who beat you up?"

Roxas seemed to go a bit rigid while he was pulling out the last bit of papers from the bag. "Umm... hmm. Well, no one really." He tried his best to be as quick as he could with the answer, but the stuttering didn't help. He was only glad to be saved by a certain book in the pile which grabbed his attention when he straightened back up to stand. "Why is one of Axel's text books torn up?" Although he had a feeling that he more then likely already knew the answer.

Hayner feigned surprise, though he didn't look very surprised at all. "Oh? Is it? Well... I did set my bag down for a bit and Seifer's gang was hanging around." He shrugged a shoulder. "It was probably Rai thinking he could get me into trouble by tearing up one of my books." For once one of his excuses actually sounded decent to his own ears. "Oops." It was then that Hayner noticed the bruises around Roxas' writs. At first glance he thought they were bracelets because they were so dark, but now that he was looking at Roxas' hands he could see the welts quite clearly. It had Hayner narrowing his eyes.

"Makes sense I guess..." Roxas tossed the torn up book onto the pile he had left on the floor to be picked up later with everything else. He turned his attention back on Hayner, but noticed that the other's eyes weren't on him. They were on the nasty marks he still had around his wrists. In a quick second Roxas looked down at the branded prints before he quickly moved his hands behind his back and shot his eyes back up at Hayner. "Uhh... everything okay?"

Hayner's gaze slowly drew back up to Roxas' face. "... You tell me."

Roxas let his arms drop back down to his sides at such words. He met Hayner's gaze and managed a weak smile despite how awkward the conversation was. "Yeah, just fine. Well, aside from the fact I've been trying to get a hold of you. I was a little on edge lately, but I'm okay now." He shrugged his shoulders lightly before he raised a hand up to rub at an eye. He still felt so incredibly sleepy.

Hayner watched Roxas for a moment and realized why he avoided talking to Roxas in the first place. He never gave him a straight answer, and it grated his nerves. But given the none so subtle bite marks on Roxas' neck, Hayner wasn't so sure he wanted to know anyway.

"That's... good." Hayner was slow to answer. "Well... you look like you need more sleep or something. Heal up from- whatever it is you're staying home for." He picked up his bag, sifting through it to make sure Roxas had all the books he required; it kept him from having to look at Roxas.

"Wait, Hayner." Roxas was quick to reach out a hand to enclose it around his friend's wrist. The quick movement wasn't a smart thing to do and had him cursing rather loudly through clenched teeth, but he was quick to move on. "It's been an entire week since I last talked to you. Are you still _that_ mad at me?" He got straight to the point, already sick of beating around the bush.

Hayner stared at his friend but soon his gaze fell to the grasp on his wrist. He actually gave the question a good amount of thought, running it again and again through his mind over the entire situation. "N-no, I guess n-" A purred 'hmmm' cut Hayner off. The rather intimate tone had an unwanted blush creep onto Hayner's cheeks.

"What's taking you so long to get back?" Axel slunk in like a pleased cat to stand behind Roxas in the door way just to see who it was. He was topless with some pants thrown on that hung much too low on his slender hips. When he saw just who Roxas was talking to he crossed his lanky arms with a provocative smirk adding quick, "To bed?"

First Hayner's face blanched before it went scarlet for a second time. The sight of Axel and his words painted a clear picture of the situation entirely. And quite frankly he felt down right sick, and perhaps a little bit betrayed.

Axel's presence was the last thing Roxas needed at that moment, especially those quick words that the Heartless spoke. He wished that the floor would just open up under him and swallow him up, but it would never happen and it caused him to nearly whine in his distress. He tried to find his voice again and when it came out it was more of a shaky mess then it had been when Hayner first showed up. "Uh... H-Hayner came by t-to drop off our homework. I was just talking to him..."

Hayner yanked his arm free of Roxas' hold. He felt humiliated and down right stupid for stopping by. He should have known better when his gut feeling had told him what to expect. His worst fear come true. "Yeah, no. He was just leaving," he spoke up sharp and curt. He didn't wait for anything else, least of all a formal goodbye and just turned away to leave.

"See, I told you he would come to you if you just waited." Bad timing for humour, but Axel found all the awkward ironies to be quite entertaining.

Roxas frowned at those words. They only made him feel even worse and he ran his hand through his hair in hopes that it would get rid of his sudden situation, but that didn't work. "Hayner, come on. Don't go." He pleaded with his friend before he could get too far and even took a few steps out the doorway. "I've been trying to hunt you down and talk to you since we talked last time."

"Go to hell you liar," Hayner shot back without turning around. His steps never stopped or faltered. "Talk to me without your bastard shadow tagging along." He just wanted to get away, as far away as he could; from the disgusting sight and the sick images it drummed up in his minds eye.

Axel clicked his tongue. "... Ouch. Irony."

Roxas stopped dead in his tracks at the hurtful words and his body was rather grateful for the sudden halt. He felt like his only chance at getting his friend back was slipping further and further away with each step Hayner took. He felt like crying, but he was almost too drained to even do that. "I'm not a liar, Hayner!" He shouted the words as best he could. "I've been trying to talk to you every damn day and even after school I come home to try and go out and find you, but you're nowhere! You avoid me like I have some damn disease! I've been going insane with all this frustration over whether or not I should give a damn anymore, so I'm sorry that I needed some damn way to just forget about it all. Okay?!" Roxas swallowed hard after his loud words and lifted a hand to swipe under his eyes.

That had Hayner spinning round back to face Roxas. "Oh- so skipping school and staying home to do who knows what with _him_ is just such a great way to relieve stress!" He gripped the strap to his backpack tightly, so tightly his knuckles turned white. "We're supposed to be best friends, Roxas! But you won't tell me anything anymore! Now you're playing hooky and probably sleeping with this city guy we know _nothing_ about! You've left me in the dark with lame excuses ever since you first came back months ago from who knows where, doing who knows what. Now if that isn't a liar- I don't know what is." He scowled but his eyes were just too sad to be hateful. "Or maybe you just don't trust me anymore, because you've sure as hell replaced me." Hayner's voice grew shaky and nearly broke from those few accusing words. "... You've changed, Roxas, and definitely not for the better."

Those last few words had Roxas wanting to turn around just to go back in the house and crawl into bed, never to be seen outside again. He was so lost as to how to respond to most of the things Hayner accused him of, but he tried as shaky and broken as his voice was. Still, he couldn't meet Hayner's gaze while he did. "I tried to explain Axel to you as best I could when I came back before. I told you he was an old friend of mine. That we went through rough spots. I didn't know that the whole town had to know about him in order for him to be accepted. I thought that the fact I cared about him would be enough for you to be happy for me since you're my friend."

Roxas dug nails into his palms, but he didn't seem to notice, or rather care. He only continued to speak, knowing that he was being listened to by both Hayner and the Heartless that was still standing in the doorway. "And I never tried to replace you at all, Hayner. I'd never do such a thing. You, Pence and Olette. You three were all I had here and _you_ were my best friend. Still, Hayner, you need to re-think the word trust, because you're just as much guilty of a lot of things as I am. You tried to keep Seifer a secret from us and to tell the honest truth you could have said something and we would have gotten over it." He finally stopped speaking and kept silent while he slowly moved his eyes towards Hayner.

Hayner stared back at Roxas. And slowly shook his head. "I didn't _mean_ for Seifer to happen. When you left _again_ I wasn't in my right head space. Maybe if you took two seconds to say good bye or write a godamn note- maybe that whole mess wouldn't have happened!" Even still Hayner felt a little guilty for saying that. He wasn't as angry now, and he didn't as fiercely regret Seifer as he said he did before. Seifer had been rather good company while he wasn't talking to his friends. He was rather sincere and supportive; as sincere and supportive as Seifer could get. Still, if it wasn't for such a horrible chain of events, maybe they could have skipped this drama entirely.

"Hey-! Now wait a tick there, Hayner." Axel stepped a little further in the door frame. "You make Roxas' disappearance sound like it's his fault. If anything the whole reason he didn't say goodbye was my fault entirely. I rushed Roxas outta town while he was sleeping. I didn't think it was that important," Axel shrugged, "I knew he'd be right back. He didn't have a chance to call or write because he was just _that_ busy. And most of the time he was busy just trying to hurry up to get back to you ungrateful assholes." Axel uncrossed one arm and gestured loosely with his hand. "So his method was a little uncouth, so what? I thought it was the thought that counts. But obviously not." He scoffed. "So how about you two blondies just put away your issues and your drama- and act like normal people and just 'talk'. I'm sure the neighbours have had enough of a show for now." And he didn't just mean the shouting at Roxas' front door.

Hayner stared rather blankly at Axel. The city boy was actually making sense; it was surprising, and perhaps it rubbed him a little the wrong way. Telling Axel off would only make an 'okay' situation bad again, and it would do little to help any of them. Axel was only trying to help, as much as Hayner disliked him. He supposed Roxas was upset enough. He looked from Axel to Roxas, but didn't say anything.

Roxas' attention had gone to Axel the entire time the Heartless had spoken, but as soon as it was silent again his eyes moved back towards Hayner. He seemed just as startled that Axel had spoken as Hayner was, but he was much more grateful for the help compared to the other teen. He just couldn't take anymore of the drama and only wanted his friend back. Being avoided and fighting wasn't the reason he had come back to town. Still, he kept silent as well. His throat hurt worse from all the shouting and he lifted a hand to rub at his eyes before he let it drop to rub at a sore spot on his neck, more out of a sudden nervous feeling.

Axel looked from one boy to the other. Either seemed to take a silent stand off to his words. He tapped his arm with a finger as he waited for them to mull over his words. But both seemed to be at an unproductive stand still. "Oh for the love of..." He sighed and stepped out of the door way, past Roxas to stand nearer to Hayner to talk to, but giving the boy his well needed space. "Look, you'll never be replaced. Roxas keeps telling you that. A boyfriend is one thing a best friend can never replace. You two have shared something I can never fathom experiencing with Roxas; a deep rooted friendship that Roxas would never, _ever_ turn his back on." He gave a sad grin; _No one would miss me... That's not true! ... I would._ "Roxas would never abandon or try to hurt you on purpose. I know him too well. And he's been pinning about this whole fight ever since it happened." Axel gave a shrug that said 'that's the truth of it'.

The ground had suddenly become quite interesting for Hayner throughout Axel's words. He glanced over at Roxas' feet and the red scratched up knees. Despite the kind words that Axel tried to promote, Hayner couldn't help but noticing, with how much skin Axel was showing, that there wasn't a scratch, or the smallest bruise on that skin. It left Hayner with a bad feeling along with the guilt that started welling up. Still he didn't have much to say, not when it was Axel the one talking.

A frown had come over Roxas' face at a few of Axel's words, if only because he seemed to be remembering the same moments that caused Axel to speak up like he did. Still, he realized that he needed to open his mouth and speak up as well. Axel could only try so much, and as much as he appreciated the Heartless' help he knew that Hayner would never respond to it. "It's true you know. I've been trying so hard to make up for leaving not once, but twice. I know it was wrong of me to even leave in the first place, but you heard what Axel said and I told you before about seeing things the first time. I just wanted to make things work this time." He glanced away again, letting his hand drop back down to his side. "Sorry... about screwing things up..."

Hayner gave a half efforted shrug. He finally spoke up in a weak voice, "... How do I know you won't just up and leave again?"

Roxas finally managed a small smile at the question. "Because, just like I told Pence and Olette, I'm here to stay this time." He shook his head. "Nothing could tear me away from this place again. Not even a damn family emergency." He moved his arm out to punch Hayner in the shoulder playfully, letting out a weak laugh after the action. "You just wasted a whole week we could have spent catching up with each other."

Hayner rubbed his shoulder and allowed himself to smirk just a little. He had to admit it did feel good to mess around with Roxas; even with Axel there. "Well... you did owe me a week of sea salt ice cream or something." He lowered his hand to give Roxas' shoulder an accusing punch, harder than Roxas' but playful still. "Or did you forget?"

Roxas flinched at the punch and was quick to move his hand to rub at the sore spot. The reminder of owing Hayner so much ice cream almost caused him to whine, but he had a better retort. A slow grin spread across his face as he shot back his own words in retaliation for Hayner's behavior up until this point. "Yeah, well, it sort of slipped my mind as soon as I saw Seifer with his tongue down your throat. Sorry about that." He failed at hiding a laugh.

A blush was quick to take Hayner's face, though he acted as if he wasn't embarrassed about the memory. He shrugged. "Yeah, well, serves you right for doing the same thing to me with him." He smirked more despite. "So I guess we're about even."

Roxas tapped his chin in mock thought for a few seconds as he kept his eyes on the sky above. "Well..." He let the word draw out, but didn't take long to turn his attention back on Hayner, the small grin still on his face. "I could punch you in the face and see how you like having a black eye, but, I won't. So, yeah, we're about even."

Hayner crossed his arms. "Let's just say the punch makes up for all the other stupid things you've done." He shrugged a shoulder. "So, yeah, fair enough." He closed his eyes and tilted his head rather business like. But the cold front quickly dropped as Hayner opened his eyes with a slight grin. "Guess we can just go from there." He offered out a friendly fist to Roxas.

Roxas' mood brightened up even more with that one simple gesture. He moved his hand out as well to knock it against Hayner's own, but didn't stop there. Soon enough he reached his arm out across the other boy's shoulders in a simple hug. Happy to finally have the other's friendship back after a week's worth of frustration. "You're such a hot head, Hayner."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." Hayner was startled at first but soon he slipped his one arm around Roxas to return the friendly hug; it was something they both needed. "Pot to kettle though." He lightly patted Roxas' shoulder blade. "It's good to have you back, Roxas," he quietly finished.

"Heh, it's good to be back. It really is..." Roxas pulled away after a few seconds to stand next to Axel once again. He couldn't help the next words that came out of his mouth, wanting to spend this new found time with his friends, despite the screams of aches and pains in his body. "You weren't planning on skipping out as soon as you gave us our homework were you? We could go drag Pence and Olette off and the five of us could grab some ice cream."

Hayner was a little startled by the suggestion, obviously caught red handed by the accusation. He pulled his bag higher up on his shoulder. "I- I dunno... You look like you could use some bed rest. I hope you got the license plate from that truck that hit you- you look like you can barely stand."

"Pfff, nah. Roxas is a trooper. Not even a night of rough angry sex can keep him from having a good time with his friends." Axel lightly patted Roxas' rear before he crossed his arms. "But you kids go have fun; I've got things to do, more specifically an essay to finish." He tapped his lips feigning thought. It was better if Roxas spent time with his friends, more specifically Hayner, alone. Things were just getting patched together, he didn't need to be there tearing the seams back open. "And today's home work." He lightly elbowed Roxas with a grin. "Maybe I'll do someone else's' homework while you two are away. Save you some worries."

Roxas flushed redder then he had ever been at the blatant honesty that had left Axel's mouth. While Roxas had tried his best not to blurt out the complete truth, Axel had just spoken it right out in the open. The quick pat that the Heartless gave him caused him to flinch no matter how light it had been and through the rest of Axel's words he buried his face in his hands to try and hide himself even after there was silence. "Y-you didn't just hear that..." He mumbled quietly to Hayner. "Damnit, Axel..."

Hayner opened his mouth and then decided it was better not to comment. He found that glancing away with equal embarrassment was probably better. Maybe it would have been better to drop the homework on the doorstep, ring the bell and run.

Axel looked from one blushing blonde to another. "Joking! Joking. Geez, you guys have no sense of humour at all. All so serious and literal." He gave a slight laugh as he waved his hands in surrender. "But the essay bit I wasn't joking about. So I'll be heading inside before I say something worse." Axel leaned over and kissed what little of Roxas' cheek was peeking from his hands. "Have fun for me." That done and said the Heartless headed back inside the house.

Roxas finally pulled his head from his hands and shot a dirty look back towards the house. Even though Axel had already gone back inside it still felt satisfying to do for the moment. After a few seconds he finally pulled up the courage to look back at Hayner and let out a heavy sigh before he managed to speak again. "So, wanna go find Pence and Olette? They've been just as worried about you. You can let us know what it is you've been doing this entire week while you were avoiding us."

Hayner blinked out of his embarrassed state to look at Roxas, who looked just as red faced as he felt. "Y-yeah, maybe." He pulled his backpack more comfortably on his shoulder. "Well, I wouldn't mind just hanging out with you for a few. I mean, you've been trying to get a hold of me for a week to talk. So let's do some of that over some ice cream."

That answer had a much wider smile coming to Roxas' face and he was quick to agree with a nod of his head. "Sure, I'm up for that." He didn't even seem to care that he had left his sneakers as well as socks back inside the house. The pavement was cool enough to walk across on bare feet and he did just that despite his limp to move forward and tug on Hayner's arm, dragging him further away from the house so they could walk out of the small little cul-de-sac. "You're paying. I'm broke."

Hayner rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Figures. Fine. But you still owe me that week of free ice cream." He poked Roxas' head. "Don't think I'm going to let that slip by." He finally let himself smile some. It felt good to be on talking terms with Roxas again. And even if things wouldn't be the same as they were before anymore at least they felt right again.


	45. Chapter 45

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 45

A few discarded ice cream sticks lay piled near the steps that led into the train station, leaving a sticky mess on the ground below. The two individuals that had thrown such trash aside didn't seem to give much care to it since their attention was more focused on the darkening sky above along with the clock tower behind them. While one of the boys sat on the station's steps the other had chosen to just lean against one of the pillars with arms crossed and one of the last ice cream sticks hanging from his mouth to idly chew on.

They hadn't spoken too much on their way to pick up all the ice cream that Hayner's pocket money would allow. It was a comfortable silence though, and was mostly broken by odd jokes or things that either of the two had seen in school that the other hadn't gotten the chance to catch.

A sudden yawn snapped Roxas out of the trance like state he had been in for a long while and had the chewed up stick nearly falling from his mouth. He was quick to move a hand to catch it from falling to the ground, fumbling with it for a few seconds before he had a grip on it. He blinked his eyes and looked over to Hayner to send his friend a sheepish smile that turned into a grin at his rather quick catch.

Hayner grinned back at Roxas from the steps he lounged on, propped up on his elbows. He gave a lazy point at Roxas. "Hmm, nice catch, slick." His hand flopped back down to hang from the stair. "Y'know, don't think I haven't been catching those yawns here and there. You don't have to stay up any longer on my account." He shrugged a shoulder casually. "You look like you could use the sleep anyway."

"Yeah right, and let you slip away again? Fat chance." Roxas didn't bother chewing on the stick again and threw it away into the pile with the rest instead. He dusted off his hands as he continued talking, but it didn't help with the sticky feeling that the left over ice cream put on his hands. "Besides, I'm fine. I'm not going to go home just because of a few little yawns. The sugar just has yet to settle in, that's all."

Hayner reclined back more against the stairs. "Have it your way." He crossed one leg over and tapped his foot idly. "It isn't like I'm going anywhere anytime soon." He stopped tapping his foot and turned it to notice the slightly scuffed black shoe he was wearing instead of his usual camouflage shoes. "Though, maybe I should have stopped at home at some point. With everything that's happened I kind of forgot to go home and change. My parents are probably wondering where the hell I've gone. Heh, and yell at me when I get home for eating ice cream instead of coming home for dinner." Hayner turned his attention back up. "Oh well, nothing new."

"They should be used to that by now." Roxas smirked and turned his attention across from them instead of back up. "Although, I am curious as to why you didn't do all of that before just coming over to my house. It probably would have been much easier on you to drop off all of your own stuff instead of carrying around a bag full of three student's work." He shook his head as he remembered back to earlier. "Your bag sounded like it weighed a ton when you dropped it. How did you even manage that?"

Hayner had been busy trying to tell with his head tilted back, the clock upside down to him. "Hmm, well, your house is closer and I just wanted to get it over and done with." He blinked, it was about six thirty nine. He blinked again as he thought over Roxas' question. Suddenly he sat up with a jolt. "Seifer!" Hayner knocked his forehead hard. "Crap!" He clutched his head with a groan as he remembered. "Oh maaan." He slumped forward.

Roxas had jumped at Hayner's sudden shout involving their rival's name. He watched his distressed friend for a few seconds before he leaned over to get closer to the stairs so he could try and get a better look at Hayner. "Seifer?" Roxas raised a brow. "What about him? What did he do this time?"

Hayner rubbed his face before he dropped his hands down to hang between his legs. He hesitated a moment as he glanced at Roxas, debating if he should be honest and tell his newly acquired friend. But there was no point in keeping any secrets that weren't already obvious; Roxas was suppose to be his best friend after all. And before the whole disappearing and fighting, he could remember them always telling each other everything.

Hayner glanced away from Roxas to the ocean view and the sunset reflecting off its sparkling surface. With a groan he shut his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "I said I'd meet Seifer later today... Since I kind of didn't see him at lunch cuz all your guys' teachers decided it'd be a good idea to bury me with your homework." He shook his head. "I completely forgot."

Roxas could only stare at Hayner for a few long moments as he tried to take in what he just heard. It was more then a little shocking to actually hear such words being admitted from Hayner's mouth, maybe even more so then catching his friend in the act on the couch. At least it damn sure wasn't as awkward. It was after a few minutes he seemed to realize he was gawking at his friend and managed to finally give a weak smirk. "A mistake, huh?" He couldn't help shooting back Hayner's words.

The blush hit Hayner as hard as the teasing words. He sent Roxas a glare. "Yeahh, well, something is better than nothing sometimes I guess." He glanced away as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Stop staring. Stranger things have happened." He shot a smirk right back at Roxas. "And you're one to talk."

The smirk fell away from Roxas' face just as quick as it came. He found his own face turning red at such words, but tried his best to shrug them off. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He finally moved away from the pillar to walk over to Hayner, stopping only when he was standing in front of his friend. "So, how in the world did all of this get started anyway? Stranger things have happened, yes, but can you blame me for being morbidly curious since you two used to hate each other's guts?"

Hayner looked up at Roxas. "'Morbidly' huh? Maybe I can. Well, who said we still don't hate each other's guts?" He clicked his tongue. "Okay, yeah, I admit even to me that sounds pretty weak. But...-I dunno. You were gone, and I was all messed up. I wasn't exactly pleasant company to be around. And you know how Seifer is. So I usually took out my anger on him. And... well... yeah. _Stuff_. Stuff even I didn't expect. So don't think you're the only person who was surprised by it." Hayner's eyes down casted to the ground as he tapped a random rhythm on his lap, trying to save face. "But, ya know," he stopped drumming, "Seifer isn't all that bad a guy." Hayner snorted. "Once you get past the huge ego, the laid back attitude, the immaturity and his ability to self appoint himself as head of the disciplinary committee of a town that's already too damn quiet, he's not too bad... I guess." Hayner's gaze flicked back to Roxas with an accusing smirk. "Not as bad as some."

Roxas couldn't help rubbing unconsciously at one of the marks on his wrists at those words. "Yeah, because listening to you say all of that just makes him sound like such a great guy." He spoke the sarcastic words with a small smile on his face. "I guess I just don't see the appeal in someone that used to try to kick our ass with a struggle bat on a daily basis, like you do." He kept quiet for a few seconds, but his gaze stayed on Hayner. It was only after a brief moment that he spoke up again in a curious tone. "So, you actually like-like him?" It sounded like such an elementary school thing to ask, but he didn't dare ask anything different.

And it was that turn of phrase that had a new blush crossing over Hayner's face. He tried to look annoyed as best he could but he only looked embarrassed. He definitely looked put on the spot on the question. "I- I don't know. What kind of question is that?" He gave Roxas a look.

"An honest one." Roxas finally managed a grin. If Hayner had become so flustered from such a simple question then it was more then obvious that something was going on. He kneeled down until he was finally sitting on the pavement in front of the steps and in an instant laid on his back with a groan. He ignored his own discomfort and continued drilling Hayner instead. "You hang around him obviously. You say he's not a bad person. You were sucking face with him. So, do you like him?" He turned his head to get a better look at his friend, the grin still on his face.

Hayner had been watching Roxas' pain in the simplest of tasks, a little disturbed. He was obviously annoyed at the new bombardment of accusations, especially the question. "I- I was hanging around him because there wasn't anyone else. No, he's not bad. I mean, it's not like he's robbing liquor stores or beating up small children." He smirked down at Roxas. "You don't count." He shrugged and glanced down at his bag by his feet on the steps. A new warmth crossed his cheeks that followed down his neck as he remembered what was still inside it. He tried to act as if nothing happened as he cleared his throat. "I don't hate him." He gave a small shrug.

"Well, we've already established that you don't hate him. I want to know if you actually like him." Roxas continued to smirk, but it had been Hayner's flushed face that once again caught his attention. His eyes trailed down to where his friend's attention had moved and he stared for a few seconds at the bag that seemed to have caught Hayner's eyes. The amused expression grew on his face and he moved onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow, so he could reach out with his other hand towards the bag to grab it.

"H-hey!" Hayner yanked the bag up and out of Roxas' reach before his friend could grab it. He kept the bag on his lap and in his protective hold as he gave Roxas a stern look. "Get your own bag. Your homework is at home. Stop making a grab for mine." He set the bag on the other side of his legs, far from Roxas.

"Oh, come on!" Roxas laughed a little as he dropped his empty hand back down on the pavement. "I just want to see what's inside that has you so flushed and interested while you're talking." He moved his hand back up so he could wiggle his fingers as he spoke his next words. "What is it? A love letter?" He let out another small laugh.

"N-NO!" Hayner stuttered completely. "Nothing is in there except my homework! And I am not 'flustered'! Girls get 'flustered'- I am _not_ flustered!" He patted his cheeks and found that they were completely burning hot. He groaned at that realization; seemed he was doomed to be red faced all day. "There's nothing in my bag except for homework, school supplies and trash. Nothing that you'd find any interest in, Roxas. So stop asking."

Roxas continued to grin after Hayner's rambling. He pointed a finger at the bag once again and nodded his head towards it. "So, if there's nothing in it then let me see it." He turned his eyes back up at his friend. "I couldn't really see when I was pulling out all our homework. If there's nothing in it you shouldn't care if I want to look, right? What's the big deal?"

"You've already had your look. If you didn't see anything then, you won't see anything now." Hayner left it at that as he stretched back against the stairs, affectingly blocking any chance Roxas had at grabbing the bag. "Besides, all it seems like is you want to tease me about my situation. Why would I want to show you something if you're going to ridicule me?" He propped himself up on arms on the steps as he looked back at Roxas. "It's not like I _wanted_ any of this to happen." He shrugged a shoulder. "It just sorta... did."

Roxas waved his hand before he moved to lie on his back once more to stare up at the sky. "I'm not trying to tease you. I'm just playing around. If you want to go out with Seifer then I'm not going to stop you, whatever." He shrugged a shoulder. "Whether you wanted it to happen or not, the fact is that you're still _letting_ it happen which means you must like him at least a little bit, right? Lonely or not, you don't say that you just made out with a guy for no reason then keep meeting up with him."

Hayner made a low noise of annoyance as he dug through his bag. It was an inner zipper that he had to shove books and junk aside to get to the thing that was neatly folded inside it. "You and your logic." He sat back up with a sigh. "Fine. Here." He dropped the black article of clothing right on Roxas' face.

The sudden block from the sky had Roxas instantly lifting his hands up to yank the piece of clothing away from his face. He turned it over in his hands, but he didn't even need to do that to recognize what and whose it was. "Oh man..." His eyes narrowed and in only a split second the beanie was thrown back over to Hayner and he was soon wiping his hands on his shorts. "I feel like I need another shower." He turned his head again to look over at his friend. "What the hell? How in the world did you get him to part with that thing?" His eyes narrowed once more. "Wait...wasn't he looking for that? Did you steal it?"

Hayner turned the hat over in his hands. "It's just a hat." He didn't see what the big deal was. "No need to get dramatic." He turned the hat around so the familiar kanji was facing him. "No, I didn't steal it. Why would I want to steal his stupid hat? No... I did end up finding it in The Usual Spot while you guys were out. And I did try to give it back to him. But for some reason I still have it." He purposely failed to mention that he had decided to keep the hat and Seifer had surprisingly enough let him.

Roxas shrugged his shoulders at Hayner's words. "So, if you don't want the _stupid_ hat then try to give it back to him again." He smirked a bit while he looked back up at the darkening sky. "You have to meet him again anyway, right? Although, it is getting pretty late." He blinked his eyes as he thought over what he just said, and shook his head a little. "I never thought I would be lying here talking to you about Seifer like this. It's so weird." Still, he managed to laugh after his own words.

"Things change I guess, just one of those stupid facts of life. Not everything can stay the same." Hayner gave the hat a quick look over before he decided to slip the beanie on. "Kind of like one of those stupid after school shows about 'growing up', except this is real and far more traumatizing." He adjusted the hat a bit before he let his hands fall to his lap. He turned his head to look down towards town as his mind seemed to wander. "... Wonder if he gave up and just went home by now."

"Man, it's Seifer, who knows what he's doing right now." Roxas kept his eyes up for a few seconds after his words before he decided to turn his attention back on Hayner again. He was about to open his mouth, but the sight of his friend wearing Seifer's trademark beanie stopped any words that wanted to come out for at least a short while. When he finally opened his mouth it was only to tease his friend, but it couldn't be helped and it was only to be playful if nothing else. "You like him."

Hayner shot Roxas a look for that remark. "Ya know, the more you say it doesn't make it anymore true." He pulled his tie off and shoved it in his bag. It didn't help that the memory of why his tie was undone chose then and there to flit through his mind. Though, he tried his best to act as casual as he could, not wanting to give Roxas more ammo to use against him. "So you can stop now."

"Oh, but it's so much fun to watch your face go all red like that." Roxas continued to laugh for a few seconds until he finally let Hayner have his peace. "Okay, I'll stop. Are you happy?" He shook his head against the pavement while he continued speaking. "So, you want to get away from here and try to find your boyfriend? I'll help." He smirked. "He might still be lingering around somewhere."

"H-he's not my boyfriend!" Hayner stammered loudly. He realized just how loud he shouted back at Roxas and hung his head. "Godamnit, Roxas." He grabbed the bottom of the beanie he wore and pulled it down over his head to cover his face as he doubled over with a groan of new embarrassment.

"Okay, you just make out with him for the hell of it. Let's go with that." Roxas' smirk only grew, but still he reached out to slap at one of Hayner's legs to get his attention again. "Either way, you still have to meet up with him, right? So, let's see if we can still catch up with him." He lifted both his arms up and wiggled his wrists around. "Help me up. I fear that I might be stuck this way otherwise." He gave a rather helpless look to his friend.

"... You're like an upside down turtle." Hayner smirked, amused. "You managed to get your stupid self down there." He zipped up his back, hauling it over his shoulder as he stood up and peered down at Roxas. He crossed his arms and eyed Roxas there on the floor helplessly with his arms up. "Funny, how he did a number on you but he doesn't have a scratch on him." It was his turn to poke at Roxas.

Roxas was suddenly the one flushed red, but it wasn't only because of the accusations. It was because of Axel's quick ability to heal which had him cursing silently in his head. "Yeah, well, my hands were a little tied most of the time he was trying to end my temper tantrum." It was partly true and would help in the excuse department. "Want the details? I can give them to you." He grinned again and wiggled his fingers once more. "If not then just come on and help me. I really don't want to attempt it."

"Ugh." Hayner made a face of disgust as he shook his head; details were the last things he wanted. "You know one look at you and someone would just think 'abuse'. I'm surprised your parents haven't called the cops on him." He walked over to Roxas' side, stepping over his legs to take his forearms. "And I don't think this is the kind of disturbing thing your parents would want you to skip school over." With a grunt Hayner hefted Roxas up off the concrete to stand.

"Parents are out of town. Why do you think he was over and I was skipping school for such a trivial thing?" Roxas was able to take the help given and stood back up with little to no difficulty. He pulled his hands free from Hayner's hold and brushed himself off while he continued to speak. "Besides, they know Axel. They know he wouldn't do anything drastic to hurt me or anything." He seemed to realize what he just said and quickly looked back up at Hayner with a sheepish smile. "Well, you know, besides the obvious." He dropped his hands only to bend down a bit to pick up the discarded sticks they had thrown aside so he could dump them off in the trash whenever they walked by it. "At any rate, it's no big deal."

Hayner didn't look like he liked the answer he got, but there wasn't much to be done about it. He supposed he didn't know as much about Roxas as he thought, and as disappointing as that was for him being his best friend he was half glad that Roxas didn't go into it further.

 _You shouldn't let it bother you so much at this point. Is there really a point to being so upset or jealous anymore?_ ; Damn Seifer's good sense and his laid back attitude.

Hayner shrugged it all off, moving on with the topic. "Are... you sure you want to come help me find Seifer?" It felt strange to ask Roxas that, but it was in as much concern as he was able. Seifer was right; he did worry too much. "I mean, that might be a bit awkward, kind of weird."

Roxas looked back at Hayner with a rather blank stare for a few seconds. Finally, he rolled his eyes while he used his free hand to push none too gently on Hayner's back to make the other start walking with him. "Maybe you should get another look at me and remember what happened earlier. I think we're about even in the whole, making each other feel awkward department by now." He snorted. "Helping you find Seifer is pretty tame."

Hayner stumbled forward, forced to walk forward. "H-! We-! Ah- I- I guess." He looked ahead of himself so he wouldn't fall while going down the extra set of stairs from the station. "I don't think anything can match that bit of awkwardness earlier today. Well, I can think of a few things to even the score." He gave a short but mischievous laugh.

"I don't need to know about them, thanks." Roxas mumbled quietly. As soon as they passed a trash can he was quick to dump each little stick inside and wipe the remaining ice cream on his shorts. The town was even quieter then usual at such a time at night, but it didn't bother Roxas. It only meant there was less to bother them and less to worry about. "Where do you think he might be wandering around right now?"

"I don't know. Rai and Fuu probably went home by now. So they're probably not at the Sandlot. And it's Seifer, he could be wandering any where in town just for something to do." Hayner glanced around, half expecting Seifer to be around any bend or corner. "Everything closes so early, so I doubt he'd be down town. We'd have seen him come out of the train station exit by now. So, he might just be wandering the tunnels." He wasn't about to mention any of his and Seifer's previous meet ups in the tunnels. Roxas would only tease him about being the cause for people hearing 'strange noises' and calling it ghosts.

"You know, it's kind of creepy that you know all of this." Roxas moved his hands around as he spoke. "Like you know his schedule by heart or something like that. Of course, it only makes sense if he's really who you've been spending your time with while we've been trying to get in touch with you." He shrugged his shoulders and finally pushed his hands into his pockets. "I guess we might as well try the tunnels if you think it's the right place to look. Place gives me the creeps, though." He shook his head. "Don't know why the hell even Seifer would want to hang out there."

Hayner gave an annoyed groan as he rolled his eyes at Roxas. "Even if Seifer and I have been hanging out lately, it's not like we all haven't known each other since we could crawl. This town is damn small. Everyone knows everyone else and their cousin twice removed." He gave Roxas a look. "Don't make it sound like something it isn't. The tunnels are just a guess."

"Hmm, I guess so." Roxas left it at that as he kicked at a stray rock with his toe. He watched it move down the walkway with the weak action and narrowed his eyes at how far it didn't get. "I should have brought my shoes." It was an idle thought after the kick and in a quick moment his attention was right back on Hayner. "Soooo..." He let the word draw out. "Is he a good kisser?" He gave a rather shit eating grin that he no doubt picked up from a certain Heartless while he stepped aside to avoid getting smacked if Hayner tried it.

It was a good idea because Hayner made a shot for Roxas, whether he was hurt or not, but only hit air. Hayner glared at his friend. "You keep asking me all these questions makes me wonder if you don't want Seifer yourself. You want to know so badly- _you_ kiss him!" He smirked and made another swat for Roxas.

Roxas yelped as he tried to avoid the next shot Hayner tried to land on him. A disgusted look crossed over his face and he stuck out his tongue for a split second before he managed to answer. "Ugh, no thanks. The thought may just very well give me nightmares." He shook his head and turned his attention over to the side where one of the few tunnels was nearby. Their feet led them closer and closer and Roxas kept his eyes on the large number three that was above it. "We're gonna get lost in there you know."

Hayner grinned right back at Roxas. "Oh, probably." He was quick to walk right up to the tunnel entrance. He walked a few steps inside and turned to face down the tunnel. Raising his hands he cupped them around his mouth to shout, "HEY SEIFER! YOU IN HERE?!" His voice carried, echoing down to the darker unseen of the tunnel. The way his voice bounced back at him, it almost didn't sound like his own voice.

Roxas lifted a hand to rub at his ear with a finger. "Wow, Hayner. That was... geez." He shot a glance at his friend as he continued to rub at his abused ear. His attention soon moved back to the tunnel when he heard some movement inside. It wasn't hard since everything inside seemed to echo even if it was just the smallest sound.

The echoed sounds soon turned into what were obviously foot steps that moved throughout the tunnel. The boys were left standing where they were for a good long while before the person finally found their way to where Hayner and Roxas were as Seifer trudged his way out of the maze. The taller boy had obviously gone home much earlier since he was no longer in his school clothes, but he still looked less then pleased at being called out in such a way. "What the hell?" He didn't even really notice Hayner's company yet and looked half asleep if anything.

Hayner gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I'm a bit late." He shrugged at the understatement. "I was- wait, were you sleeping in the tunnels?" He laughed at Seifer's sleepy appearance. "Like some kind of hobo." He tried to laugh his nervousness away, feeling a bit watched now that Seifer was actually with them. "Nice to know you come at my beck and call though."

"You shouted loud enough for the entire town to hear you. Of course I'm going to come when called." Seifer was quick to bite back since he was a little grumpy after being woken up. He rubbed at his eyes and it was with that action he finally caught sight of Roxas and it had him stopping. His hand dropped back down and he turned his attention back on Hayner. "Oh, hey, you finally have your shadow back."

Roxas narrowed his eyes at those words and was quick to bite back his own. "Yeah, hey, I'd be just happy to punch you in the stomach right now and be on my merry way. But, Hayner's my friend. So, I won't." He brought his hands up to cross his arms. "Be glad you caught me in a good mood."

Hayner looked from Seifer to Roxas and back again. He pocketed his hands as he shook his head and looked sky bound. "Oh yeah, I can see just how well this is going to work out."

Seifer either didn't care about what Hayner said or just took no real notice to it because his attention had been right back on Roxas after the shorter teen's words. He narrowed his eyes and reached out to point a finger right towards Roxas' forehead. "Whatever, short stuff. You already look like you got mauled by a dog. I highly doubt you can throw a decent punch."

Roxas glared further and he moved a hand up to slap Seifer's own away. He spit back his own remark while he tried to ignore the red that had come to surface on his cheeks. "Shut up, Seifer! You're two seconds away from finding out just what I can do if you piss me off enough."

Hayner gave a sigh and stepped between the two of them, stretching his hands out to push either from each other. "C'mon children, relax. Roxas," he looked at his friend, "you wanted to come in the first place. Seifer," he looked at the other, "at least pretend to attempt to get along." Hayner looked from one to the other. "I'm in no mood today to play referee."

Roxas frowned, but had stepped back as soon as Hayner pushed him away from Seifer. His friend's words had him feeling a little bad since it was true he had agreed to come along in the first place. Still, he couldn't help getting at least a little angered by Seifer's words. "It's not my fault your boyfriend is a complete jerk." He spoke the words while he shoved his hands back in his pockets.

Seifer had turned his attention away as soon as he was pushed back. It was Roxas' words that only gained it back and he gave a small smirk that he didn't even try to hide. He turned a questioning gaze to Hayner since he had never heard the other teen speak of such a thing. Roxas had to of had some wires crossed, because he doubted Hayner would ever say such a thing at all. "Boyfriend, huh?"

Hayner glowered at each of them as warmth crossed his cheeks and down his neck. His hands tightened into defensive fists as he shouted. "You-he's not MY BOYFRIEND!"

Roxas flinched back from the shout and wondered for a second where Hayner had learned to scream so loud. He shook his head and shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, I know, just kidding around. Of course, now the whole town probably thinks he is since you just screamed that last part." He couldn't hide his smirk, but couldn't really help it either.

Seifer leaned against the wall that lead to the tunnel. Instead of making things worse, he tried to change the subject as best he could and tried not to let it bother him as much as Hayner did. "So, what took you so long anyway? I fell asleep waiting. My parents are going to murder me for getting home hours after I said I would be, probably."

Hayner pulled his face from his hands where he had buried them and groaned from Roxas' words. He glanced over at Seifer through his fingers before he lowered his hands completely. "Y-yeah. Sorry about that. I dropped off Roxas' homework, and well, we just got to talking again. We were hanging around in front of the station eating ice cream and talking. You know what's been going on." He gave a weak shrug. "Things were just going right for once today; it just kind of slipped my mind." His sheepish smile came back. "Until just now."

Seifer shrugged a shoulder at the answer he got. "It's no big deal. Besides, you finally got what you wanted, right?" He lifted a hand and waved it around in both of the other boys' direction. "I told you that all you needed to do was talk and it's as if nothing ever happened." He dropped his hand back down and drummed fingers on the wall he leaned against. "It seems like it was quick and painless enough if you guys are already out wasting your money on ice cream."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well at least we're not holed up inside the tunnels like some homeless person with the rats." He shot a glance at Hayner and gave his friend an innocent smile that wasn't really innocent at all. "Sorry, slip of the tongue. It won't happen again."

Hayner narrowed his eyes on Roxas before he shook his head with a sigh. "You two are hopeless." He shrugged out his hands dramatically, giving up on either. "I should just drop you both and save my energy. You two totally aren't worth the trouble." He started walking down the street, already bored of sitting still with either there arguing. "Or I could just give you either struggle bats and let you two duke it out." He waved that off. "But if I did that, you two would probably still manage to kill each other."

Seifer watched as Hayner started to walk away. He was in no mood to be left alone with Roxas, so he was quick to follow behind until he was walking right beside Hayner. In an instant he slung an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders as if it were the most normal thing to do, while he tried his best to defend himself. "Probably, but either way, you'd never drop me anyway. You'd only end up coming back some how and some way" He gave a laugh after his words.

Roxas had watched the scene with mild interest. It felt odd and a little disturbing to see Seifer hanging all over Hayner in such a way, but Hayner was right. Stranger things had happened. Of course, Roxas thought of those words in a much different way. He couldn't really stand there and ridicule his best friend over what he saw when he had seen things much stranger. With a sigh he shrugged his shoulders and fell in step behind the two, speaking up after Seifer. "I'd rather you not ignore me for another week, thanks. I've been punished enough."

Hayner tried his best not to go a darker shade of crimson with Seifer's arm on him in the presence of Roxas. Seifer's words didn't help matters, even if Roxas didn't seem as phased this time around; he didn't need his newly acquired best friend's brain bleeding out on the concrete. Hayner was torn between throwing Seifer's arm off and shoving him away, and just burying his face in his hands and pretending he wasn't even there. He opted for his happy place, and shrunk lower down as he hid his face in his hands with an embarrassed groan.

"Why me..." his mutter was muffled in his hands.

"Because you decided that it would be a good idea to kiss me one day in a random bought of rage." Seifer shrugged a shoulder while his fingers idly toyed with the sleeve of Hayner's shirt. "You can't really expect things to be very normal after that." He clicked his tongue. "Things just don't work that way I'm afraid."

Roxas squinted his eyes after those words for a few long seconds. Finally he gave a small shiver and shook his head before he looked away from the two in front of him to keep his attention elsewhere instead. "Oh man, I did not need that mental image. Thanks so much."

Hayner latched onto the beanie and for the second time he pulled it down so it covered his face. If only he could completely crawl into the hat, that would have been so very nice. "Shut up." He pulled it down more. "Both of you just shut the hell up." There wasn't anywhere else to run to so he hunkered down more.

Roxas had caught the movement out the corner of his eyes. Hayner's words had no real effect on him and he was soon opening his mouth again since he remembered earlier when they were back at the station. A quick bit in their conversation. "Hey Hayner, aren't you going to give Seifer back his _stupid_ hat. I mean, since you didn't want the thing." He looked back at forth between the two and tried not to smirk.

Seifer glanced back at Roxas with narrowed eyes. He was quick to look at Hayner though, and reached his hand up to tug on his own hat just a bit to grab Hayner's attention. "What's he talking about? I thought you wanted to keep this old thing. Besides, you're the one that said I look better without it."

"Oh really?" Roxas' grin didn't need to be seen. It could be heard in his voice.

"Now is not the time to be fishing for compliments, Seifer. And Roxas- shut up!" Hayner pulled the hat up enough so he could turn and glare at Roxas. "Or I'll go on about the _real_ reason you skipped school. Now _that_ is disturbing." He glanced up at Seifer before he looked back at Roxas. "Or if you're not careful and really asking for it, I'll do something really traumatic." He managed a sly smirk.

"Shutting up now." Roxas help up both his hands and waved them around. "I'll be good. I promise." He dropped his hands and shoved them back inside his pockets. For a split second he stuck his tongue out at his friend before he spoke up again. "Geez, can't take a joke."

Seifer looked back and forth between the two and raised a brow at earlier words said. "You mean he wasn't mauled by a dog?" The words were meant as a joke and he was quick to lift up his other hand to cut Hayner off before he could even answer. "You know what. I don't even want to know what _did_ maul him. The thought is disturbing enough without the words."

Hayner gave a nervous laugh. He pulled the hat back to rest more comfortably on his head. He glanced at the houses they past now dark with the people fast asleep inside. All the shops would be closed; all the trolleys, trams and trains were stopped for the night. It had Hayner stopping abruptly and everyone else nearly stumbling into him. "You know, I have no idea where we're going."

Roxas stepped back a bit, having almost rammed right into Hayner. "Does it really matter? It can't hurt to just walk around a bit since everything in town is closed right now." He looked around, noticing how dead the streets were. It was odd. "Your parents are probably worried, though. We could always go by your place so you can at least drop off your bag and let them know you're okay." He smirked. "Although, they'll probably wonder why we're dragging Seifer along with us." He only got a dirty look from the other teen for that remark.

"I dunno... if I go home now my parents will probably yell at me for not coming home in the first place and being out so late on a school night, then drag my ass in the house." Hayner adjusted the bag on his shoulder. "It's safer just to go, even if this bag is annoying." Hayner's eyes flicked down, realizing something. "And you're still not wearing shoes."

Seifer's eyes moved down as well and he just then seemed to realize that Roxas was indeed bare-foot. He looked back up at Roxas' face and gave the other a questioning stare. "What the hell? First you look like you lost a street fight. Now it just seems like you forgot how to dress yourself. What gives?"

Roxas looked down at his own feet and was quick to wiggle his toes. He actually forgot all about his lack of shoes as soon as they found Seifer. "Eh...well... I had to answer the door, so I just threw on what I grabbed from the floor." He shrugged a shoulder and looked back up at them both. "I was already outside. I didn't feel like going back in for shoes and such. It wasn't a big deal. It still isn't now to be honest."

"You're lucky our town is so clean. Anywhere else and you'd have stepped in broken glass, gum and spit. Even still. Ugh, can't be good." Hayner seemed to think that over before an idea had him grinning. "Hey, why don't we take the tunnels to Sunset Hill? It's grassy, easier on your feet. And we can just lie on the grass and look at the stars." He gestured up towards the twinkling dots that could barely be seen by the crowded houses on either side of the street they walked.

Roxas nearly whined at the suggestion. "Oh man, I hate the tunnels. They're so annoying to travel through." He narrowed his eyes on Hayner for a few seconds. "Why didn't you suggest this while we were actually back over there _by_ the tunnels? We've already walked a good ways away from the damn place."

"Because he was too busy having a panic attack to come up with the idea at the time." Seifer answered easily before Hayner could get around to it. He rolled his eyes before he turned his attention up to the stars that Hayner had pointed to seconds ago. "It's not a bad idea, so quit your bitching."

Hayner let out a long drawn out sigh. He could sense that the fighting was indeed going to be a re-occurring theme, and was heavily debating bringing out the foamy bats himself to beat either into silence. "Mph... I hate being middle ground." he muttered to himself. "Don't know how it ended up like this, but I know it's only going to give me a headache as time goes on."

Hayner stepped away from Seifer's arm to walk a few good steps away from either of the two and turned. He crossed his arms and did his best Seifer impersonation as he spoke, "Giving up already? I totally own you lamers."

Roxas stared at his friend with an expression crossed between disturbed and scared. "Hayner, that's just weird." He looked back and forth between his friend and the one person that Hayner had been impersonating. "I question your sanity sometimes here lately." He looked back at his friend with his words.

Seifer didn't look quite as shocked; instead he just looked more then a little annoyed. "Okay, you're dead." He walked a few steps forward. "I've told you so many times now to quit that. It's not funny anymore, loser." After those words his few steps turned into a quick launch so he could try to make a grab for Hayner, but knew with this same old routine that the other teen would just end up running away.

Hayner leapt back out of reach but he didn't run away this time. He wasn't about to have that bit of play in front of Roxas. "Oh come on you guys that was a great impression. No sense of humour, either of you." He backed away to avoid anymore grabs made my Seifer. With a quick step he headed towards the tunnels. He crossed his arms as he back stepped. "Not to mention slow."

"Yeah, that's the scary part. The fact that it was so good." Roxas spoke up after he had watched Seifer stumble on his own two feet. He shook his head sadly and finally gave in, walking with slow steps after Hayner. The tunnels weren't really as bad as he made them out to be. He was just afraid of getting lost in the pit of darkness that they were.

Seifer seemed more then a little ticked that Hayner wouldn't follow through on their little game, but he didn't speak on it. He only narrowed his eyes on Hayner for a split second before he shrugged and crossed his arms. He stayed behind, walking along after both of the other boys instead of taking his place beside Hayner again.

Hayner caught the look Seifer gave but he didn't act on it. He'd probably end up making up for it later when he and Seifer were alone. So instead Hayner looked to Roxas. With a curious tilt of his head he changed the subject. "So, are you going to be at school tomorrow?"

"Probably, yeah." Roxas nodded his head after his own answer. "It's not like I'm sick or anything. I was just tired today, and I felt like crap. I just wanted to rest up, that's all. I'll be good to go back tomorrow." He glanced up at the sky as he thought over his next few words. "Axel will probably go back too if I'm going. It helps that he volunteered to do both our homework. I'll probably just end up going back to bed as soon as I get home. Saves me the trouble."

Hayner gave a rather dry expression at the mention of Axel but didn't speak up on it further. He had been rather happy with the idea of hanging out with Roxas again at school. That was until Roxas brought up his 'friend'. So Hayner just left it at that as he turned and headed into the aforementioned entrance of the tunnels that would take them to the other side of town.

Seifer whistled low at Hayner's sudden attitude change. As soon as he was near Roxas he dipped down low so that only the shorter teen could hear him since the tunnels echoed so well. "You know, he doesn't like _your_ boyfriend very much." He gave Roxas a rather cocky smirk after those words before he went along his way, brushing past the smaller boy.

Roxas glared hard at Seifer for his more then obvious statement, along with his blatant mocking. It only made the situation even more aggravating then it still was. He didn't speak up, though; he didn't feel like dealing with things that were just being patched up. Instead he kept quiet while he followed along behind the two.

It suddenly got quiet between all three of them. Though, Hayner didn't seem to mind all that much, even if it was awkward because of the reason why. He was trying to remember which number took them where. Even after living there his entire life, it was still confusing to remember which turn took you where. The signs underneath each number were getting old and faded, and the kids who played inside the tunnels were always scraping away the letters having a bit of fun in some mild vandalism.

It was after a long time of walking through the twisted maze that Seifer moved ahead a few steps more so he was along side Hayner once again. "Hey, that's it isn't it?" He pointed a finger up to turn the others' attention towards a walkway that would have led towards one of the other exits. It was dark inside the tunnels since it was night outside, so the usual light that would have streamed in from the exit was nonexistent.

"Good enough for me." Hayner headed out the way Seifer pointed, followed by the others. It wasn't long before he was stepping outside into the night air. The area was just as dark and desolate as the area in town they'd come from. But at least they were out of the tunnel, and the right place they wanted to be. Hayner headed to the walk way that would lead them through that area of town to the hill. "You can see the stars so much better in this part of town."

Roxas hummed quietly as he looked around. "I haven't been over here in a while. I got dragged away again before I was able to come back to see, and I never checked to see if you were probably hanging around here." He looked back ahead to watch where he was stepping. "Mostly because we rarely ever came around here to begin with. I didn't think you would be hiding out in this place."

"You make Twilight Town sound bigger than it is." Hayner glanced back at Roxas. "And I wasn't hiding. I was avoiding." He shrugged. "There's a difference."

"When you're trying to find someone for an entire week then it does become bigger then it is." Roxas narrowed his eyes on Hayner. "And if there's a difference between the two then please enlighten me, because you could have fooled me." So maybe Roxas was still a little peeved because of Hayner's attitude earlier towards Axel, but he couldn't help it. He just wanted every major road block to be over and done with between them.

Seifer groaned at the sudden back and forth. "Okay, I don't want to listen to this bull." He reached his arm out to place his hand on top of Hayner's head, pulling the other's attention away from Roxas before a fight could break out and closer to his own body instead as he kept walking towards the hill. "Just let it go already, both of you." His arm slipped down to Hayner's shoulders much like it had been earlier and stayed right there.

Hayner tried not to stumble in his steps, since Seifer decided to claim him while they walked. Since Seifer had come between them in the small disagreement he and Roxas were having, Hayner couldn't help but glare up at Seifer. "What? I wasn't hiding. You tell him that, you were there." He crossed his arms while he walked, looking ahead of himself. "Hiding means you're scared, and I'm sure as hell not scared of Roxas."

"Okay, you weren't hiding. You were whining, pouting and scowling." Seifer was quick to answer, but kept his eyes ahead of himself the entire time. Hayner wouldn't like his answer any better then what Roxas accused him of, but it was the truth and that's what Hayner wanted.

For once Seifer's words actually caused Roxas to nearly let out a laugh. He had to slap a hand over his mouth to hide it, turning his head to the side just in case Hayner decided to turn around to look back at him. He quickly cleared his throat, hoping it would help.

The loud smack of Seifer's arm being swatted away proved otherwise. Hayner turned around to face either of the two. "I did not! I-... damnit, Seifer." He glared at Roxas next. Not appreciating being laughed at for his misery he snapped, "Yeah, well, at least I dealt with it better than some people, who skipped school for some weird S and M between the sheets."

Roxas' humour fell away in an instant and his head snapped back around so he could stare at Hayner with an expression akin to one of being caught in the headlights of a truck. He opened his mouth then closed it, and kept at the action a good few times before he finally realized nothing was coming out and it was pointless to keep trying. He finally closed it with a loud clack of teeth and hung his head with a loud groan, dropping the topic completely.

Seifer looked back and forth between the two boys while he rubbed at his hand which had been smacked away. Roxas' reaction to Hayner's words caused him to blink before he shook his head and looked back at the hill that was finally coming into view. Only one word made it past his lips. "Twisted."

"In more ways than one." Hayner felt a certain bit of satisfaction at quieting Roxas. At least the topic was dropped for now, and things seemed level once again between them. On impulse Hayner grabbed Seifer's hand and with a determined breath he started walking again towards the hill, dragging Seifer with him, a dark blush crossing over his cheeks. "C'mon."

The random hand holding had been the last thing Seifer expected, especially since he had still been rubbing at his swatted hand. It caused him to nearly stumble when he was pulled and look at Hayner with a bit of a shocked expression on his face since the other teen wasn't usually so forward with such things. He didn't even expect it at all since Roxas was around. "Uh... okay." They were the only words of agreement he could manage to get out, shooting a look back at Roxas to see if the other teen was at all disturbed by the display, but he was still too busy with his own humiliation it seemed as he followed along with his head down.

When Seifer was caught up to speed Hayner couldn't help but glance back at him with a small grin. "See," he spoke quietly so only Seifer could hear, "now that's how you own a lamer." Hayner didn't say much else as he pulled Seifer along as he hurried towards the hill.

Seifer finally managed to grin after the words he had heard. Since the other teen hadn't given him much time to speak he only continued to stumble along beside Hayner, but for a brief second his own hand tightened around Hayner's own. Still, he acted as if nothing happened as they all finally made it on top of the hill.

Just a few more quick steps and their destination was reached. Sunset Hill always gave the amazing view it promised. Though it was night now and there was no sunset, it now gave a beautiful view of a star littered sky. A near full moon hung low in the sky near the far off mountains, and further off the ocean could still be seen where the beach lay with many summer memories.  
The tower gave a beautiful view of the town, but Sunset Hill gave you everything else.

Hayner's hand unconsciously squeezed Seifer's at the view, his inhibitions forgotten there and then at the sight. His gaze fell from each shining cluster to another. "Hard to believe this is really ours." He glanced up at Seifer, giving a small nervous laugh for such deep words. "I mean... it isn't just _ours_. But, well... I guess maybe we could borrow it for a little while just to watch. No one will know that we owned the stars for a bit. None will be the wiser."

Seifer gave a brief smile at such words. Not his usual cocky smirks or grins. Just a genuine smile for the boy standing next to him. "Yeah...I suppose so." His eyes moved away from Hayner to turn up to the sky. His gaze moved over each star that took over what was usually such a bright sky, before his eyes dropped to the bit of water that could be seen far off. "There's no harm in just borrowing it for ourselves." His hand squeezed back for a second time that night, but he didn't seem to ignore the action as much as he did the first time around since his thumb lightly stroked Hayner's hand afterwards.

Roxas had finally caught up to the two and stopped dead in his tracks moments ago to watch as he stood in the small little opening that led to the hill. His eyes stayed glued to both Hayner and Seifer and for an instant he felt as if he were butting in on something much too private, but shrugged it off as he only felt a little weirded out by the scene. Instead, he turned his own gaze up to the stars and kept quiet; letting the other two have their peace.

Hayner watched the stars for a few minutes before he heard Roxas, remembering his friend had come with. He turned to face his friend, smiling at him. It wasn't like all the smirks and slight grins he'd given Roxas since he still felt stand-offish about his friend. This time it was sincere, like all the few times he'd done before; usually after all their small fights would be resolved. "'Bout time you caught up. It's not that big a hill." He grinned some. "Get up here!"

Roxas turned his attention back on Hayner as soon as the other boy spoke. He was surprised for a quick second that he had been called at all, but it was the expression on his friend's face that had him startled the most. All he could do was stare for a few seconds before a smile broke out on his own face and he was finally making his way to the two to stand beside Hayner, pushing at his friend's shoulder with his own in a bit of playfulness as he let out a laugh.

Hayner grinned after he laughed. "See. I told you the view would be great." He pointed up at the stars. "It was totally worth the walk, right?" He nudged Roxas' side with his elbow. "Bet no where else can compare to the view Sunset Hill has to offer, right?" With pride for his town he nudged Roxas again.

Roxas shook his head as he rubbed at his side. "Yeah, I guess so." He gave a small smile after his words and turned his attention back up at the stars. He walked a few steps so he could lean over and placed his hands down on the small fence that acted as a precaution on the high hill since there was a tram right below. His eyes stayed narrowed on the stars and for a second he wished Axel had come along so he could have someone to share the moment with just like Hayner did.

"Hey Roxas?" Hayner glanced up at Seifer a moment before he looked at his friend. He let go of Seifer's hand to walk over to Roxas, standing beside him at the fence. Hayner tapped his fingers on the sturdy rail as he talked, seeming to read Roxas' mind. "Did you want to go and bring Axel here?" It was probably the first time he'd ever said Axel's name. Without the bitterness to it, the name still felt alien and awkward for Hayner to say. "I doubt anyone would want to stay home doing homework when they could be watching the stars." Hayner tried to shrug casually, as if the suggestion was no big deal. "Your parents aren't home, doesn't matter how late you'll be staying up anyway."

Roxas straightened up with a start and turned his head to look at Hayner. "Uh..." He seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment. He wasn't used to his friend speaking about Axel in such a way without some sarcastic remark attached to the Heartless' name, or the other being referred to as just _him_. It was a little strange. "S-Sure, I guess, but, are you sure?" He couldn't help asking out of instinct.

"Don't even dare question it." Seifer was quick to butt in while he continued to stare ahead past the small fence. "If he's suddenly feeling so nice then just don't even ask. You know how long it took me to get him to talk to you? That was a miracle itself. The fact he's willing to let you go drag that guy back here is some progress." A small smirk crossed his lips while he finally looked towards Hayner. He couldn't really help his teasing.

Hayner gave a slight dry nervous laugh at Seifer's words. As helpful as they were they still ruffled his fur. But still he just shrugged. "You heard him. Don't question it, just do it. I wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't alright." He nudged Roxas' shoulder with a fist playfully, trying to get him to lighten up. "Friendships about give and take, right? So get going!" He gave Roxas a playful push to get him moving. "And don't forget some shoes second time around."

Roxas finally let out a laugh while he was pushed along and nearly tripped over his own two feet. "Yeah, yeah. I got it." He gave a short wave to Hayner and even Seifer as well since he figured he had to start getting used to the other boy being around anyway. Besides, if Hayner was finally going to act civil about Axel then he might as well try the same for Seifer. "See you two in a bit." They were the last words out of his mouth before he turned and headed back down the path that led away from the hill.

Hayner watched his friend take down the path, watching until his friend was far from sight. He slipped off his bag and chucked it aside, giving a relieved sigh when the burden was off his shoulder. He rubbed his shoulder as he spoke casually, "It'll take him a while to get there and back. Roxas has a knack for getting lost in the tunnels." He glanced up at Seifer and tried not to let the sly smirk show on his face too much. Hayner shrugged after, as if his reasoning for sending Roxas off never had a devious ploy to it at all. He turned to face the wooden rail again, looking at the stars. "It means the stars are all ours now."

As much as Hayner tried to hide the sly look, Seifer still caught it and it caused him to roll his eyes. He walked the few steps closer to the rail until he was behind Hayner and draped both his arms around the shorter boy's neck from behind. It was the closest they had ever gotten, but Seifer only blamed it on the moment and didn't really speak about it. If Hayner was allowed to hold his hand then he could do whatever the hell he wanted as well. "Glad things are back to normal now?" The question left him while his eyes strayed back up to the sky to stare at the stars.

"As normal as they're gonna be." Hayner rested his hands on Seifer's upper arms. He relaxed back against Seifer, leaning his head back so he could look at Seifer with the starry sky as his backdrop. "As good as it is to be talking to Roxas again; it's just as nice to be alone." He ran his hands along Seifer's upper arms, in the dark he felt bolder to allow his fingers to trace over toned muscles. "It gives me a chance to say 'thanks'." His hands still and he smirked. "Thanks."

Seifer looked down into Hayner's eyes at the last word spoken. The fingers on his arms had started to leave trails of goose bumps over time, but he had chosen to ignore it to answer Hayner instead. "For what?" He gave a crooked smile before he turned his attention back up. "No need to really say thanks for anything. The most I've been doing is just hanging around you lately. You can't really thank me for that. It's no big deal."

Hayner gave a weak shrug. "Still, you've put up with me. And I hear I'm not the greatest person to be around when I'm mad. And that's all I've been this last while. So I guess you deserve a bit of thanks, whether you like it or not." He looked back up as well, giving a small chuckle. "Maybe even a medal."

"Well, I guess I wouldn't mind a medal." Seifer moved a bit so he could rest his chin on Hayner's shoulder while he kept his arms right where they were. "Of course, over time you're just not that bad to be around. I admit you're not the best person to be near when you're moody, but once your anger is somewhat calmed you're not bad company at all." He shrugged a shoulder while his fingers toyed with the front of Hayner's shirt.

Hayner gave a small sound of amusement. "Guess that's a compliment if it's coming from you." He glanced back down to Seifer's head on his shoulder. He allowed his hand to slip up to mess with a few strands of Seifer's hair, now loose and hanging in his eyes since he didn't have his hat anymore. "But maybe I do have a medal for you."

Seifer had closed his eyes as soon as his hair was fooled with. It was soothing along with the already calm atmosphere surrounding them. He was forced to peak an eye open only a bit to give Hayner his attention again since his curiosity got the better of him at those last few words. "Hmm? What kind of medal?"

Hayner turned around in Seifer's arms forcing him to stand up again. He reached under his shirt collar to pull the usual necklace he wore around his neck. He held it up between either hand, the yellow X dangling from it. "Close enough." He gave a good humoured grin as he reached up and slipped the necklace over Seifer's head.

Seifer looked down at the necklace that was suddenly settled around his neck. It was odd to have it in his possession when Hayner wore it on such a day to day basis. That thought alone made it seem a bit more unreal that the other boy would part with it. It was a little silly considering it was just some little hand made trinket, but it must have had some kind of value. All Seifer could do was toy with it for a few seconds with his fingers before he looked back at Hayner with a small smile on his face. "Heh..." Soon he was moving forward to crush their lips together while both his hands fell down to Hayner's hips to bring the other boy closer.

A muffled sound left Hayner and he couldn't help grinning in the kiss. He pressed near against Seifer and was quick to slip his arms around his neck. The kiss near took his breath away and Hayner gripped the collar of Seifer's coat. He broke the kiss, pulling away just enough to catch his breath. "Glad you like it." He gave a weak smile.

"It makes it all worth it." Seifer gave a quick laugh after his own words as if to try and cover them up. His hands slipped under Hayner's shirt, but only so fingers could feel skin and nothing more. He leaned in once again so their foreheads touched, but the contact was blocked by his own hat that Hayner continued to wear. Seifer didn't mind and continued to speak up again. "I told you not to worry so much, didn't I? Everything is just as okay as I said it would be. Roxas is even alright with us hanging around each other." He gave a weak smile. "You should listen to me more often, lamer."

"Hmm, maybe." Hayner knitted his fingers behind Seifer's neck. "Although I think at this point Roxas was willing to do anything to get me to talk to him again." He grinned some. "Including put up with you." He arched a little when Seifer's hands skirted over a ticklish spot at his side. "Mph. Nothing ever fazes you, does it? I'm still amazed that you're alright with everything that's gone on. That things have gone on this long." He gave a wry smile. "Or that I'd end up wearing your hat."

Seifer only gave another quick shrug to such words. "Unlike you I don't worry constantly about every little thing. Whatever happens, happens. I'm perfectly fine with the way things are. The consequences probably won't bug me as much as they would you." He lifted a hand up away from Hayner's side to tug his hat down a bit further on the other boy's head. "And you might as well keep the hat. I know I'm never going to get it back in the future. I don't care that much anymore." He dropped his hand back down and turned his eyes back on Hayner's face. "It's yours."

Hayner blinked underneath the black rim of the hat rather shocked. He pushed the hat back away from his eyes, looking up at Seifer rather astounded. "Mine? Your hat? But you're never without your hat. Well, aside from this last while. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought it was actually a conjoined piece of your head." He ran his hand over the beanie. "I'm surprised you'd give it up." He gave a small laugh. "Even if I did steal it from you a week ago."

"It's just a hat. I can always get a new one if anything." Seifer smirked at his own words since he knew he probably wouldn't bother with such a thing. He had that one particular beanie for so long he wouldn't want to waste time breaking in another one. A quiet laugh left him after a few seconds while his fingers ran up and down Hayner's sides. "But if you don't want it I can always take it back since you seem so shocked I'm giving it to you."

Hayner was quick to press his lips to Seifer's. Though, it was ruined when he started laughing, muffled against Seifer's mouth. He pulled back with a squirm, grabbing Seifer's wrists to move them from his sides. "N-no. I mean- thanks." He wasn't about to admit his ticklishness so he placed Seifer's hands lower, on his hips. "Again." He gave a cheeky grin. "You're surprisingly generous when you're taken with someone."

Seifer blinked his eyes, but they quickly narrowed when he caught on to what Hayner said. "Tch, don't start that again." He mumbled the words quietly while he looked off to the side, past the fence that was behind Hayner. "I never said anything about being _taken_ with you." He seemed to struggle for a second for the right words to say next and in the end he shook his head, glancing back at Hayner out the corner of his eyes only. "You were bound to keep it anyway. That's all..."

Hayner reached up to turn Seifer's head back to face him. When he had his attention he grinned lightly at him. "Really?" He flicked a few blonde strands from Seifer's eyes. "Just getting rid of a ratty old hat you've been wearing for years, day in day out? The very same hat you've punched countless for touching and stealing? That's all?" Hayner traced a finger down the long scar between Seifer's eyes. "And I was just getting rid of an old necklace? Everything else is just coincidence, huh?"

Seifer's face scrunched up at that one simple touch and it took him a few seconds to find his voice again. "Coincidence, yeah." He pulled his head back a bit so Hayner couldn't touch his scar any longer and tried his best to sound as stern as he could with his next words. It was hard when he just wasn't in as much of a mood to keep up such a tough act as he usually was. "I could punch you if you really want to make such a big deal out of things and feel a little left out from all the rest that got the same treatment."

Hayner didn't seem at all detoured. "Fair enough. But uh, people might think otherwise, what with all the hanging around and kissing in public." He lightly poked Seifer's nose with a smirk. "But I guess you didn't think that far ahead." He gave a shrug since Seifer was such a lost cause. "You seem alright with everything else, it's kind of funny to see you squirm over something this small."

The words seemed to shock Seifer since his eyes widened for all but a split second. In his mind the situation wasn't going to change at all. Possibly because Hayner didn't seem to want the entire town to find out about anything. The only people to know would be Hayner's friends. Seifer didn't really care if Rai and Fuu knew to be quite honest. To hear Hayner say such a thing left him speechless for only a few seconds before he was soon grinning. "Yeah, well at least I'm not the one screaming at my friend because I've been called your boyfriend."

Hayner shrugged; glad it was dark to hide any colour that decided to warm over his cheeks. "Yeah, well, I didn't exactly hear you denying it. You're the one always pawing me in public. And you kissed me earlier today in public too." His hand slid down from Seifer's shoulder to toy with the yellow X of the necklace. "But I could be wrong. You could just be the type who likes to kiss guys he hates."

Seifer looked down so he could watch Hayner toy with the necklace. The words ran over and over in his mind while he thought back to earlier. Finally he shrugged, but kept his attention down. "You're right, I didn't deny it." He glanced back up and gave a small smirk. "I guess it really would be weird for everyone in town to see me doing this..." He trailed off so he could lean forward and press a slow kiss to Hayner's lips, but pulling back before the other boy could even get a chance to press into it. "...while I claimed to hate you." He finished speaking after moving back only inches away with the smirk back in place.

Hayner blinked rather dazed. The kiss nearly had him missing Seifer's last few words. He knew his new smile was probably crooked but he couldn't help it. It was nice to know he wasn't at least hated. "Yeah?"

Seifer gave a small laugh at the rather dazed expression on Hayner's face. He was quick to quiet himself though, and nodded his head before he actually managed to get any words out. "Yeah, it would be pretty odd don't you think?" He leaned in to give another quick kiss to Hayner before he straightened back up, keeping his arms around the shorter boy.

"M. Yeah," Hayner gave a short laugh of his own, "I guess it would. So, I guess that means you don't hate me. Which is as good as anything I guess. It would be kind of pointless to give a guy you hat your hate. Er- I mean a guy you hate your hat." He cleared his throat. "I totally said that." He fidgeted with the necklace again out of embarrassment. Sincerity was the least of things he was ever expecting to get out of Seifer; it was making his tongue trip along with his mind.

Seifer raised a brow in amusement at Hayner's slip up. He didn't really expect such words to cause the other teen to act so fidgety, but Seifer just shrugged it off as he thought over his answer. While he did his eyes moved back up at the sky. It was all he could do. "Hmm...well... I guess not." He blinked his eyes as he thought over those words. "I mean, no, I don't. It would be a bit pointless for me to say I hate you. Sure, you may still annoy the hell out of me, but I don't hate you."

"Good to know." Hayner glanced up at the sky again. He followed each white dot, seeing if they made any sort of recognizable shape. "And... I guess I don't hate you either." He gave a small shrug. "It would be just as pointless."

"Heh, you're making all kinds of progress today aren't you?" Seifer easily teased, but tightened his hold around Hayner to calm whatever anger his words would bring on. It was too peaceful in his mind to start any of their usual back and forth. He was perfectly content staying just as they were looking up at the stars. It was much better then sneaking around in the tunnels.

Hayner gave a small annoyed noise, but his anger didn't last long. "Says you." He slipped his hands under Seifer's coat to take advantage of that short vest he wore. He tickled at Seifer's sides a small moment, just to see if he was ticklish but he played innocent on the outside. He ran his fingers over the tight stomach; he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy how well toned Seifer was.

Seifer's whole body tensed up at the small touches and he nearly pulled away from Hayner. He couldn't help the small noise he let out before he was quick to reach his hands over to grab Hayner's hands, stopping the other's touches so fingers only stayed in one place on his stomach. "Quite touchy feely tonight, aren't you?"

Hayner drummed his fingers on Seifer's stomach innocently. He shrugged. "You started it." A very sly smirk crossed his face. "And now I know the oh so tough Seifer Almasy is ticklish." He ran his fingers up and down Seifer's stomach since his area of movement was limited. "But I'll spare you tonight. Since it's kind of nice out and I'm such a nice guy." He leaned forward to bridge the space that Seifer had made.

"Mmm... how kind of you." Seifer spoke in a bit of a mocking voice. It wasn't long after his words that he moved down to close in the rest of the space between them to press their lips together once again. It was sweet and slow and Seifer couldn't help tightening the hold he had on Hayner's hands at the same time. It was good to know that things wouldn't be _too_ normal come tomorrow.


	46. Chapter 46

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 46

The walk away from the desolate town and back to the ship was taken in silence. Neither Cloud nor Zax were still in the best of moods at having to drag along a Heartless on the trip, but they refused to argue over it anymore if Ikurx was so determined to let him into the group. The most Cloud did was scowl the entire way back while he continued to hold the tired Nobody in his arms.

As soon as the door to the ship opened to allow them inside Cloud had set Ikurx down on his feet and made sure he was steady before he pulled his arms away completely. The teen was still filthy and they would have to leave soon to find somewhere for him to get cleaned up, but for now it was just obvious that he needed some type of rest. "There's an extra bed and such through there." Cloud pointed a finger further down inside the ship. "You won't be bothered in there if you want to rest up." His eyes moved quickly to Demyx and he got some satisfaction in the way the Heartless flinched back from his gaze before he looked back at Ikurx. "Zax and I need to check in on the rest of the crew we're with. Will you be okay for now?"

Ikurx gave a few small nods, his actions languid from fatigue. His hand still weakly clung to Demyx's hand, toting the Heartless in tow like a small child would a comforting teddy bear.

Though, Zax was less subtle with his authority than Cloud. He took a few steps over to Demyx as he crossed his arms. He gave the Heartless a once over and when he looked Demyx in the eyes again he was less than impressed. "Try anything funny, Heartless, and I won't think twice- if you catch my drift." He gave Demyx a poke in the chest. "He's a good kid, and we're going to keep him that way."

Demyx stuttered a bit at the sudden threat. So far he had felt less then welcomed the few seconds he had stepped foot on the ship and things weren't turning out any better. Unconsciously his hand tightened around Ikurx's own as if Zax would rip him away from the Nobody in just that moment. "I wouldn't dream of it..." He spoke the words quietly while he tried his best to meet the man's gaze with his own narrowed eyes.

"He won't dream of it." Ikurx quietly cut off anything else Zax had to say. The squeeze to his hand had him at the Heartless' defense, despite how little energy he had to expend. He rubbed his eye with the cleanest part of the back of his hand. "Don't worry anymore Mister Zax, Mister Cloud. I'll be okay." Ikurx gave them a weak smile that was nothing more than the smallest perk of lips. He then turned to head down further in the ship to follow Cloud's direction to the extra bed, dragging Demyx with him.

Zax watched the two disappear down a corridor. He glanced over at Cloud unsurely. "It seems we've missed a lot of in-between with the kid." He ran a hand through his hair with a long sigh. "I can't believe we let a Heartless into the ship. The rest of our 'crew' isn't going to like this one bit."

Cloud kept his eyes on the part of the ship that the two had left through before his gaze fell away to the floor. "Tell me about it. It's just going to make the whole trip a bit more unbearable then it already is." He shook his head and finally looked at Zax. "I'm still trying to figure out how we're going to explain this to them. It was hard enough for us to take in."

Further in the ship Ikurx did his best to find the spare room. Even if it was just one hall, Ikurx was tired enough to get lost. He tried a few doors but found them to be storage spaces, it was the third door that finally rewarded him for his efforts. It wasn't a very big room, just big enough for a bed and some minor storage in the form of cabinets and drawers along the walls.

Ikurx didn't even bother with the bedding, and just walked over to the bed and fell on it. He didn't move after, content to be as a skewed on it as he was. It was much more comfortable than floors or alleyways, or any of the other places he'd woken up before. He'd only slept on a bed once in all of his existence. It wasn't as squishy as this bed, made out of the same material the entire strange ship was. It had a long exhausted sigh leaving the Nobody. He was quite content to leave his problems with his consciousness.

Demyx had let go of Ikurx's hand just as soon as the Nobody fell onto the bed. Even though the two of them were no longer in the presence of Cloud and Zax he still felt oddly out of place at the moment. He knew that Ikurx needed his rest after everything that happened, but being a Heartless, Demyx didn't need any sleep and suddenly felt very bored. If anything he just felt emotionally drained, but that would go away over time he hoped.

With a sigh, Demyx moved over to the wall that was closest to the bed and slid down it to settle. After everything he had done before they had been found he didn't want to move in on Ikurx's personal space any longer and figured it would be best to keep off the bed. He would have only been a disturbance anyway with how restless he felt.

"Mister Demyx?" the Nobody's words quietly spoke up. And soon Ikurx was peeking over the edge of the bed at the Heartless. "Aren't you tired?" He was a little surprised and perhaps a little disappointed that Demyx had chose the floor over sharing the bed with him. His mind was too cluttered with the day's drama to worry about minor details like feeling awkward.

Demyx quickly looked up and blinked both eyes before he stared at Ikurx. He hadn't expected the question from the Nobody and thought that he had already fallen asleep. "N-No, I'm not tired." He gave a bit of a shaky laugh as he tried to explain himself. "I... uh... well, I'm never really tired to tell the truth. It's one of the perks of being a Heartless I suppose. We have a lot of energy." He looked back down and rubbed at one of his arms. "I'm okay..."

"I'm tired," Ikurx quietly spoke up again. "I feel like I'm always tired," the quiet confession left his lips, before he could really think on it. "Even though I probably spend as much of my time unconscious as I do awake. It just never feels restful." He poked at the blankets. "Except that one time, kinda. You were asleep too." His hand stilled as he recalled how everything had just fallen apart after he woke up. Ikurx shut his eyes as he gripped the bedding. "... I'm sorry."

Demyx turned his attention back on Ikurx and was soon shaking his head. "No, Ikurx, don't apologize." Without thinking much about it he was soon moving towards the bed to climb up and sit beside the Nobody. "You have no reason to apologize. You've been through a lot, you know. None of this is your fault. You don't have to say you're sorry for anything you say or do." He gave the teen a small smile while his hands fidgeted in his lap.

Ikurx slowly opened his eyes to see Demyx's smiling face. Despite what heavy thoughts rolled around in his mind, Ikurx couldn't help smiling just a little back. But just as quickly the smile was lost. "... Ignorance isn't a very good excuse not to be sorry." He rolled a little on his back and looked up at the orange gummi ceiling. "It's like having a split personality that's running amuck." He gave a small wet sniff. "It's you, but not you, and you can't do anything." Ikurx rubbed his eyes with the wrist warmer, keeping it there after. "That's me... the _real_ me."

Demyx let out a sigh and turned his attention down to his hands. They twisted around in his lap for a few seconds as he tried his best to think of the right words to say. Not being good at confrontation only meant he was even worse at talking things through. "You should just be more focused on getting better. You shouldn't be fretting over what's happened in the past. You're on this ship, back with your friends. Things are looking up for you now, don't you think?" He glanced back at Ikurx once again.

"... I'm bad luck. I'll only bring that bad luck on them again." Ikurx let his arm fall back on the bed. "Riku might try to find me again. What if it starts up all over again? Mister Cloud and Zax are only human." That thought alone brought new energy in the form of adrenaline and Ikurx forced himself up to sit. He wasn't in his right mind anymore. Panic crossed his face while his eyes remained emotionless. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come back with them."

Demyx was quick to reach a hand out to push it on Ikurx's chest to try and force the teen back down. "Ikurx, everything is fine. Riku let us go, remember? Besides, even if any of that were true, Cloud and Zax, they know how to fight perfectly well. They can take care of themselves. You have nothing to worry about." He placed his other hand on Ikurx's shoulder while he moved a bit to settle even closer to the teen. "They weren't going to leave you all alone. They're determined to bring you with them. They care about you." He tried his best to give a small smile once again, but it was weak at best.

Ikurx was reluctant to lie back down, but Demyx was so much stronger. All Ikurx could do was stare up at the Heartless with such distant worry in his glazed eyes, while the rest of his face was plainly distraught. The Nobody blinked his eyes forcing a small tear out, but it wasn't from emotion, just excessive moisture in his eyes. "... But I can't care back," the small words left him matter-o-factly. It was a disturbing thing to say but more disturbing to realize. It had Ikurx's eyes widening. "No... I don't mean that." He looked away, though he knew the anger at himself was only skin deep; aesthetic purposes only.

Once Ikurx was rested back on the bed, Demyx took it upon himself to lie down as well. He kept himself propped up on his side so he could still look down at Ikurx as best he could to continue consoling the Nobody. "You're a very kind individual, Ikurx. The fact that you're worried so much over their well being shows that you care. You can't let the fact that you're a Nobody continue to haunt you so much. It will eat away at you." His eyes narrowed in his own show of worry.

Ikurx blinked his eyes slowly before he turned his head back to look at Demyx now beside him. All of what the Heartless said rang true in his mind. True enough, good enough. Without another painful word or argument Ikurx rolled over to cling to Demyx's front. How much Ikurx just wanted to cry, to let the aching weight of his trauma out. To just let out the hopeless misery that was constantly swallowed up by the offending nothing in his chest, that's all he wanted right now. But all that came from Ikurx were a few whimpered sounds and then silence.

Demyx's hands immediately lifted up away from Ikurx as soon as the teen clung to him. He hadn't expected such a close encounter so suddenly. Demyx couldn't help feeling a little awkward about it after what happened much earlier. It was how tight the teen's hands were on him and the whimpered sounds which had Demyx giving in. Slowly his arms fell down to wrap around the Nobody, but didn't cling very tight. "It's okay..." He couldn't help the comforting words despite the sudden silence while one shaking hand moved up to run through pale hair.

The Nobody kept still in Demyx's arms. It was hard to tell if Ikurx was drawing comfort from the Heartless' nervous attempts. He didn't speak again, so it was hard to tell if his worries were quelled. Though as the seconds ticked into minutes the Nobody began to relax, his shoulders untying their tension as his death grip on Demyx's shirt lessened. Ikurx's breath slowed to a more relaxed pace and every so often he would give a wet sniffle.

Demyx's shaking had stopped over time and only fingers still moved through hair while he continued to comfort the body against him. He noticed that Ikurx's tight grip had weakened and it had him looking down at the Nobody with concerned eyes for a moment. In the back of his mind he thought that maybe Ikurx had fallen asleep and would feel horrible if he woke him, but he wanted to make sure he was feeling better. "Ikurx?" He spoke the name softly as his hand moved away from hair so fingers could move back down to a shoulder. "Are you feeling better?"

Ikurx gave a small nod. He felt better to keep his silence. If he kept quiet he wouldn't scare away the already nervous Heartless. He didn't want the Heartless to leave him just because of something stupid leaving his mouth.

"Good." Demyx managed a small smile because of that one simple nod. Just to know that he had helped Ikurx in some way was enough for him. He pulled back a bit so he could finally catch a glimpse of the Nobody's face and his smile weakened when he saw how Ikurx's face still seemed so strained. He was quick to move his hand down to touch the teen's face, pulling at a corner of Ikurx's lips with a finger to force half a smile on his face. "So cheer up."

Ikurx gave several blinks at having his mouth pulled up. An aged memory flickered in his mind, old and fuzzy, of Sora laughing, pulling his mouth wide; _Riku! -Hey cut it out! -I'm not dreaming this time, right? I hope not, it took forever to find you._ It wasn't Ikurx's, but something about Sora's young smiling face made him feel better. It brought a little bit of that strength that had been waning from him.

Ikurx gave a weak laugh and pulled Demyx's hand from his mouth. "I'll try." He kept Demyx's hands between his, finally relenting from his clinging hold on the Heartless' shirt. "I mean- I will." It was so much easier to bounce back from trauma when there weren't any real emotions to hold you back. It was easier to move on, ignoring the echoes of hollow feelings haunting inside like little phantoms.

"That's good enough for me." Demyx tightened his other arm that was still around Ikurx while his eyes fell down to look at their hands. He couldn't help staring, amazed at his own self that he hadn't pulled away yet, but he really didn't want to. It was his own selfish wants that seemed to have taken over for that small moment and he let them for just the time being as he turned his attention back to Ikurx. "You've been through enough. It's about time you just relaxed, don't you think?"

Ikurx gave small nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He unconsciously tightened his hold on Demyx's hand with both of his. "... So much has happened. It's a little strange to be at a stand still. It's nice though, to see Mister Cloud and Zax. To see they're okay." He blinked up at Demyx. "I never expected them to be looking for me. I mean, not looking for me because they want what I can do, but looking for me because they want _me_. Ikurx the person, not Ikurx the No-one." He managed a small smile. "You're right, they do care... They wouldn't be giving you such a hard time if they didn't." Ikurx looked down at their hands. "It's nice. Feeling wanted, I mean. It's nice to forget the labels and just be who we thought we were." His smile fell a little. "... The church was so beautiful... I didn't know then that my gift was how they found me. But, when I brought Mister Zax back to Mister Cloud...-that's when Vexen took me. Larxene destroyed the church before then, while Mister Cloud and Zax tried to protect me." Ikurx pulled their hands to tuck them under his chin. "It was a nice church. The first place I can ever remember. So peaceful... The sun was so warm. I remember flowers when I first woke up. Flowers all around me. You would have liked it there, Mister Demyx."

Demyx looked down to watch as his hand disappeared under Ikurx' chin. The way the Nobody described the scene really did sound like something peaceful that he would have enjoyed hiding away in. It reminded him of his beach. A place where he felt safe away from the cruel fact that he was indeed a Heartless and at some point would have to join the battle going on around him.

"I'm sorry Larxene and Vexen did such horrible things." Demyx felt the need to take the blame for two people that had once been members of his own group so long ago. "They made your life difficult right from the start. If they hadn't of found you then maybe you could have just stayed with Cloud and Zax and been happy not knowing the truth." His eyes moved back up to look at Ikurx's face. "I'm sorry you had to be around such cruel Heartless."

Ikurx shook his head. "It was bound to happen, one way or another. All of it. I don't regret bringing back Mister Zax. I'm sure Mister Cloud prefers Mister Zax over a dilapidated church. And they did end up finding me." Under his chin he knitted his own fingers together to keep Demyx's hand cocooned in his. "I've learned it's a Heartless' nature to do bad things. It can't be helped sometimes. But there are good people who fight against their nature for things that matter most to them." Ikurx blinked his tired red rimmed eyes back up at Demyx with a rather curious expression. It was Demyx's blank glowing eyes that he seemed interested in a rather random turn. "What colour were your eyes?"

The sudden switch in the conversation seemed to throw Demyx for a loop. He hadn't expected such a thing from anyone, least of all Ikurx. Of course the Nobody had a rather curious nature about him if given the opportunity. Demyx couldn't really help indulging it even if the topic was about himself. "W-Well... um... kind of a mix between blue and green, I think. I never paid much attention to my eye color as a Nobody." He gave a shaky laugh after his words and dropped his gaze back down. He suddenly felt a bit strange about the glow his eyes gave. "They're a bit weird now I suppose, but it's what happens to most Heartless."

Ikurx gave a long quiet sound of acknowledgement. "Is there a difference with the eye types? I remember Axel's wasn't glowing. I would imagine the glow would help you see in the dark." He tilted his head as he watched Demyx's eyes curiously. "Does the world look different from the eyes of a Heartless than it does from the eyes of a Nobody?"

"Uhh... well." Demyx tried to pick out each question as he thought over them in his head. "The glow is just proof of how much the darkness has really taken a hold of us as Heartless, or, possibly how much we've _allowed_ it to control us. Axel probably has better control over himself then most of us I'd assume. He'd have to if he plans to hang around Roxas all the time now that he has a heart." Demyx turned his attention back on Ikurx and his expression turned solemn. "It's difficult, not wanting to corrupt a heart that's so close to your fingertips; torture." His fingers twitched despite Ikurx having no heart at all. "In that sense, the world really does look different..."

Ikurx's hold on Demyx's hand loosened as he thought about what the Heartless said. It made sense. It was all so very sad, though Ikurx held no pity for the Heartless, or Demyx, or Axel for his torture now staying with a heart that he had given everything for. Curiosity only took the place of feigned emotion. Curiosity was in-between emotional and state of mind. Curiosity was real and his to keep; a cheat in the game, but real.  
He then placed Demyx's hand in his on the left side of his chest. "Then I guess I am lucky to have no heart. You'd never want to hurt me. And I don't have to torture you." Ikurx gave a weak smile. "But I won't let you be a Heartless long."

Demyx slowly shook his head. "No, Ikurx. As of right now I'm fine just being a Heartless." He gave a weak smile. "I don't want you to be forced into running away again. They'll try to come after you once more and I just want you to have some kind of peace however long it is. Even if it means I have to stay like this." His fingers curled around Ikurx's shirt while he continued to speak. "The thought that you would put me before anyone else makes me feel more wanted then I've felt in a while." He bit his lips after those words, but tried to shrug off his sudden nervousness. "I just want you to be safe..."

The Nobody watched Demyx's expression for a moment. Despite Demyx's selfless choice Ikurx didn't look away. It was touching in a way Ikurx had never experienced. No one had ever told him not to use his gift when they wanted it. If life was torture as a Heartless at times, to fight instinct, it truly meant something to Ikurx to know that Demyx chose suffering over endangering his safety.  
Even still, Demyx didn't want him to worry about it.

"Demyx..." Ikurx's voice fell quieter, though it kept the same curious tone. "What colour are my eyes?"

Demyx's attention snapped right to Ikurx's eyes and he couldn't help but stare. For seconds he kept his mouth shut as he was reminded of those cold dead eyes that belonged to the Nobody's other. He almost couldn't bring himself to answer until he remembered that the two weren't at all one in the same. Ikurx was far more kind. The eyes he looked into would never hold such hatred. "They're... green." He stopped and shook his head. "No... more like aqua. They're really unique." He finally gave a real smile instead of something nervous. "Very pretty."

Ikurx pursed his lips for a moment and then gave a small laugh. It felt like years since he'd laughed, when it probably had only been hours or days. "You think I'm pretty?"

Demyx's eyes shot wide open at such a question and he began to stutter. "N-No..." He realized that only sounded worse and had to cover that mistake up as well. "No, I don't mean no. What I mean is... I was talking about your eyes... but... um... I don't mean you aren't. Uhh... you're very um... well..." He quickly clamped his mouth shut. He knew he was only making things harder for himself and looked away in embarrassment.

Ikurx gave another soft laugh. "It's alright. You don't have to say it. I'm sure I look a lot like Him. So I guess in retrospect you're complimenting him." He gave a weak shrug of shoulder. He could already tell by the way Demyx was hesitant to talk about his eyes that Riku had crossed his mind. For Ikurx it would never leave. "... No one likes him except for Sora. So, it's understandable."

Demyx shook his head back and forth a good many times. He still couldn't figure out what to say, especially in response to all of that. He suddenly felt horrible for his hesitation on the subject. He didn't want Ikurx to be upset all over again. It seemed so counter productive when just seconds ago the Nobody had been laughing. Before Demyx could stop himself he leaned forward to stop any other words Ikurx had to say by placing his lips on top of the Nobody's own. It was all he could think to do to make Ikurx's doubts go away and much like before his hands started to shake.

It was only a quick touch of lips and Demyx pulled back almost instantly to look at Ikurx with wide eyes. In seconds they lowered a bit, but it was easy to tell that he was still nervous by the shaking in his voice when he finally spoke up. "You're nothing like him. You're so much better then him."

Warmth was quick to spread across Ikurx's cheeks. His third kiss ever and it was in the span of the same day. It stopped all the other swarming thoughts in his mind, causing them to melt together, filling the hollow in his chest with something warm. He almost missed Demyx's shaky words. "I... um..." Ikurx couldn't think of anything to say. He opened and closed his mouth but could only look shyly away. "Oh. Okay," the agreeing words left him just as shyly.

Demyx kept his eyes on Ikurx for a few seconds as he watched the Nobody deal with the situation as well. What he had just done seemed to hit the Heartless head on and he quickly averted his eyes as he realized where it was he had just kissed the Nobody for a third time. The two humans that were so protective of Ikurx could have walked in at any moment and it would have been the end of Demyx. He suddenly felt like he had a death wish and it caused him to let out a nervous sound in the back of his throat before he looked back at Ikurx. "S-Sorry..." He couldn't help the apology. It was automatic by now.

"I-it's alright," Ikurx quietly consoled. He shyly looked back to Demyx, though the Heartless was now the one looking away. "It doesn't hurt. There's nothing to apologize for." He seemed to realize something. "Though, you're shaking a lot. Maybe it hurts you." From behind Demyx's hand he twined his fingers with the Heartless', his other hand kept on top to hopefully quell the shaking. "... Maybe my lips are broken too."

Demyx was quick to shake his head at such words as his attention went right back to Ikurx. "No, of course not." He couldn't help letting out a quick laugh at such a thing, mostly because of how his own nervousness had been taken. "You're not broken, Ikurx. I'm just nervous, that's all. After everything that's happened I just feel like I'm going to do something wrong at any moment." His smile slowly faded and he looked down at their hands. "I mean, I screwed up so badly with Axel... it would only make sense that I'd probably screw up just the same again. I don't want to mess anything up, but it's hard not just going on impulse and taking what I want."

Ikurx made a small acknowledging noise. A thoughtful noise soon followed after. "If you didn't fight the impulse, where would you take me? There isn't much place we could go. And there isn't much to do with me once we get there." He was quite naive at times, but his personal experience in the world was limited. "You can't hurt me. I doubt there's anything you could do that would hurt me worse than what I've experienced so far." He gave a weak sound akin to a chuckle. "So unless you plan to steal me away and poke me with wires, I'll be alright, Mi- Demyx."

Ikurx lifted his one hand on their twined hands to slip his arm around to run a few fingers through the dark mane of hair that fell down the back of Demyx's head. The action was small and he rested his hand at the back of Demyx's head to pull it down so Ikurx could lift his own head to place a lingering kiss to the treble clef symbol center of the Heartless' forehead. Afterwards Ikurx let his lips brush down to the bridge of Demyx's nose. He quietly whispered, "You can't screw me up."

The one bold action had something fluttering inside Demyx that he couldn't quite place. Just the simple fact that it was Ikurx that had kissed him instead of the other way around, despite it being elsewhere on skin, made it even better then the few he had placed on the Nobody's lips. Especially when pressed to the lone symbol on his forehead. The words whispered near his skin had him blinking his eyes slowly before he gave a bit of a crooked smile. "You don't know that." He spoke quietly in response. The earlier questions to his own words were moving about in his mind and he tried to stay focused. "If I went on impulse then I wouldn't have cared at all about what you said or thought the first time I kissed you. My instinct as a Heartless tells me that I shouldn't care about you at all...but...I do know that I don't want to hurt you like the others have. I'd rather ignore everything I am..."

Despite what Demyx said Ikurx still smiled, the Heartless could feel it against his skin. "You'll be whole soon, sometime. I promise. And you won't have to worry about those instincts anymore." His fingers lazily toyed with Demyx's dark hair, petting down the trail down to the back of his neck. "Then you can tell me what it's like too. I'm sure you can describe it better than Roxas."

The fingers that moved down through his hair had Demyx's eyes nearly slipping shut. He was sure that if he actually needed sleep he would have been quick to doze off because of such actions. Instead he used them to help himself finally relax. Still, he heard Ikurx's last few words and even with his eyes closed his curiosity was obvious in his voice. "You talked to Roxas about being human?"

Ikurx nodded but in the end it turned into a small nuzzle, and he rested his head against Demyx's. "I did," his words fell quieter. "When we thought Axel didn't make it I woke up and heard him attacking the wall. So I tried to help him feel a little better by talking to him... About Axel, about being human... if it was all worth it." His hand stilled as he remembered the moment; so many tear streaks on Roxas' dirty face. "He said it was. Even if Axel was gone, he could now feel what he was suppose to now. He could properly mourn him. Cry for him." Ikurx ran his fingers along a lock of hair, gently twirling them between his fingers. "I asked him what crying was like too... He said it felt good, because it gets his sadness out and lets others know he's suffering too." His smile went sad and he shifted to move closer to Demyx, just needing to needed; feel like some semblance of a normal human being. "I can fake any human emotion except for tears. ...The tears seem to know that I'm lying."

With all the words said Demyx felt a little bad for his outburst at Roxas in that small alley. The former Nobody had obviously been devastated and Demyx had fallen back on his jealousy, finding it so much easier to blame Roxas for what happened. He didn't dwell on the thought too long as his attention turned back on Ikurx, his eyes opening back up to try and glance at the Nobody that was so close. "I wish I could help you." He freed a hand to move it up, resting it on top of Ikurx's head. "I used to remember some things about being human, but those memories feel like they're missing now." He gave a thoughtful sound before he went on. "Heartless can cry, but it feels so shallow and empty when we do it. It just makes the pain worse." He clung a little to the teen and held him closer. "I'm sorry that these things are troubling you so much. It's hard...I know..."

"I'm not troubled. As long as I have someone to talk to I don't feel bad." Ikurx made a soft sound. "It's hard to describe how I feel sometimes. It's kind of like... well, standing outside a circle. And in that circle are the people I've met. I can talk to them, touch them, and hear them. I can even bring people they know back into the circle with them; to laugh, to smile, to be apart of their lives again. But I can't ever enter the circle." He made a small thoughtful noise. "I can move around the circle. I can even mimic the smiles and laughter... But I know that I'll never be able to step over the border."

Demyx kept silent for a long while after the small explanation. His hand had stilled and fallen down to rest on Ikurx's back, making no other move. Finally, a cold touch was placed near the Nobody's temple as Demyx brushed his lips near to place a quick kiss right before he spoke. "I'll try my best to help you feel like you're part of that circle... no matter what..." He pulled back so he could look down at Ikurx's face and managed a small smile even after such bold words.

Ikurx felt his chest tighten with those words and that small kiss. It felt like such a waste, all of Demyx's efforts, when there would be nothing wholly substantial he would ever get in return no matter how much he tried. Still, Ikurx felt so touched, he wanted to believe every word. "Really?" His small smile came back. His hand had fallen from Demyx's hair to trail fingers along the Heartless' face since it was so close; just small curious movements. "How will you do that?"

Demyx's smile turned a little shy, mostly because of the sudden touches to his face. He was still so hesitant to be too close to Ikurx for fear of doing something wrong, but the Nobody was willingly near him and had kissed him. That made it better. "Well, I don't want you to feel left out or worry over things so much." He drummed his fingers idly on Ikurx's back while he continued to speak. "I told you that you're my reason now, remember? So, I want you to know how special that makes you. I'll try my best to help you see how important you are, not because of who you are, but just how important you are to me." He stopped drumming and kept his hand still once more.

"O-oh." Ikurx gave a small nod; he hadn't forgotten. "Yeah." The colour darkened across his cheeks at such words; natural instinct working with conscious thought. "Then I guess I am in a circle. Your circle." His finger traced a circle around Demyx's cheek. It followed over the bridge of Demyx's nose and divided his lips, following around to end under his eye.

Demyx scrunched his face a bit at the touch. It wasn't unpleasant; he just wasn't used to it. The words had him grinning and every nervous feeling that had been left inside of him finally settled as he gave a slow nod. "That's right and I plan to keep you there as safe as can be." He let out a quick laugh. "Uh...I don't think your friends would be very fond of what I'm saying right now. They'd probably be happy just keeping you very far away from me."

"They can't worry if you're human. And you will be." Ikurx let his hands fall away in favour of being cuddled closer. He didn't seem to mind nor notice that Demyx wasn't warm to the touch. "Then it won't matter, right? Mister Cloud and Zax have nothing to fear then, and you'll be whole again. No more torture." Ikurx glanced at Demyx's face. "Mister Demyx? ... Which is the lesser of two evils? Being a Nobody or being a Heartless?"

Demyx blinked his eyes at the question. He found himself turning around to lie on his back so he could look up at the ceiling as he thought it over, but made sure to stay close to Ikurx as he did. "Well, from what I remember time as a Nobody was harsh. You were told that you felt nothing so you had to fight to get those feelings back or else you would never be complete again. Nothing else mattered, not even your own opinion on the matter, only the Superior's words. As a Heartless I have emotion and I _do_ have a heart. Even if it doesn't beat I know it's there."

Demyx continued to stare ahead as he thought over his own words that he spoke for a couple of seconds. Finally, he turned his attention to the side to look back at Ikurx and smiled softly. "I guess it's not as bad being a Heartless. Even if I can feel everyone's pain along with my own it's still not that bad. I answer to myself now instead of someone so obsessed with their own agenda that he would put others in danger that wanted to be whole just as badly."

Ikurx gave a slow nod. He could truly understand why Roxas would want his own heart so badly. Pretending that you felt something, when others gave you their true feelings, it just wasn't enough. Wordlessly Ikurx crawled closer, resting his head on Demyx's chest as he hugged one arm around the Heartless. It truly wasn't fair that Riku could feel and still he chose to let the Darkness manipulate him and hurt the one he cared so much for. Axel had fought hard against who he was and Ikurx had never witnessed any harm that came to Roxas. It was a strange mirrored relationship each pair. And here he was, Riku's Nobody, with a Heartless from the Organization as well; with one that had Axel no less.  
All of that had Ikurx's mind spinning again.

"... So I guess Riku is the lucky one," Ikurx spoke quietly. But it wasn't that thought that he dwelled on. "Mi-m, D-Demyx? Whatever happened to your Nobody?" He glanced up at the Heartless from where he lay.

Demyx easily tensed up at that. It was a question he had been trying to avoid for however long he could manage. He feared the reaction he would get if he told Ikurx the truth; that he had been sent by Xemnas to be rid of Sora. Demyx didn't want the teen to be angry with him, so he tried to be as subtle as possible with his answer. "He died on a mission." He spoke the answer while he looked back up at the ceiling.

Ikurx's hold tightened and he clung to the Heartless, as if the news of the death was recent instead of years old. Even if he had no heart, something felt like it had plummeted into his stomach. He pressed closer to Demyx's side. "... Did it hurt?" the small childish question left Ikurx. Even if the death happened long before his existence, the worry was there for his fellow Nobody, and simply because it was Demyx's Nobody. All he could hope for was that the past was quick and painless, as terrible as that thought was, it was the most merciful.

Demyx hummed a thoughtful sound in his throat. Even if the memory belonged to his Nobody and wasn't his own, he could still remember the moment so very clearly. The splash of water and the way he felt every bit of power just fade as the darkness twisted around him in coils, taking him away. "Not really." The words came out weak and his eyes narrowed. "Nobodies can't bleed, so, in turn they don't feel a lot of pain, but I still felt very defeated. Broken in a way I guess." He blinked his eyes and gave a weak laugh. "I mean he did, not me."

Ikurx made a small sound of realization. "Can't bleed... No. I- I guess I haven't." He gave a shaky breath as he remembered all those wires in his skin; not a drop of blood trickled from broken skin. Ikurx shuddered and clung tighter to Demyx as he buried his face in the Heartless' chest. The Heartless had Darkness, but the Nobodies? What did they have? The idea of oblivion, it was terrifying. "I'll bring him back. I'll put you back together, Demyx."

Demyx moved a hand up to scratch fingers up and down Ikurx's back. Despite the Nobody's lack of heart it wasn't hard to tell the conversation was causing distress between them both. "Thanks, I know you will." It was the most he could say to such words. He really was grateful that Ikurx would put him above anyone else and the most he could do was try his best to offer protection and keep the Nobody safe for such a gift. It felt like such a weak thing to give in return.

-

"Cloud Strife," Zax uttered the name a few volumes louder than speaking voice, "are you _eaves dropping_?" He smirked wide as he took a few steps nearer to peer at Cloud who he'd caught with his ear pressed to the thick gummi door to the spare room. "I was wondering where you'd slipped off to like some kind of ninja. I never expected you to be here of all places." He, Donald and Goofy all crossed their arms and tapped their foot as they gave Cloud a rather accusing look; of course Zax was grinning between them.

Cloud jumped and turned around in a quick second to stare at Zax with wide eyes. He hadn't expected to actually get caught trying to listen in on what was going on between the Heartless and Ikurx. Of course he hadn't had much luck anyway with how thick the door was. He thought that he would be safe, but it seemed as if Zax decided to bring along the entire crew to catch him red handed. The simple thought caused him to scowl a bit before he looked away. "I wasn't eaves dropping. I just thought I heard something, that's all. You can all stop staring at me like that."

"Oh?" Goofy and Donald spoke up in unison.

"Like what?" Zax finished with a grin. "Must have been several something's to have you pressed up against the door like that." He pointed.

Cloud shot his eyes back over to Zax and tried his best to glare harder, but it just wasn't cutting it. "It was nothing." He nearly gritted the words out between clenched teeth before he tried to calm down. "Just a noise."

Donald was quick to move forward and nearly knocked Cloud over in the process to press the side of his head up against the door. "What kind of noise? I don't hear anything. Should we go in and check?" He glanced up at Cloud before he turned his attention back to the door, trying his best to listen.

Cloud had caught his footing and turned his annoyed look down to Donald, feeling the need to yank the duck away from the door. He didn't and instead looked back at Zax, and frowned at him for causing such a sudden problem.

Zax gave an apologetic grin as he shrugged and was soon bowled over by Goofy as the dog soon rushed to the door to listen too, nearly squishing Donald against the door below.

"Lemee hear, lemee hear." Goofy lifted a limp ear to press his head to the door too to listen. "Hmmmm." He closed one eye as he strained to listen. "Um, nope. I don't hear nuth'n either."

Zax stumbled over to stand by Cloud. He gave a small nervous laugh when he only got a glare at his follies. "They wanted to meet Ikurx. No harm no foul."

Cloud turned his attention back on the two that were pushing and shoving at each other to get a better listen at what was on the other side of the door. Of course Cloud couldn't help still being a little curious himself. After everything they had heard in the small town, learning the truth about the teenager on the other side of the door and catching the quick glimpse of the name written on a dirty window before they left for the ship, there was no helping the need to know more. Cloud kept himself right beside Zax though, despite how hard he wanted to bust the door down. "He's been through enough. He doesn't need a bunch of animals crowding around him."

"Hey!" Goofy started.

"We're not animals!" Donald finished with a quack.

"Uhuh." Zax looked back to Cloud. "Well, as much as he needs to rest, I'm surprised he let the Heartless stay with him." He crossed his arms playing as innocent as he could over saying the 'H' word.

The innocent act wasn't fooling Cloud at all. "Look, I know it bugs you. It bugs me just as much, but Ikurx doesn't want any of us fighting about it." He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't understand why he's so buddy-buddy with that Heartless. It seems so counter productive at the moment."

Donald jumped away from the door at just the smallest mention of a Heartless. His eyes narrowed on both Cloud and Zax as he looked back and forth between the two men. "What are you two talking about? You never said anything about a Heartless before. What's this about?" He looked about ready to throw a fit if either of the two didn't answer him.

"Heartless?! Where?!" Goofy jumped from the door much like Donald but stumbled into the shorter duck and nearly toppled over him.

"Ikurx's new friend." Zax tried to speak as casually as he could, knowing he was baiting the animals. He wanted a reason just as much as everyone else to go peeking on the other side of the door. "He's in there." He pointed to the door they had all been trying to listen through. "With him," he added as innocently enough; fuel to the fire.

Donald pushed at Goofy to try and get some of his own space back since his clumsy partner had tripped into him. He had nearly fallen on his face, but managed to look back at Cloud and Zax as soon as he had Goofy away. "Is he crazy? Heartless can't be our friends! We have to go in there and do something! We have to get him away from that thing!" He turned and was about ready to run back to the door to try and knock it over, but was stopped when he was picked up by the back of his shirt by Cloud. "HEY!"

Cloud ignored Donald's loud protest and just kept the duck held out at arm's length. "As much as I want to go right in there and do something about that Heartless myself, we can't. Ikurx has explained to us that we're not to harm him and vice versa. We're stuck out here." He shook Donald a few times before he let go of the duck's shirt and didn't even pay attention when he fell.

Goofy barely managed to catch Donald, and nearly fell when he leaned much too forward. He staggered back with the duck in arms. "Well, I don't know 'bout you, but I know that a Heartless isn't ta be trusted." He and Donald shared a glance. "They aren't called 'Heartless' because they're friendly, y'know."

Zax tapped his fingers along his arm. "I think the dog and duck have a point there." He tapped the air with a finger. "Maybe we should have a peek," he added quickly.

Donald jumped out of Goofy's arms to stand on his feet. "Yeah, just one little peek. That way we'll know if everything is alright and if not we can go in there and get rid of the problem." He gave a quick nod at his own words.

Cloud looked back and forth at all three. It seemed they were all against the thought of just letting Ikurx and the Heartless have their peace, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't want his own small check in on the two. It would put his own mind at ease if he could just see if everything was okay. With a heavy sigh he nodded. "Just a peek."

Zax gave a wide grin. "The power of peer pressure." He was quick to head to the door, all three following his lead.

Soon the gummi door slid open just a crack so four eyes one on top of another could peer inside. Zax grunted uncomfortably as Donald had taken onto standing on his back since he was leaning over. Goofy pushed Donald down so he could get a look atop and Cloud tried his best to casually get a look through the crack over Goofy.

"Ow-!" Zax hissed. "Watch it."

"Shhh!"

"A-yuck, sorry."

"Can you see anything?"

"It's hard to get a look see when your webbed foot is blocking my view. What's going on?"

"I can't see much." Cloud pushed down on Goofy's head to try and get a better look no matter how uncomfortable it made the others underneath. He pushed his eye closer to the crack, but still couldn't see very well. "It's too dark in there to get a good look." He pushed down more on Goofy as he tried to crane his neck further.

Donald let out a rather annoyed sound under the two. "Hey! Quit moving so much!" He tried to get his balance back by steadying his hands on Zax's head since he had been pushed so far down.

Zax was forced on his knees and let out a low growl at having his hair pulled by the duck who was trying to keep steady on his back. "Stop pushing and pulling up there. I'm too low- I can't see a damn thing."

"I think they're sleep'n. I c'n see sum'n on the bed. There's two things a glow'n thar." Goofy tried to get a better look but ended up bonking his head on Cloud's chin. "Ow!"

Inside one of the sleeping preoccupants rubbed their eyes at all the noise outside the door. Whoever it was, they weren't very good at being quiet. Ikurx pushed himself up to sit, realizing he'd dozed off on the Heartless. Silently he pushed himself off the bed to stagger over to the door. Curiosity got the better of Ikurx and he pushed the button that opened the sliding door, unfortunately it removed the wall all four occupants had been leaning so intently on and they all fell forward with a crash on the poor Nobody.

Demyx was quick to sit up on the bed and stare at the sudden pile of bodies that were in front of the door. He had heard the noises, but chose to ignore them. It was when Ikurx got up and opened the door he was finally forced to pay attention to his surroundings. He didn't really expect to see what was in front of him at that moment. "Uhh..."

Cloud groaned a little before he finally pulled himself back up to at least sit on his knees. He shook his head to try and clear it from the sudden dizzy feeling of being tossed on the floor, but only made himself feel worse. His eyes roamed around the room and locked on Demyx, causing him to scowl before he looked back down.

Zax gave a grunt as he pushed himself up off the Nobody, affectively shoving Donald and Goofy back off him. He blinked down at the rather startled teenager. "Erm- uh, hi Ikurx."

The Nobody rubbed the back of his head with a flinch and was much appreciated when Zax helped him sit up. "Owww." Though, it didn't hurt as much as it sounded. "Mister Z-.. Oh! A duck." He couldn't help tapping Donald's bill. "In a hat."

Donald blinked at Ikurx's need to tap him and quickly shook his head. "H-Hey! Cut that out!" His earlier curiosity to meet Ikurx was put on hold and instead he just wanted the teenager to stop poking at him in such a way.

Demyx's curiosity rose at Ikurx's quick words spoken. He narrowed his eyes a bit to try and get a better look at what was going on and nearly froze up at what he saw. It wasn't just Cloud and Zax that had fallen on top of Ikurx. There were two others there as well and he knew exactly who they were. It only caused him to scoot back as far as he could on the bed while he tried to hide his face in his knees.

"Well you are a duck and you do wear a hat, Donald." Goofy scratched his head under his hat at the observation Ikurx had made.

"Oh!" Ikurx's attention turned to Goofy when he talked. He pointed to Goofy. "A dog in a hat." He blinked. "And vest."

"This is Donald." Zax gave a tug on the duck's bill. "And this is Goofy." With his other hand he tugged the dog's ear in gesture. He laughed when either of them swatted his hands away.

"They're the other crew members we were telling you about earlier, Ikurx." Cloud was quick to comment as soon as he got his aggravation under control. "They wanted to meet you as soon as we got done telling them about you. Not to mention we just wanted to check up on you since you were so out of it before." It was close enough to the truth and he shot a glance to the others that told them to keep their mouths shut otherwise.

"Pleased'ta meecha, Ikurx." Goofy tipped his hat to Ikurx with a wide smile.

"Oh. You already do know my name. Well, it's nice to meet you too, Mister Goofy. Mister Donald." Ikurx nodded to each animal. He couldn't help reaching out towards Donald again to poke his bill curiously once more.

Donald moved backwards before Ikurx could even touch him and slapped a hand over his face just in case. He kept careful eyes on Ikurx for a few seconds, making sure the teen wouldn't try reaching for him again. When he finally spoke up he still refused to move his hand which made his words muffled. "Yeah, sure. So, where's the Heartless?"

Cloud glared hard at Donald over the simple fact the duck had brought such a thing up. Ikurx didn't need to know that they had been trying to snoop around. It was bad enough the boy knew Zax and himself didn't like the Heartless. He didn't need to know that Demyx would be hated with the rest of the crew.

On the bed Demyx tried his best to scoot back even further at just the mention of what he was. As an extra precaution he even shut his eyes. He hoped that maybe he could blend in well enough with the shadows and they would be none the wiser. Maybe they would even forget about him completely.

Zax bonked Donald hard on the head for his big mouth. "You're so tactless, duck. How about being a little more hospitable to our guest, hm? It's not like we haven't been searching for him world after world after world." He gave Donald a look, much like Cloud's; he didn't want any trouble either. "We'd end up rolling out the red carpet for your Keyblade Master."

Ikurx looked from Zax to Donald and back again. He was quite confused, his mind still groggy from sleep. Something was tugging on his mind, something he couldn't place; something important was missing. But Ikurx couldn't figure what, since he hadn't met half of the people who fell on him. Though apparently the duck knew what a Heartless was. "... Key? Master?" Had he heard that title before?

Cloud was quick to open his mouth this time before Donald could. Besides, the other was too busy nursing his head to really answer Ikurx's curious question. "Yeah, Keyblade Master. He's the friend of theirs that we're also on the look out for. They got separated from him a while back and haven't seen him since."

"We fell in some kinda glowing pool. Then we woke up in some kinda flower pod and Cloud and Zax found us. In some kinda ruined church I think."

Ikurx's eyes widened. "Th-the church?" He lowered his head as he gave it all some thought. But nothing came; his mind was far too gauzy. He slowly shook his head. "I don't remember anyone called a 'Keyblade Master'... I don't think." He rubbed the side of his head. "So much has gone on; I can't tell my right from my left anymore."

Tense the Heartless friend he had; but Zax didn't say that comment out loud. "Can't say I've ever met the ever-so-fabled and legendary Keyblade Master myself. But apparently he's done a lot of good since I've been gone." He shrugged. "Or so I keep hearing from the way these two guys prattle on about him." He smirked as he gestured with a thumb towards Donald and Goofy.

Across the room on the bed Demyx had kept his silence, but the conversation was of course only making him feel more and more tense. He couldn't help peeking an eye open to watch the others converse about the one person he knew they were talking about. He only felt lucky that Sora hadn't been able to use the keyblade as a Heartless. If so then Ikurx would have been able to keep up with what was being said much easier.

"Well, it's true." Donald was quick to speak up after Zax's words. "Even before all of this happened he saved the worlds, with our help of course." Donald nodded as if it were the most obvious thing. "We were trying to do just that again before we were separated, but now we have to find him again and start back at square one."

"Oh." Ikurx nodded to the new information Donald gave like a perking student. "Strange how I've never heard of you all before." Donald and Goofy nearly fell over at that remark.

Goofy rubbed the back of his head; it was kind of strange. He blinked and then gave a closer look to Ikurx. He knew he was a forgetful dog, he was always reminded just how bad his memory truly was. "Say, Ikurx, I hope you don't mind me ask'n. But, have we ever met before?" He rubbed his chin as he gave it a hard think, really trying to place it.

Ikurx shook his head. "No.", his answer was simple and airy from fatigue. "I think I would remember a dog and duck in a hat."

Cloud looked back and forth between Ikurx and the two animals for a few seconds before he let out a small sigh. "Alright you two. I think you've spoken to him about this enough. He's supposed to be getting rest; you don't need to be bugging him about your own worries and other such things." He waved his hand in a dismissive way, moving the topic along.

Demyx eased up at those words since it seemed like they'd be dropping the subject finally. Still, he didn't move back to the edge of the bed and stayed right near the wall. He felt it safest until they were all out of the room.

"You heard the man." Zax nabbed both Goofy and Donald by the back of their shirts, lifting either to escort them out, despite the loud fuss they made. "You've fallen on him, I think that's enough."

Ikurx looked up at Cloud from the floor; he doubted he could stand up on his own power, but that didn't seem to spoil his new good mood. Meeting new people had distracted him from his own problems. "They seem nice." He smiled up at Cloud.

"Once you get past the annoyance, then yeah, they're nice." Cloud was quick to respond while he watched Zax take both Donald and Goofy out of the room. In an instant he turned his eyes back on Ikurx and kept his gaze on the Nobody for a few moments. The teen didn't seem all that troubled aside from just tired and it was that knowledge that had Cloud finally letting out a sigh as he stood up, but not without putting out a hand to help Ikurx up as well. "You're doing okay, right?" He couldn't help asking and automatically looked over to the bed, blinking when he noticed that the Heartless was no longer sitting at the edge.

Ikurx loosely held onto Cloud's shirt to keep upright on unsteady legs. "I'm better than I was, yes." He turned his head to follow Cloud's gaze. He noticed the someone missing too, and his gaze darted all around to find him. "Mister Demyx?" It was the peeking glow of eyes that gave the Heartless away. Had it not been for the glow, Ikurx wouldn't have noticed the dark huddled form in the corner. Ikurx's smile began to fall. "Are you okay?"

Demyx's head shot up at the question and he had to calm himself before he spoke up or he was certain his voice would shake. "Yeah, I'm fine." He crawled back over to the edge of the bed and tried his best to smile for Ikurx since he was in the light once again. Although, he couldn't help looking at Cloud for a quick second before he did.

Cloud caught the look and only narrowed his eyes in return. He still refused to be friendly to a Heartless, but would try to stay on equal ground for Ikurx's sake. He glanced back at Ikurx and steadied the teen before he finally stepped away. "Get some more rest. Zax and I will be at the front of the ship if you need anything." He ruffled Ikurx's hair before he finally turned to make his way out, letting the door slide closed after him.

Ikurx smiled, as minute as it was, he appreciated the ruffling of hair. It made him feel just like the 'kid' that both Cloud and Zax called him. Ikurx couldn't help running a hand through his hair and noticed just how matted his hair was, not to mention the dirty state his hand and wrist warmers were.

With a light hearted sigh Ikurx flopped down to sit on the bed beside Demyx looking over his hands backwards and forwards. "I'm really dirty, aren't I?"

Demyx actually let out a quiet laugh at such an obvious observation. "Yeah, you are." He leaned forward so he could better see Ikurx's face. "But, that's why your friends said they were going to stop off somewhere. To get you all cleaned up." He gave another small smile, but it was a bit more nervous then the last. "I'd help you out, but so far I've only made things worse."

"No, I wouldn't say that. I always like your help." Ikurx smiled more before he rested his hands on his own lap. "I don't know what I'll wear though. My clothes are as dirty as I am." He gave a soft amused sound. "I just kind of woke up in these. I don't have anything else." He tugged idly at the arm warmer.

Demyx reached over to pull at Ikurx's clothes while he spoke up. "I'm sure they wouldn't leave you with nothing. They'll probably clean up your clothes too." He pulled his hand back and rested it on the bed between them. "Don't worry, everything will be just fine."

Ikurx pulled off one arm warmer. He rubbed his wrist, seeing and feeling his own wrist for the very first time. "You're afraid of them, aren't you?" the words left the Nobody suddenly. "Not just Mister Cloud and Zax, but Mister Donald and Goofy too." He splayed his hand; the skin was so clean and pale on his wrist and forearm in comparison to the grim of his hand.

"W-What?" Demyx blinked and sat up straight. He didn't think that Ikurx would catch on to how he had been acting so easily. At most he hoped that the Nobody would just shrug it off as him not wanting to be around people that hated him. "What makes you say that?" He smiled weakly after the question.

"You were huddled in the corner," Ikurx stated simply as he pointed to where Demyx had been. "Hiding."

Demyx snapped his mouth shut at that and looked down at his lap. He had been caught and had to think of something to say. The truth would have been best, but still he tried to be as subtle as possible as horrible as it made him feel. "Those two, they are about as fond of Heartless as your two friends are. I didn't feel it very safe to start any confrontation."

Ikurx gave a small nod and didn't question it further. He pulled off his other arm warmer and set both beside him on the bed so he was free to rub both wrists, as weird as it felt. "Mi-mmm Demyx? Can I ask you a question? It's something I wanted to ask Mister Cloud... but, I want to stay here to keep you company right now."

Demyx found it a little odd that Ikurx would rather ask him a question then Cloud. He didn't know of anything that he could answer Ikurx, but felt rather grateful that the Nobody would want to stay with him instead. "Hmm? What is it?" He looked up to give the Nobody his full attention.

Ikurx paused in rubbing his wrist and shyly looked over to Demyx. "I-is it alright to lie to someone to make them happy?"

Demyx pressed his lips into a thin line at such a question and he seemed more then hesitant to answer. Soon enough he was looking away so he could flop back onto the bed, looking up at the ceiling again. "You shouldn't ask a Heartless such a thing, Ikurx. We're selfish beings. If we have to lie to get what we want then we will. Lying makes no difference to us, so, in that sense I'd tell you that it doesn't matter."

Demyx was silent for a few seconds after his own words before a thoughtful sound left him. "But, I don't want to give you the kind of advice that comes from a corrupted mind. In all truth you probably shouldn't do such a thing. Lying only hurts." He shut his eyes, blocking everything from sight.

Ikurx continued to watch Demyx on the bed. He made a small sound from his throat. "So... I should just ask Mister Cloud my question instead?" He looked down to the star charm hanging from the collar of his shirt and fiddled with it weakly. "Lying isn't just designated to Heartless. Humans, even Nobodies can lie. But if the lie is made to make someone happy... is it really all that bad?" He looked back to Demyx.

"I suppose it depends on the lie." The one heated kiss back on the beach flitted through Demyx's mind and it forced him to open his eyes back up, narrowing them on the ceiling. "Lies always seem to lead to something bad." The quiet words left him before he turned his attention on Ikurx. He gave a simple shrug, but tried to smile weakly before he continued. "Even if you're trying to make someone happy it might end up back firing in the end. You have to be careful, Ikurx."

The Nobody found himself looking back to his hand. He busied himself with attempting to scratch the grime off his hand. "Since you're a Heartless, I guess you've lied before." He looked from his hands to Demyx with a tentative look. "Have they always been for selfish reasons? Have you ever lied for good reasons? To make someone happy?"

Demyx stared at Ikurx for a few seconds with no real expression on his own face. It was the first time he had ever really just looked at Ikurx with no real hint of a smile or even a nervous twitch. All he could do was watch the Nobody until he finally glanced back up at the ceiling of the ship. "In a way, but it certainly wasn't for any selfish reason."

Ikurx felt a small part of himself shrink inside at such a solemn answer. It almost felt as devoid as the insides of a Nobody. It certainly sent strange fear through Ikurx. It had him hesitant to continue the conversation. "... Can I ask what it was?" the question left Ikurx in a small voice.

Demyx continued to stare at the ceiling for a few seconds after the question. He thought back to all the little answers he had given Ikurx so far about his own Nobody and what had happened to himself. About why he had been hiding so well earlier. It all felt like lying, but in reality it wasn't. Just leaving out a few details to keep the Nobody safe. At least that's what he told himself.

In a quick movement Demyx sat back up and turned his head to smile as wide as he could at Ikurx. It was as if nothing had been troubling him just moments ago. He lifted a hand up and waved a finger back and forth before he poked it at the Nobody's head. "Nope, sorry, can't tell ya."

Ikurx chirped at the poke. He rubbed the spot; surprised Demyx had a sudden change of attitude. "No? How come?" He blinked a few times but a smile slowly made its way on his lips; though small and unsure.

"Because..." Demyx started out slowly while he dropped his hand. He leaned closer to Ikurx and soon their noses were almost touching. The smile never left his face and for once the nervous shaking didn't accompany his actions. "It's a secret." After the playful words left him he pressed a quick kiss to Ikurx's lips, finding it enjoyable and a nice way to get the Nobody's mind off what was being talked about.

Ikurx opened his mouth and just as quickly he closed it. The kiss successfully robbed him of any words or arguments that was going to leave his mouth. It had him pouting just a little since he was at such a loss. He leaned his head up so they were actually nose to nose. "That's unfair." Ikurx leaned forward a little more. "You know everything about me, probably more than I do. But I know so very little about you." He tilted his head nearer still and finally he smiled. "I think there's some sort of unspoken rule that says you shouldn't be kissing someone you don't know." He gave the smallest of playful laughs.

Demyx smiled a little more at hearing Ikurx laugh once again. He rubbed their noses together before he pulled back from the small space that was left between them. "Well, you've been asking me questions. So, in a way you've been learning some things about me." He hopped up off the bed to stand on his feet and turned around to look down at Ikurx as quick as he could. "Of course, I won't stop you if you want to ask anything else. I'm an open book. If it helps you understand some things better, then I don't mind."

"Hmn." Ikurx looked up at Demyx. He knitted his fingers together on his lap like an eager student, to listen and learn. "Well. Now I'm not sure what to ask now." He swayed from side to side as he gave it some thought. "Oh! I know, tell me about your Somebody. What were you like? Was he much different than who you are now? Did you have a job? A family? Did you love anyone? Are you going to try to go back to your old life now?" He paused, now wondering where he'd then fit in the equation if Demyx did try to seek out his old life. Ikurx lowered his head so he could peek up through his pale bangs. But it wasn't that thought he questioned. "Will you continue to lie?"

It was the last question Ikurx asked which grabbed Demyx's attention first. His smile turned sad and the most he could do was shrug a shoulder. "I'm not really all that sure. I guess it all depends on what happens." He left it at that before he moved on to Ikurx's other questions. "My Somebody, huh? Well, to tell the truth I don't remember very much. It's what happens when you get thrown in the separation between Nobody and Heartless." He tapped his foot against the floor in a steady rhythm while he looked back up at the ceiling. "I vaguely remember people close to me, possibly a family. I'm not real sure if I had a job, though. I don't even think I loved anyone to be quite honest."

Demyx turned his eyes back on Ikurx after his last few words and gave a weak laugh. "I know that's probably not very much. You probably would have liked to know a lot more, but, my Nobody knew way more then I do. The memories have slipped by me. They've probably done the same to most if not all of us. Zexion is probably the luckiest of us all right now in that department." He shook his head. "I do know that once I'm whole I'm just going to take things as they come and you're coming with me, remember that. We made plans." He reached out and poked Ikurx once again.

The Nobody went cross eyed to see the finger poking him. He smiled a little more. "A band. I didn't forget." He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Will you remember more when you're a Somebody?" He rested his hands down on the bed to get more comfortable. "Wait, if your Nobody remembers more- how come I don't remember anything about who I was- er- am... my other half; R-Riku." He raised his hands to look at the palms, then the backs. "I remember fragments sometimes. More when I'm around people Riku knows." His hands shyly went to his mouth. "Sora mostly..."

Demyx watched the Nobody for a few seconds before he took the few steps back over to the bed to sit down. "Well, Riku is pretty close to Sora. It would make sense that you remember things while you're around him." His eyes trailed down to stare at the floor beneath their feet. "To tell the honest truth, it's a bit difficult to explain. Roxas never remembered anything while he was a Nobody. At least not while he was in the Organization. He was a lot like you in that sense and the rest of us kept him in the dark. Even Axel. We had to. It was an order."

Demyx moved one of his hands over to place it on top of Ikurx's own while he continued to speak. It was one of the few ways he could think of to help comfort the other during the conversation. "It all depends on how a Nobody is born I suppose. Zexion forced Riku to let go completely and in the worst of ways. You were trapped for a long time, Ikurx. Riku is still able to live without you, so, he still retains every single memory of his life despite how he acts now. I'm not saying the way he is now is good in any way, but, the fact that he's still able to walk amongst the worlds without you...it makes sense as to why you were allowed very few of his memories."

Ikurx nodded, looking to Demyx's hand on his. He took the Heartless' hand and gently held it between both of his like he had before. "Trapped," the one word echoed from the Nobody. "Vexen said that it's in my nature to want to use my gift, despite who it is I'm helping make whole again. He said I owed it to Zexion for my existence. I believed him. It seemed fair." He looked to Demyx, his brows furrowing slightly. "Does that make me a bad person?"

"Not at all." Demyx shook his head after his own words. His eyes had strayed to their hands and he kept his attention on them. "You can't help wanting to do what you were born to. It would be like telling me not to ever control water again or telling Axel never to control fire." He gave a weak laugh. "You just can't prevent something like that. We're all meant to use each gift or bit of power given to us. Whether for good or bad, it doesn't really matter. You can't hold yourself back."

"Like being a Heartless... lying, hurting people, hating people, corrupting. You can't help it... Axel can't help it...and Riku can't help it." Ikurx held their hands to his chest as his gaze went far off for a moment. "It's as natural as breathing air, and for some, as normal as a heart beat. But Nobodies don't have a driving force like Heartless do, do I? We walk along the rim of worlds... I can see why your group said 'we shouldn't exist'. A purposeless existence seems kind of pointless, doesn't it?" He tilted his head one way. "Not good." Then the other way. "Not evil. Not dark or light. We can't hate or love. ... But, I don't think that's a good enough reason to say Nobodies shouldn't exist. With black and white, there are always shades of grey." He smiled a little at the Heartless. "Things aren't always 'yes' or 'no'; sometimes there's a 'maybe'."

Demyx looked up to meet Ikurx's eyes and after a few seconds he smiled a little in return. "A maybe?" He spoke the echoed words quietly before his smile grew a bit. "Yeah, I suppose so." He let out a small laugh and reached his free hand over to wrap it around Ikurx, pulling the Nobody closer. "See? Things aren't always as bad as they seem. You'll be okay and in some way so will everything else."

Ikurx leaned against the Heartless, resting his hands on the other's shoulder so he could in turn rest his head on his hands. He gave a soft smile up at the Heartless. "Maybe, Demyx."


	47. Chapter 47

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 47

The group of four that were on the lookout for one certain Nobody had taken to far more dangerous areas, far away from the peaceful resting place they had long ago left. With keyblades drawn between the three of them, Sora, Riku and Mickey had been able to keep them all well protected. Riku was the most helpful using his control over the darkness that surrounded any harmful area they decided to wander into. Only until they were sure it was safe would they actually give a signal to Naminé for the girl to finally walk along with them once more.

It was during a break in fighting and searching that all four took rest inside a small abandoned shack they had found during their trek. No one dared to let go of their blades. Sora kept Oblivion held tightly in his hand as he rested against one of the walls inside the building. There was no real furniture to be found aside from an old dirty chair and they had all agreed to allow Naminé to rest on it. Even Mickey was on his guard despite being settled down comfortably on the floor. His eyes still glanced at the door every now and then as if any of the rouge Heartless would jump out at any moment.

Naminé surveyed her protectors, each with tension etching lines into their faces. It caused her brows to furrow, wrinkling a few lines into her forehead. Her gaze followed along the dusty floor onto some pieces of ribbed up cardboard. She stepped from the chair to take as quiet steps as she could to pluck one piece from the floor. Next she walked to what pathetic shamble was left of the meager burnt out fireplace. It was there that Naminé next picked up a piece of charcoal. Once she had either in hand she took her place back on the chair.

Naminé tucked her legs under her and settled the cardboard on her lap. She glanced once again at Sora, Mickey and Riku before she looked back to the cardboard. Running her fingers over the dry charcoal she then began to draw on the piece, making small but assured strokes.

It hadn't been Naminé's movements that grabbed Sora's attention, but the scritching sounds that soon had him opening his eyes to turn his head in the direction of the girl after a long while. He cocked his head to the side to watch Naminé so involved in the small piece of cardboard she had taken for herself to draw onto. He couldn't help moving away from the wall just a little bit to try and get a closer look at what she was doing while still holding Oblivion tightly.

A sudden touch on Sora's shoulder jostled him from his intention, but it was only Riku's hand. Riku gave an apologetic glance for startling Sora so and he squeezed his shoulder. He tugged Sora nearer so he didn't need to speak much louder than a whisper. "... We're not getting anywhere."

Sora glanced back at both Naminé and Mickey after such words before he turned his attention right back on Riku. His own voice stayed just as quiet and calm, not wanting to alert the other two to their conversation. "We're doing fine, Riku. Besides, at least we can be rid of some of the Heartless that have settled down on these worlds while looking around at the same time." He gave a brief smile. "We'll find him soon."

Riku didn't seem won over by Sora's optimistic words, and it was easy to see by the long solemn look he gave him; his eyes were far more serious than his stoic expression kept. There was a subtle squeak of glove as his hand tightened around the handle of Way to Dusk. The sound caught the attention of Naminé, and Riku waited until her gaze fell back to her drawing before he looked to Sora again. He gave the smallest of movements, a turn of his head right and then back. A secret shake of head to Sora; there wasn't anything to gain by being there.

Sora's mood took a turn at Riku's expression and small shake of his head. He glanced around the room once again at the other two, watching as Naminé tried to make use of their relaxing time, and how Mickey kept guard as best he could. The small scene would have seemed a little peaceful if it wasn't for the circumstances as to why they were even hiding away.

With a heavy sigh, Sora turned his eyes back on Riku and lifted his free hand to grab the one on his shoulder. He brought it down to hold both their hands between them and was soon leading Riku away so they could have more privacy. He didn't enjoy having to whisper their disagreements around the others and would sooner just stand guard outside the small shack and talk with Riku at the same time, then have to stay inside dealing with such a thing.

The air was crisper outside the shack, much colder without the walls to protect oneself from the wind. Their warm breath came out in misted tendrils from lips. This world was less kind than the others had been with their warm suns and green forests. This world was unwelcoming, dark, almost at eternal dusk, with shadows draped across each surface for any possible entrance for Heartless. Their solace wouldn't last for long.

Riku let out a silent sigh, his breath a fine warm mist before it disappeared into the icy air. He squeezed Sora's hand before he let go. He continued speaking, still a whisper, but now he was free to talk without worrying the others. "You know as well as I do that this search could go on for the rest of our lives, especially with how we are now."

Sora used his sudden free hand to rub at his other arm. Despite being in warm clothing he could still feel the chill around them and it wasn't just on the outside. His eyes traveled from Oblivion to land on Riku and narrowed in a worried way at such words spoken. "That's not true. It all depends on what happens. We can't just give up hope, Riku. We have to find him before all the Organization do, and hope that the one reason we don't find him is because he was forced to use that power of his."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Riku glanced back at the shut door before his gaze turned to beyond where they stood. "We're too slow. We have to clear out the Heartless just so everything is alright for Naminé to follow. It's taking much longer to search than it normally would." He exhaled, letting out his aggravation so he could continue with a clear head. "I know Naminé is very important to us. And I wouldn't want to trust her safety in anyone's hands but ours, but... it just doesn't feel like enough." He impatiently twirled Way to Dusk in his hand. "We could be going about this so much better."

Sora cocked his head to the side as he listened intently. His gaze moved to Riku's own keyblade and watched as it was twirled around. In a way he knew that it only meant Riku felt a little antsy just standing around. "Well, how so?" He quickly moved his gaze back up to his friend's face while he continued to rub warmth into his arm as best he could. "This is the best we can do right now, don't you think? There's not much else..." He trailed off a bit.

Riku watched Sora from the corner of his eye. "There is..." He looked ahead once again; did it now just get colder? "But you're not going to like it."

Sora's hand stilled at such a response and dropped back down to his side. "What?" It wasn't much of a question, but he couldn't think of anything else to say for a second. The way Riku was acting had him a little on edge as to what might happen. "Riku, what is it? If it can help us then tell me." He was quick to follow up, but the words didn't sound very strong at all.

"C'mere," Riku sighed impatiently as he reached out to take Sora's arm. Even if Sora had stopped rubbing his arms to get warm, Riku needed an outlet to relieve his aggravations for the moment. So he busied himself by setting Sora close so he could warm him with his own body head, rubbing his arm with his free hand. He rubbed Sora's back next, keeping an eye on the surrounding area while he did so. "We can't cover much ground as we are..." He continued more quietly, "If we split, we could get more done. Not just in finding one Nobody, but... the second one missing as well."

Sora had to admit that the added warmth had been nice and very comforting. He had been put a little at ease by it; that is until Riku had started to speak once again. It was then that Sora instantly tensed up over the topic that had been brought up and he was quick to shake his head. "No, Riku, we decided that we wouldn't pursue Roxas right now. We don't need to worry about that right now." He tried his best to plead with the other teen, hoping it would work.

"Taking Roxas on as we are would be too much anyway. It would be too much at once, too over whelming. He wouldn't listen with so many people pressuring him. If it was just one of us, talking to him, maybe we could get through to him." Riku made sure he held Sora's gaze with his own. "You said so yourself, Sora, Roxas needs to know he's needed. Not just as your other half, but he needs to know that I need him too." It was Sora's cheek that he warmed with his hand, softly rubbing the weather coloured skin. "You don't need me to find Ikurx. I'm sure I'm the last person he wants to be seeing right now. He'll listen to you. He is me after all."

"B-But..." Sora stuttered softly for a second after the words spoken, especially with Riku's hand touching his cheek. "Riku, I need you too!" He shouted the words instead of the quiet whisper they had tried to keep between them despite being outside. He looked up at what was his dear friend, and more, with wide eyes and wanted nothing more but to beg and plead with Riku to stay right where he was. "We were going to stay together this time, remember? I don't want us to split up at all." The words were so selfish and sounded so much like the small moment back on their island as soon as the hidden letter had been found.

Riku flinched. It was so hard to watch Sora plead for his own selfish needs when it was something Riku was so unused to seeing. He'd seen Sora plead for silly things like for Riku to sing with him in public or for him to buy him something sweet to eat when he'd already spent all his money on those stupid toy crane machines trying to get some sickeningly sweet toy plush out of it; this was nothing like that. This was a different kind of selfishness that teared in Sora's eyes, the worry of life or death that was aging them both inside beyond their youthful appearance on the outside.

Riku kept his silence longer than he should, just watching Sora and Sora watching him. He wished that he couldn't feel Sora's heart quickening in his chest at the rising panic; but the Darkness just wouldn't have it. "Sometimes, Sora, you have to do what you don't want to." His father's stern words felt like a tired echo coming from his own mouth.

Sora's gaze only widened at such a statement. In a quick second he tore himself away from Riku to step back only a few feet, just enough to clear his head so he wouldn't break down and cry, certain that he would if given the chance. "You don't have to at all!" The words were shouted once again and along with them Oblivion was swung at his side in a wide angry arc. Right after the swing the keyblade vanished from Sora's hold. He just didn't care enough to keep it. His mind was too focused on so much else. "You don't always have to do everything by yourself, Riku! You have me! I can help too!" He stared back at his friend with clenched fists at his sides.

Though unlike Sora, Riku kept calm, near lifelessly calm. He didn't have the energy to retaliate with usual anger, it felt as if the world around them had seeped that fight out of him. "I know you can. And you always do. I've never doubted you... But it's just better this way; if you find Ikurx and I find Roxas." He felt as if he were arguing with a small child, logic never worked against impulse. Riku slowly shook his head, tightening his hold on Way to Dusk. "... You know just as much as I do that this will get things done sooner. You can't bend the rules just because you want to be selfish."

A small noise left Sora at those last words. In a way they made him feel so horrible for just wanting to keep Riku near him. He kept his gaze on the other teen across from him before he just couldn't handle it anymore and quickly looked away, feeling tears trying their best to sting at his eyes. His gaze moved across the ground beneath his feet, anything that would keep his attention off of Riku.

"Sora," the boy's name left Riku in a gentle breath, "please... Try to understand." He took a small step towards Sora, though his foot fall felt loud and intruding. So he stopped, doubting Sora wanted him near. "... You make it sound like I'm purposely trying to hurt you." It was then he saw the tears slide down Sora's cheeks, and it felt as if all the worlds in creation were against them both. Riku's throat tightened. "Damnit Sora- don't cry."

Sora flinched and was quick to move both his hands up to wipe away his tears. The action only succeeded in smearing the wet streaks across his cheeks worse, but he just didn't care. He kept silent for as long as he could after Riku's words, but knew he had to speak up at some point even though his voice was a broken mess. "I don't want you to go, Riku. I don't care if it's selfish. Aren't I allowed to be selfish sometimes?"

Riku felt what was left of his heart sink low in his chest. This time he didn't hesitate as he bridged the gap between them with just a few steps. He was quick to embrace Sora, even if the other teen didn't want it. "You have the worst timings to be selfish," he weakly chastised with light affection. Riku didn't know how his whispered voice suddenly became so hoarse, perhaps the exhaustion.

Sora clung instantly with both hands. He knew that in the end he would lose this fight. It was that knowledge that had him burying himself so close to Riku as best he could. "I can't help it. I'm afraid to be apart from you." His hands tightened their hold as he continued to speak. "You're probably right. We probably could do so much better split up, but, I just don't want to be away from you after all that's happened. Can you really blame me, Riku? We've been through too much already."

Riku rested his head against Sora, his lips near the other's ear. "Be brave. Be brave for me. You've saved us all once before without me. You don't need me. Not that much." His hold around Sora's waist tightened, keeping him as near possible. "You're the Keyblade Master first, Sora, above everything else. You're not just my light, but everyone's." He pressed his lips nearer to Sora's ear, his voice falling to a softer whisper in a sincere tone that he'd only let Sora hear. "So shine brightly little star."

The words had a choked sound leaving Sora. He blinked away even more tears as what was said touched Sora more then anything else that had ever been said between them. He turned his head so he could look at Riku with watery eyes and in an instant he was leaning up a bit to press their lips together in a rather heated kiss. So much different from anything playful or passionate that had ever happened so far between them. Sora was letting go, but he wasn't letting go for anyone but Riku. He would be brave for Riku. Always for Riku.

Lips were quick to crush back against Sora's with the same finale energy laced with desperation that this would probably be their last kiss. Riku grabbed a fist full of Sora's shirt and scarf, though his other hand still grasped tightly to Way to Dusk his arm kept Sora as physically near as possible.

Riku's heart hurt with just how much he felt for Sora. He was proud to be Sora's reasons and at the same time he knew that Sora would do now what he was always destined to do; make everything right again for every living being. Riku would try his very damnedest to do the same, but for Sora and Sora alone. He was never meant to be the hero of the story, he'd come to accept that. Sora was a small in comparison to the unfathomable count of people of all those worlds, but it was Sora who was saving them. Things were meant to be this way, they weren't just two kids playing with wooden swords on the beach pretending to save the world anymore; this was real, realer than the other two times it needed to be done.

Sora didn't shy away like he usually would when Riku pulled him closer. He went along with instinct and pressed back instantly. His once clinging hands rose up along Riku's body to rest on the taller boy's shoulders, gripping as tight as they could. Even with the darkness that had taken hold of his spirit and his heart, Riku was still Riku in Sora's eyes. He would always be that friend that had protected him from scary monsters under the bed when they were young and the loving person that held him close near the beach when all they wanted in life was each other. For all of that he could easily say he trusted Riku's judgment above all else no matter how much he kicked, screamed and cried against it. And as the kiss finally broke, Sora looked up at Riku with hazy eyes, but finally managed a tiny smile for the person he loved.

"You dope," Riku's affectionate name calling cracked just a little, "you make it seem like we'll never see each other again. And you know as well as I do that isn't true." He hid a small sniff with a loud inhale. "So don't be so dramatic, Sora." He managed to smile back, one of those small affectionate smiles he only held for his Sora. "It'll all be okay like it always is." Way to Dusk disappeared so he could lift a hand to wipe away the smeared tears under Sora's eyes, one after the other with a soft practiced motion. "Like you always make it to be." Riku smiled a little more. "It's never goodbye, Sora. No matter how long, it's never goodbye."

Sora dropped a hand to hold on tightly to the one Riku had risen to rid him of his tears. "I know." He spoke the words quietly while he nuzzled his cheek against their hands. "We'll see each other again and when we do it only means that things will start to get better. We'll be okay." He gave his own wet sniff, but didn't try to hide it like Riku. He was more prone to showing his emotions then hiding them away. The hand he held was lowered so that Riku's fingers splayed out against his chest over their joined hearts. His own free hand fell down from a shoulder to fall on Riku's chest, pressing where the other half lay. He watched his fingers curl for a few seconds before he finally looked back up at the taller boy. Despite his own words he couldn't help the next thing that left his lips. "Just... be careful, okay?"

Riku gave a small obedient nod. "You too." He tapped his pointer finger against Sora's chest. "Take good care of that." He gave a soft laugh. "And it'll take good care of you, while I'm gone." His other hand came to rest on Sora's on what was left of his heart. "And... take good care of her. Naminé. And Mickey."

"Riku." The girl in the question, her voice spoke up behind them giving them both a start. Neither had heard the door open, and soon it closed as she stepped out. "You always try so hard on your own. I knew you'd go off again." Naminé walked over to stand beside either of the boys, looking at one then the other. "Don't look so surprised. I've known you boys almost as long as you two have known each other." She placed a hand over her mouth. "Oops. I mean, Kairi," she quietly corrected herself.

Sora smiled weakly after the shock wore off at having been caught talking about such a thing with Riku. He dropped his hands, but still kept hold of one of Riku's as he turned to face Naminé, giving the girl his attention. There was no sense in trying to cover anything up, so, for once Sora didn't stumble with his words like he normally would have. "It's okay, Naminé. You don't have to correct yourself. We know what you mean." He studied the girl for a second, trying to twist the conversation away from where it had been. "It's not safe out here you know."

Naminé gave Sora a small smile, pleased for reasons she was just about to share. "I know. I won't be out here long. I just drew Riku a picture, and I wanted to give it to him." She held up the cardboard she'd been drawing on previously, though she kept the drawing facing her and hidden.

"For... me?" Riku blinked, taken aback. He wasn't expecting anything for himself from Kairi's Nobody at all.

Naminé nodded. "Encouragement, maybe it might help you." She then held up a hand in front of Sora to halt the boy from his curious peekings. "Sorry, Sora, it's Riku's eyes only." She gave an apologetic smile before she then handed the picture to Riku and lowered her hands to fold them in front of her.

"Th-thanks." Riku took the picture unsurely, giving it a glance.

Sora looked back and forth between Naminé and Riku, blinking his eyes at the sudden secrecy. "H-Hey!" He couldn't help stuttering the word out before he tired his best to look over Riku's shoulder. It was a bit difficult, considering their height difference. He was forced to stand on tip toes to try and get a better look at the picture. "Oh come on, let me see! Please, Riku?"

"Nope." Riku was quick to tuck the drawing into his coat. "Sorry. You heard her, my eyes only." He gave the shorter boy a playful smirk. "Thanks, Naminé. It was actually very helpful." He nodded to the girl.

Naminé smiled at Riku and then looked to Sora who was pouting profusely. "If you want, I can draw a picture just for you."

"Fine, then I can hide it from Riku and he won't be able to ever see it." Sora looked away from Naminé to look back at his best friend. In a brief moment of immaturity he stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at the older boy. For that one second it seemed as if the moment of desperation had never happened between them.

Riku huffed in his usual stand offish way at Sora's raspberry. "Oh real mature." He reached over and flicked Sora in the head; such mature retaliation. He smirked while another part of him truly felt light; it was almost like old times.

Sora whined at the flick and rubbed at the sudden sore spot. He managed to laugh for a few seconds before it slowly died away and he was glancing back and forth between Riku and Naminé. The girl knew about everything already, so; there was no sense in beating around the bush. It was that thought only which allowed Sora to turn his attention completely on Riku. He tried his best to smile, but it was weak at best and he had a hard time meeting Riku's eyes. "When do you plan to go?"

Riku's smile went a little strained before it fell away with a sigh. "Now." His gloved hand tightened around Sora's, fingers twining with his as best and subtly as he could. "Well, no, not now. I can't leave you all high and dry on this world. But, after you seal it from the Heartless. I'll feel better knowing I've left you all safe." Maybe it was a poor excuse to stay longer, but they had seen just how terrible the world was. He gave a small tug on Sora's hand. "I believe I'm beating you by thirty five in Heartless defeats now, so far, Sora."

The last few words helped to distract Sora from the fact that Riku would actually be leaving so very soon. He took the bait and shook his head, calling back Oblivion to his free hand in a rush of light with a playful grin on his face. "That's just pure luck. I'll catch up. You just wait and see, Riku."

Way to Dusk was summoned back into Riku's hand and he gave it a twirl in his hand as he grinned right back at Sora. "Pff. No way, I've got you beat. _You_ just wait and see, Sora." He firmly tapped his keyblade against Sora's. "Either way, we've got everything covered."

-

Axel knew this day would come. A day, unlike any other day with the ins and outs of Twilight Town. The only vast difference between that day versus another was that it was Friday; but that in turn made no difference.  
It was still a 'school day'. The only difference was that now Roxas was talking with Hayner and boy could those two talk. Had they not been obviously boys, Axel would have sure thought them to be prattling girls, eagerly chattering away and catching up.  
Tomorrow was still going to be Saturday, the weekend. Another day unlike any other. The only difference now was Roxas and Hayner were going to take the opportunity to finally get into some real fun with the last of their two friends; mending old friendships. Axel could vaguely recall Roxas and Hayner going on about taking a trip to the beach during the weekend; pretzels, watermelon, and something about Roxas returning a debt and buying all the sea salt ice cream Hayner wanted.

It was like any other day, or it would have been. Had it not been for a certain way the pixilated wind blew and the way the hi-rez sun shone. There was something in the air that day that told Axel to act, or he wouldn't have the chance.

So like today, like any other after school day, Axel walked hand in hand with Roxas, his back thrown over his other shoulder. Just him and Roxas walking home like any other normal late after noon.

And just as casually a few words left Axel as he watched the colours change in the sky. "I'm leaving."

The song that Roxas had been humming quietly to drown out the silence died in the back of his throat with those two words. His bag slipped down his arm a few inches as he lost his hold on it a bit, turning all of his attention on Axel and even faltering in his steps because of such a thing. He didn't think he heard right and it caused him to narrow his eyes. "What did you say?" He nearly whispered the question too afraid of the effect it would have if asked any louder.

Axel's steps slowed as well. When he looked at Roxas' worry torn face his own was rather calm, perhaps the calmest he'd been in quite a while. "I said 'I'm leaving'." His voice sounded a little too loud even to himself with how quiet it was around and Roxas' previously whispered voice.

"Leaving..." Roxas echoed the word just as quietly as he had asked the question seconds before. He stopped walking which in turn forced Axel to stop as well as his hand tugged on the Heartless' own with the action. "What...I mean...why?" His hand tightened a little as if the other would suddenly disappear right at that moment. "Why are you bringing this up again?"

Axel straightened, turning so he could fully face Roxas. He was just as quick to relax again, his expression the furthest from sarcastic. "Do you want the long or the short version?" It wasn't anything new, Roxas knew as well as he why; it was just a matter of putting it off until when. But that didn't stop Axel from squeezing back on Roxas' hand.

Roxas was quick to narrow his eyes again. It was easy to tell he didn't like where the conversation was heading, or where it had began for that matter. He shifted his bag on his shoulder so it rested more comfortably again before he even dared to address such words. "Whichever version is easier for me to snap back at you and try to keep you here longer."

Axel couldn't help but smile at that. It was probably a bad idea and it would more than likely only make Roxas that much more aggravated. Still Axel leaned down to grin at Roxas' upset expression. "Because I love you." His free hand brushed a thumb across Roxas' cheek, skirting away the blonde hair which only fell back into place. "And I dream of growing old and withered with a grumpy brat like you," he quietly spoke.

Roxas huffed in annoyance, but he in truth he was touched by such a thing. "We've been over this, Axel." He still couldn't help responding back in a low voice despite the Heartless' words. "I'm only sixteen. You don't even have to worry about such a thing just yet. There's no reason for you to leave. Don't act so impulsive." He finally glanced away to look at anything around him but the person in front of him.

"Roxas." The name left Axel in the softest of unneeded breaths. "Please look at me." His hand moved to gently take Roxas' chin to turn his head back around. "How old do I look?" He slowly stroked the boy's chin with his thumb. "Now think, how old do you think I really am?" His grin went a little sad.

Roxas stared straight into Axel's own eyes for a few brief moments as he thought over the questions asked of him. The damning thoughts about age that they never had to worry about before tried to creep up on them now of all times all because of how different the two of them were. Roxas had still refused to let it really bother him until right that second and even still all he could do was try and shrug it off with his usual nonchalance as he looked down at the ground between them. "This is stupid..." They were stubborn words, but he didn't want to give Axel any real opening to just walk away yet.

"If wanting to grow old and die with the one I love is stupid, then yeah, I guess I am stupid." Axel shrugged off the insult as if it were nothing. "But I've been called worse." He rested his forehead down atop Roxas' head, nuzzling the bridge of his nose against the other's forehead. Even if Heartless didn't need to breath Axel inhaled through his nose. Roxas smelled so wonderful, Axel wanted to take it all in; there was always that chance it would never be the same. "It's selfish, wanting to let the outside of me age to match the inside of me, I know." His smirk was soft. "But being selfish is what we Heartless do. I can't help but want to have everything. You, this world, a life."

Roxas could feel his entire body slump after each word said and once again his bag tried to fall from his shoulder. He made no move to shift its weight again. His mind was in too much of a mess to care. "N-No, you're not selfish." He finally spoke up, keeping just as quiet as before since Axel was so close. "None of that is selfish." He lifted his eyes from the ground after those words to glance at the Heartless again. "It's just... have you thought about this?" Despite each touching word said, he couldn't help but continue on. Desperate to make Axel see some kind of sense. "Have you thought about how dangerous it's going to be? The others, they're still out there, Axel."

A kiss was pressed to Roxas' hairline. Axel tried to smile against Roxas' head, wanting him to feel it rather than see it; a tactile reminder that he wasn't gone just yet. "We've faced far worse: we've faced each other." With a soft chuckle his lips drew down to give a lingering kiss to Roxas' brow. "You'll be safe here, don't worry. With Hayner and your friends, you'll be too busy having fun with them to know I'm gone. That's all I need to know. That's all I need to think about." Axel rested his forehead against Roxas'.

Roxas barely shut his eyes and kept still for a few seconds. He just needed to feel that Axel was still there, that he hadn't left yet despite each simple kiss given. It just didn't seem like enough. His free hand reached up in an instant to grab hold of the tie on Axel's own uniform, holding it loosely between fingers. "That's not true." He shook his head and it caused him to nuzzle a bit against Axel. "You'll never leave my mind."

The smile on Axel's lips perked at that. "Good," he softly murmured. "Never stop thinking about me. Never stop believing in me." His fingers brushed along Roxas' cheek again, staying there to tilt his chin up so he could place the slightest of kisses against the boy's lips. "Be here, waiting for me, impatiently," Axel murmured against Roxas' lips, never wanting to part them, "with that angry scowl. And give that stubborn pout you get when you don't want to admit just how much you missed me." He kissed Roxas again with a little rougher affection. "And love me." Axel couldn't keep his grin hidden. "But you won't be able to stop telling me, and just how much of an idiot I am."

Roxas gave a quick lick to his own lips after the rough kiss he had been given. The quiet laugh that left him after Axel's words was shaky at best, but he didn't seem to care very much. As much as he had denied every word the Heartless just said in the past, at that moment he didn't even try it and actually allowed such words. "Well, you are." He easily teased, but the affection was obvious in his voice. He squeezed their hands once more and with the one action he smiled sadly as he kept his gaze locked on Axel's own. "Which means I still think it's too dangerous."

"Hmmm.", Axel chuckled very quietly in his throat. "I was hoping for something more heart felt like 'I love you, Axel. Good luck'. But I suppose that's good enough. 'You're an idiot' is Roxas talk for 'you're wonderful and I adore you with every fiber of my being'. And 'you're a stalker' is Roxas for 'you're incredibly hot and I want your babies'." Axel gave a short laugh knowing it was a horrible time to get a rise out of Roxas; so of course it was the best time.

Instead of the usual anger or narrowed eyes that such words would get out of Roxas, this time his reaction was completely different as another small laugh escaped him. It could probably be blamed on the moment that had brought the words on. Roxas just wasn't in the mood to keep up his usual stoic attitude for the time being. "I love you." He echoed the words that had been translated. His hand that still held the tie moved up to run fingers across Axel's face. Even with the disguise Axel was still so warm and it was that which caused him to press his hand closer as his smile grew. "And I adore you with every fiber of my being."

That of course had Axel smiling just that much more. "It's not the same when it's my words coming out of your mouth," he lightly teased. "You have to make up your own endearments. Not that I'm complaining. Those words sound wonderful coming from you. I wish I could hear them more often. No- I _will_ be hearing them more often." Axel stole a kiss, grinning after. "That's an order from your superior, or rather, from your superior boyfriend, Number XIII."

The rank that he had abandoned long ago was a bit nostalgic to hear spoken between the two of them. Roxas thought at first that such a thing would have upset him, but it didn't. It only had him grinning easily and giving a quick simple nod to what he was told with a small roll of his eyes. Something he would always do when given orders in the past. "Yeah, I got it, Number VIII." Despite the other being a Heartless, the old rank rolled just as easily off his own tongue as well.

After the words Roxas found himself keeping his eyes on Axel until he just couldn't handle it anymore. Even with the laughter and quick kisses, the fact that his friend and one reason for now existing, was leaving weighed him down heavily. His bag finally slipped completely off his arm to fall to the ground as he freed both hands to launch himself at Axel, wrapping both arms around the Heartless to keep them both level with each other. Fingers buried in hair while lips placed tiny kisses on the other's neck. Roxas didn't even care one damn bit that they were in the middle of the street. He just wanted Axel to realize how much he really would be missed.

It worked well, easy to tell from the throaty whine Axel gave. For just a second he actually skated on that thin line if he should truly leave or not. The way Roxas clung and over whelmed him with sweet desperate affection, Axel was sorely tempted to just stay and greedily keep it all to himself. But as his nails dragged up along Roxas' back under his shirt, criss crossing healing tracks, he found that old not unfamiliar temptation creep inside near that much more overwhelming. Axel could feel the warm beat of Roxas' heart under his fingertips, feeling those overwhelming emotions for him and him alone; begging him to delve deep to its crystalline form and make it his like he'd done with their bodies between the sheets.

Axel gave a low groan, forcing himself to snap to. It was obvious their situation was obscene to any passerby but at the moment he cared less what people thought more than Roxas. He needed to be human, for more reasons than one. But mostly because- "I love you too," he murmured in a low heated tone before he caught Roxas' wandering mouth with his own.

Words were caught in Roxas' throat as his lips were suddenly captured. In the back of his mind he could vaguely remember the small moment before he had a heart. The brief time they had come back to Twilight Town and shared such a heated moment on the small couch in the hide away that had seemed to always get him in trouble. All because they had to leave at that time as well. It felt like déjà vu in away, but this time Roxas would be staying behind. This time, Roxas would be the one waiting and it was that which had him pressing even more into the kiss and giving a quick bite to Axel's lips.

"If you're not careful," Axel murmured with a grin soon to follow, "you're going to be taken right here in the middle of the street. And I won't care who sees our 'good byes." He nipped at Roxas' bottom lip. "Damnit, I'm going to miss you." His good humour began to waver to the truth of the matter. "A lot."

None of Axel's words helped Roxas deal with the situation any better himself. He let out his own tiny whimper that matched the whine Axel had given earlier as he pulled back just a little bit more. "Remember your promise." He was quick to respond while he continued to move his fingers through the other's hair. "You promised to come back to me." Roxas knew that his voice was starting to crack, but he didn't know how to keep up an act any longer. "I don't know how I'm going to cover for you. Heh, the others are going to drill me about where you are."

Axel gave a wide toothed grin. "'Family Emergency'. Never fails." He actually laughed. "Though I doubt Hayner will bat an eye while I'm gone. Try not to take too much of your stress out on your 'best friend'. You two just got back together." He gave a soft hum that was near a purr at the fingers running through his hair. "Mmm but we can spend a little bit of time together, right? And you can lavish your love and attention upon me while I'm still here." Axel nuzzled his nose softly against Roxas'.

Roxas smiled at that one small action before he gave a quick nod in agreement. "Of course. I mean, you're not leaving just yet." There was a hopeful edge to his voice as he spoke those words. "I don't plan to let you out of my sight until you absolutely feel the need to go." While he spoke his hands finally moved away from Axel's hair so fingers could run trails back to the Heartless' face. It was with small touches that he ran fingertips across Axel's face while he gave a wet sniff, just enjoying the fact he could still touch the other while he had the chance.

Axel's eyes fluttered open despite the fingers along his face that sent pleasant little shivers that soothed down his spine. "Sniffles?" His arms slipped better around Roxas in order to hug him rightfully near. "And a willingness for fluffy cuddles?" He nuzzled his forehead against Roxas' to cheer him up. "You really are upset." He was sorry for that, hurting his little fragile heart. It always brought him guilt, but he masked it with a sympathetic expression.

Hands stilled for a moment as Roxas thought over those words. Once again he stared into Axel's eyes until he decided to look back down at where his fingers rested just below tattoos. "I guess...I am." It was the first time he ever really openly admitted such a thing without Axel having to prod it out of him. It made the situation just all the more real. "I just..." He swallowed hard as he stopped for a second. It was still so hard to get used to the mess of emotions running around inside of him. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing can and nothing will. C'mon, give me a little credit, Roxas. I have a pretty impressive resume: I completely took over King Mickey's castle just to get your attention. I plucked the Fail Safe from right under our old group's nose. I went up against Saix and practically leveled the whole down town area and lived. Let's not also forget all the times I visited you right under Riku's nose...- _and lived_." Axel turned his head to kiss one of Roxas' hands at his cheeks. "And that's just my Heartless. Let's not forget what amazing things my Nobody did."

Roxas was about to open his mouth to counter that all of those amazing things that Axel's Nobody did had eventually led him to becoming a Heartless in the first place. He stopped himself before he could say a word, knowing it would just open old wounds that even he wasn't willing to think about. Instead he could only let out a heavy sigh as he eyed his friend with a less then impressed look. It was easy to tell he was still worried, but he didn't want to ruin what time they had left. "Fine...have it your way."

Axel nudged Roxas' head with his own. "So enthused. Glad to see you have such faith in me." He placed a kiss on Roxas' nose to get the boy to lighten up. "But we don't have time for worry. We only have so long, so let's make the best of it. We can do whatever it is you want this last while. Sea salt ice cream, staring at the sky." He gave a short laugh. "Fun things like that."

"The clock tower," Roxas was quick to speak up in a quiet voice. He took one of his hands back from Axel's cheek so he could wipe it quickly under his own eyes. He hated the moments when he suddenly seemed vulnerable and wanted the evidence to be gone. "You said you would spend a moment with me up there. We can do it now, just you and me." He dropped his hand back down to fall at his side, but his other stayed right where it was, running fingers along Axel's cheek. "We can watch the sunset until you have to leave."

"Sounds romantic." Axel gave a small smile and he leaned into the fingers on his cheek. "Maybe we can even watch the stars for a little bit. Maybe name a few of them since I can't remember their names for the life of me." He raised a hand to brush a few fingers across Roxas' cheek, messing through the blonde hair. "We could share some ice cream. Have a drink." He grinned through his laughter. "Really give you something to brag to your friends about." He placed a quick kiss on Roxas' lips.

Roxas savored that one quick kiss and was soon giving his own grin as well to the other small suggestions Axel had spoken of. "I'm good with all of that." He finally dropped his other hand so he could take hold of Axel's own once again, linking their fingers together just as they had been before he let go. "It'll be our own special night before you go." He finally moved away enough so he could bend down to pick his discarded bag back up with his other hand, flinging it over his shoulder. "And, it might even help me worry a little less."

"By the time the night is over, you won't even remember what worry is." Axel grinned as he placed another kiss on Roxas' lips. "I know you're still trying to remember your own name from the last time we cut loose." He placed a few kisses all over Roxas' face playfully before he finally placed one roughly on his lips. "Or we can just cuddle." Axel grinned against the other's lips. "If you're still sore from last time." He tried not to laugh as he pulled Roxas nearer.

All the sudden attention along with what was said easily had Roxas blushing, but he tried to hide it as best he could. "I wasn't _that_ bad afterwards." The words were mumbled because even he knew them to be untrue. It had been rather hard lying to his teachers about what half the love bites and marks on his own person had been from when they shot him worried looks. All because his uniform just couldn't hide a good few of them.

Roxas looked back at Axel after the red in his face finally passed and shrugged a shoulder. "Whatever decides to happen, happens." He spoke the words with a grin because they both knew cuddling wouldn't only be in the agenda. "Now come on, it's already getting late. We still have to pick up ice cream and you have to get us drinks before we go to the tower. No cheating and just bringing everything easy like I know you want to." He started to tug on Axel's hand as he started to walk again, but not in the direction they had been going before. This time he moved them back towards town. His bag and uniform be damned, they didn't matter to him, and he was going to get these last moments with Axel no matter what the circumstances.


	48. Chapter 48

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 48

Days later saw Roxas and his friends right back in school learning the same boring lessons that the teachers had been trying to drill in their heads last week. There was one major difference that seemed to have put a damper on Roxas' attitude throughout each class so far that day, and it was the simple fact that a person had been missing from school so far since the beginning of the week. The teachers had come to him asking where Roxas' 'close friend' was and all he could do was give them the same lame excuse that Axel had told him to say in such an even voice that it had one of the teachers worrying about him for only a moment before they went on their way.

Axel had certainly left, it was true. Roxas had found himself waking up the day after their shared moment on the clock tower back in his bed all alone and hugging what he thought to be the Heartless, only to find out it had been the pillow they usually shared. He had not only felt horrible from Axel's persistence to get him to drink, but he had also felt so very lonely to know that he would no longer have that warmth that he usually had lying next to him.

It had only been the reminder that he had to meet the others at the beach that had gotten Roxas out of bed that day. The beach that Axel had created only for him. That had only made things worse and when he had finally made it there all he had done was stay huddled up near the water, staring at the waves until he had broken down and confided to Olette why he was so upset, leaving out the real reason as to why Axel had to leave.

It was all those thoughts rolled into one that Roxas just couldn't deal with while he sat in the far back of his math class. Hayner was somewhere up front and had been shooting him glances every now and then, but Roxas had just ignored him. Instead, he kept his eyes on the marks that were still branded so neatly around his wrists. New little scratches had joined them from the night Axel had to leave and in a way Roxas was glad for that. Even if it did cause him to keep his attention away from what the teacher was saying.

The lecture was abruptly interrupted by a knock on the classroom door. Even the teacher was startled by the sound since he'd begun to drone on so in that monotone voice of his about algebraic equations. He put down his pen that he was using to write examples on the white board with and went out to talk to who was at the door. Some students leaned in their seats to catch a glance at just who and what was going on; anything was more interesting than finding out the value of 'X'.

It was the secretary from the principal's office, but the chat was too far off and brief for anyone to catch what was said. Soon the teacher walked back in to stand in front of all his curious students. He clasped his hands together; making it known he was announcing something.

"Alright, students, seems we have a new addition here to the equation. Heh, mathematical humour." A few students groaned. "We have a new student that's just transferred into our school." The teacher gestured to the open door, and from outside stepped a tall teen boy, who was adorn in the same school uniform as all the boy's in the school. His long silver hair, which caught most of the girl's attention right away, fell about his shoulders and nearly covered his sleek oceanic eyes which held no interest in any person there as they swept over the students. That was until they landed on Roxas; a piercing stare from such a stoic expression.

Roxas had been less then interested in the entire scene going on as well as each word spoken. So they had a new student, so what? Some of the 'awww's from the girls in the classroom did have him shaking his head a little and rolling his eyes. It was in an instant that he could feel chills racing down his spine that he knew something wasn't quite right. He could feel eyes on him and it finally had him looking up and his breath nearly catching in his throat at what he saw as his hands gripped the top of his desk as tight as they could.

That was enough to cause the edge of the new student's lips to upturn, just a fraction; _found, caught, and cornered_.

"Class, please welcome Riku to our school."

There was instant murmuring from the girls along with giggles about just how much they'd _love_ to 'welcome' Riku. Hayner stared a little longer than he should have but he managed to turn around to give Roxas a glance. When he saw just how tightly his friend was clasping onto his desk, the strained expression, it surprised Hayner to say the least; it didn't make much sense to him.

"Please have a seat, Riku. I'm sure someone in the class can share with you their notes on today's lesson, and I'll get the rest of what you miss later after class."

That was enough to prompt Riku to step forward into the bare isle between one row of desks. Many watched him, eager just to see where the new mysterious student would just be sitting; some more hopeful they'd be sitting next to him than others.  
Step by casual step Riku neared his destination, feared and loathed by one in particular who watched more intently than he should have. His fingers brushed, an accidental encounter of course, against Roxas' that clutched impossibly tight to his desk's edge. It was of course the empty desk in the back beside Roxas' that Riku sat in so casually without ever so much as a glance his way. Though, the girl in front gave Riku plenty.

For a long time Roxas kept his eyes forward even though Riku had long ago walked away from the front of the class. That one brush of fingers had caused Roxas to tense up even worse and he felt as if he would snap like a rubber band at any second. He caught Hayner's eyes after a while, but couldn't keep his friend's gaze. Instead he found himself turning his head to the side where he knew Riku had settled himself. In the back of his mind he hoped that this was all some sick dream, but the sight of Riku sitting next to him made it all so real.

No glitch of program, nor cruel prank left by Axel; it was just _too_ heartless, even for the Heartless. It wouldn't make sense that Axel would make a character model of Riku; nothing so terribly life like, right down to the intense gaze that each glance those cold coloured eyes made. And they were giving Roxas one right now.

The teacher was expecting Riku to speak in class, so he took advantage of that; great advantage. Riku turned in Roxas' direction, leaning a little to feign interest in the notes he'd been taking during school. No one caught the leisurely once over he gave Roxas from beneath the veil of his silver bangs. He then moved in his chair so he could lean nearer to Roxas, near enough so Roxas could hear the quiet words that left his mouth. "I believe you're supposed to help me." His eyes grinned where his lips didn't.

No one else caught that once over, but Roxas sure did and he had never had such an intense urge to strike Riku before then he did at that very moment. There was nothing physical Roxas could do about it though, so instead he settled for narrowing his eyes as he finally tore his fingers away from the edges of his desk. "Screw you." The words were spat out like venom in a harsh whisper. It wouldn't do him any good if his teacher heard him say such a thing to the new student.

Unfortunately Roxas' biting words didn't mar Riku's interest at all. If anything it was the motivation that had him standing from his chair to lean that much closer to Roxas. His silver hair fell from his shoulders to hang veiled at one side of his face, leaving his expression private for all but Roxas and the back of the class room wall to witness. His smile was as pleasant as cold claws etching down the spine. "I don't believe the teacher asked you to offer that." He tapped Roxas' line paper where he'd been doodling in pencil along with his notes. It was one of the little hearts that Roxas had drawn that his finger tapped upon. "Just that." Riku's eyes never left Roxas'.

Roxas slapped his hand over his notes as hard as he could. The sound echoed loudly across the classroom and caused a few heads to turn that weren't already focused on them. He didn't care. Roxas was only worried about the sudden problem he had that was only inches away from him. Had it been any other time he would have whipped out his keyblades and tried to tear them straight through Riku. Being in a classroom with other students didn't allow that. "Get away from me." He gritted the words through clenched teeth.

A strand of silver fell down to rest on Riku's face, his expression fell back to stoic for appearances sake. "Roxas," his voice grew to normal volume so all could hear something they all expected, "can I please use your notes?" It was good to feel Roxas' wavy haired friend stare at them, it made Roxas' strange actions stand out all the more.

Roxas locked his gaze with Hayner's own confused one after Riku's request. He knew his own actions were rather unsettling, but to him they were just a defense to get Riku away. The same old cat and mouse. Still, he had to put on an act for the time being or else he would never have the normalcy he wanted, even if that normalcy included Riku until he could find a way to get rid of the older boy.

With a heavy sigh, Roxas moved his hand away from his notes, and without tearing his eyes away from Hayner, he lifted them up to hand them over to Riku. "Be my guest." The words were dripping with sarcasm despite the audience they now had.

Riku took the paper, underneath and unseen his fingertips brushed against Roxas' before he pulled the paper from him. "I will." But he didn't step away from Roxas' desk just yet. Instead his hand came to rest on its edge so he could lean closer, purely with the interest of school; on the outside. "Will you help me catch up, as well?" Eyes skipped from Riku to Roxas; even the teacher glanced at Roxas between the words in his lecture.

Roxas dropped his eyes back down to stare at Riku's hand that was settled on top of his desk. He felt as if he would need to wash his own hand later that had been touched and held it close to his chest as soon as it was free again. The words caused him to narrow his gaze, but he never looked up at Riku. "You can get someone else's help can't you? I'm busy." The words were only disguised as a question. Roxas wanted nothing else to do with Riku and between the two of them the words were meant as more of a demand for Riku to find someone else to bug.

"No." Riku was so good at feigning the subtle tone of disappointment that had the girl who sat in front of his desk chewing her nails with worried anticipation as she watched the two. "I don't know anyone else." The underlying tone of familiarity for Roxas was slipped into Riku's voice, perhaps a little too well; it had Hayner's expression growing unimpressed.

Roxas heard that tone all too well and for a second it caused him to scowl. He finally shot his eyes up at Riku and didn't hide his annoyance at all for the other teen. He locked eyes with the other before he turned his attention away to look back towards the front of the room, ignoring every other student in the room. "Lucky me." He spat the words out, but other then that said nothing else.

"Then I'll be getting the rest from you later." It wasn't hard to hear the double meanings in Riku's words. He finally stepped from Roxas' desk but kept his eyes on Roxas himself as he moved back to his own desk. No one seemed to notice or care that Riku hadn't brought a bag or a notebook to continue the notes with; they were all trying to figure out the intense situation going on between Roxas and this other new boy who knew him as well. Some were just thinking dirty thoughts; Roxas had become well known for his uninhibited making out with the new city boy Axel.

Roxas had picked up his pencil at some point after Riku had finally left his side and had started to grip it tightly in his hand. The wood was already trying to break, but he didn't really notice. This was much too unexpected. Axel had Heartless protecting the computer that made up Twilight Town. Roxas didn't think that Riku couldn't easily get past a few Heartless, but still, if Axel told him he would be safe he had taken such words to heart. Riku was the last person he wanted to deal with while he was stuck in town waiting. It was even worse when he could feel Riku's eyes on him while he listened to the teacher drone on.

Though there wasn't much of class left, the minutes ticked on like their own personal centuries. Roxas didn't bother with notes, his mind far else where, staring at the clock on the wall. He swore that second hand ticked backwards once or twice. Roxas could feel Riku's gaze on him, but every time he chanced a glance the other teen wasn't even looking his way. It was maddening. He tried to subtly, sneaking a peeking but he never caught Riku's eyes on him. But each time he looked ahead he could feel the cold gaze on him, burning across his skin.  
The tension grew near unbearably thick- until finally it _snapped_. The sound had everyone jumping in their seats and they all looked back to see that Roxas' pencil had snapped in half. Roxas wasn't sure who was more bewildered him or Hayner. But that was enough to make the teacher end the lesson. He'd had enough interruptions that day. He assigned homework; of course Roxas was then responsible for helping the new kid with that. He then let the class out a few minutes early, much to every student's joy.

Everyone filed out one by one, but Roxas was one of the few to take his time. He slid out of his seat and picked up each of his books, shoving a few papers inside. He didn't care if they tore or not. In the back of his mind he only hoped that he could catch up with Hayner instead of having to deal with Riku who was only a few feet away from him. As soon as he had what he needed, along with the homework written down, he was swift in his steps towards the door and ignored the concerned look the teacher gave him as he tried to make it out into the hall while continuing to avoid Riku.

Amidst the crowd from the class that was dispersing into the hall Roxas' shirt was grabbed by the shoulder with a harsh grab. Much to his disapproval he was pulled to turn around, but it wasn't Riku. Hayner gave Roxas a concerned glare. "The heck is your problem, man?" He gave a short scoff. "I didn't know you had it against pencils."

Roxas let out a relieved sigh at the sight of his friend, having had his guard up as soon as he had been grabbed. He visibly relaxed as his shoulders slumped. Despite that his eyes still scanned the halls for any sign of the 'new student'. "I-I don't really." He stuttered out in a tense voice before he finally looked at Hayner. For a few seconds he kept silent, trying to figure out how to answer his friend. It was in a second of mild insanity he decided to give only a smidge of truth. "That new kid? I used to know him... we never got along."

Hayner gave a hard blink of surprise; it was almost like a flinch. It was just another thing that Roxas failed to tell him. The annoyance was clear on Hayner's face. "Know him? Know him from where?"

Roxas frowned at the look on Hayner's face. He hadn't meant to upset his friend, but there was still a lot that he had been hiding. Riku was one of those things. "From that city where I met Axel." He looked away again at the mention of the missing Heartless. The whole situation made him wish the other was back with him instead of far away looking for Ikurx, and the pang came back all over again.

"I see." Hayner spoke dryly as he pulled his backpack up on his shoulder. He started walking with Roxas; they had the same route but different classes. "Well, what happened between you and that pretty boy? And what's he doing coming to our school? Like we need another city punk here."

"Watch it, Hayner." Roxas spoke up in warning to those last few words. After the last few days he had, Roxas wasn't in the mood for such biting words concerning the other punk that his friend was speaking of. "Anyway, I don't know. He probably just moved here I guess. That city wasn't all that great..." His words trailed off a little. It was the best excuse he could come up with since he knew the real reason Riku was around. The older boy had made it clear by how close he had already tried to get. "We just never clicked. You know, fighting and all that." It was close to the truth.

Hayner nodded. "I know how that is." He sighed; he definitely wasn't referring to Seifer. "Well, don't worry about him. You know we all got your back." He grinned some and gave Roxas a friendly punch on the shoulder. "If worse comes to worse we can mangle that pretty face up." Hayner gave a mock few punches in the air before laughing.

Hayner's actions finally caused Roxas to crack a smile. They even had him laughing quietly under his breath as he weaved in and out between other students in the hall. "Sounds like fun." He easily agreed to what Hayner said and was quick to add onto such threats made against Riku. "You can hold him back for me while I punch him in the stomach." He shook his head as he looked away from Hayner to pay attention to where he was walking. "It's bad enough I have to help him catch up."

Hayner had grinned some from Roxas' previous words. "If you want I can help ya in that department. Y'know, two against one. He won't pull any fast ones if there are two of us." He shrugged. "And if he decides to pull anything funny, well, it's not our fault if he accidentally 'falls' and gets a black eye next day." He gave Roxas a nudge.

Even if Roxas knew Riku way better then Hayner those words still sounded much too appealing for him to say no to. His smile grew a bit at Hayner's nudging and he cast his friend a sideways glance as he nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe Seifer can help, huh? He needs a new victim since he can't pound on you any longer don't you think?" Roxas let out another small laugh after his words and found his steps slowing as they reached Hayner's next class.

"Heh, you really don't like that guy do you, especially if you're willing to drag Seifer into it." Hayner smirked, but he didn't seem all that against the idea; Seifer was rubbing off on him in the worst of ways. "But we'll see. I'm sure he won't think twice if I mention there's a chance for him to beat someone up." Hayner looked inside his class. The halls were now filled students who were heading for their next class as well, so almost all of the class was full. Hayner grumbled at that. "Damn, this is my stop."

"You'll live." Roxas' smile faded a bit after his words while he took a quick look inside the class also. Afterwards he turned his attention back on his friend and shrugged a shoulder. Hayner had been the only real person keeping his mind occupied so far during the day aside from his own wandering thoughts. Now that they had to part ways Roxas wasn't sure how he would fair. "I'll catch up with you and the others later today, okay?"

Hayner gave one nod. "Yep. Take care, alright." He shot Roxas a grin as he pointed a gun shot finger at him. "And don't get in any fights I wouldn't." He 'shot' Roxas and winked before he headed into his class.

Roxas shook his head with a small roll of his eyes, but still he smiled at his friend's actions. They had put him in a much better mood then he had been in. With a small turn, Roxas started away from Hayner's class to take the longer trek towards his own. He had to get there before he was considered late and a few students left in the halls seemed to have those same thoughts with how fast they were trying to walk without really running. For the moment he had even forgotten all about Riku since his mood had been lifted from the sour pit the older teen had put it in before.

"You don't have to hurry," that cool familiar voice nearly forgotten spoke up right beside Roxas, "you're not going to your next class." The foot steps audibly came from no where as the taller teen had began to walk beside Roxas from out of no where.

In a second all of the anger and tension Roxas had felt came back ten fold with those coolly spoken words. His feet slowed until he came to a sudden halt in the middle of the hall and turned his gaze towards the one person he had come to hate more then anything in all the worlds. "The hell I'm not." He spoke the words not a volume above a whisper. No one else needed to hear their conversation until the halls were clear. "You can't stop me."

Riku met Roxas' gaze, full on. He could see more than just hatred in Roxas' eyes, but anger, a fierce anger that was never there before; all generated by that beating in his chest that he borrowed. "Those emotions are new," he remarked on the obvious. "Over whelming." He raised a hand to brush back of a finger just barely across Roxas' cheek, rustling the blonde hair that rested there. It was like stirring up a hornet's nest. "I'm impressed you can hold your own so well in public. Sora doesn't have your reserve when it comes to his emotions in public." The corner of his mouth perked and his eyes narrowed in amusement. "But when it dubs down to it, I don't think there's much difference." His hand fell down and lay one tap on the left side of Roxas' chest. "Here." The contact set something off, resounding down to the heart that lay beneath; Sora's Nobody, Sora's heart- it was all still Sora. Despite all other names given, the origin was still true.

There was a loud clatter that echoed through the halls. Papers spilled from books and it was that which made it obvious that Roxas had dropped everything he had been holding in his hands at just the one simple touch to his chest. It stirred something inside of him that he hated. It felt like he suddenly couldn't get a hold of himself and in a split second he was slapping Riku's hand away to get that awful touch away. "I'm nothing like Sora. I never will be because I have my own emotions. I have my own feelings and my own life."

Roxas backed up a few steps. No longer did he care if there was anyone in the halls. He just wanted to get control of himself and that meant getting Riku away from him. "Axel told me what happened." A shaky grin spread across his face. "He told me that Sora let us go because _you_ were acting like a prick." The grin fell and his eyes narrowed once more. "Why the hell are you here? You almost killed me you bastard."

Riku was undeterred by Roxas' back lash; it was to be expected. Especially the words that Roxas spoke. Riku kept his eyes pinned on Roxas'; funny how someone could deny who they were when they had the same determined blue eyes.

"Your 'feelings' and 'life'- are as real as this world." Riku gestured loosely about them with a sarcastic smirk. "Playing pretend among fake copies. Figures you'd hide here." He gave a rather unimpressed glance around before he looked back to Roxas.

"These _fake copies_ are real to me." Roxas spat the words back out, feeling rather angered by Riku's words. "This was the life you and that bastard, DiZ, threw me into! I should be allowed to have it back. I had friends and I had what I never had in the Organization." His voice was growing louder, but he didn't care. "I had what you, Sora and Kairi had and I finally have it with Axel!" He stepped back a few more feet, but was forced to stop when his back hit lockers and one of the locks dug into him harshly where marks were still healing. "Just leave me the hell alone, Riku."

Hands slammed into Roxas' shoulders and Riku pinned him there against the lockers. It didn't matter who watched or saw; they weren't real. He kept close, unbearably close as he spoke. "Believing in a lie doesn't make it true." His hand fell from Roxas' shoulder down to rest flat on his chest, over his heart. "You had it all before this. I brought you here to DiZ's lies, and you're just as eager to drink them up again. I think it's pretty safe to call you 'stupid'. 'Stupid' for leaving everything, 'stupid' for believing the manipulative lies of a Heartless, and 'stupid' for thinking you could live a life in some kind of computer game."

Roxas was quick to struggle against the tight grip Riku's one hand had on his shoulder. Riku's words only enraged him further and made him snarl rather viciously up at the taller boy. "Shut up!" He shouted the words loudly before he raised the hand that wasn't being held down to close it around Riku's own near his chest. "You can't just learn to leave well enough alone. That's all there is to it. You had your chance, Riku, and you blew it. Sora didn't want you anymore. That's why he let us go." The loud tone he used started to drop as it grew colder. "Maybe Axel is manipulative, but he sure as hell cares about me and I'm never going to let you ruin things for me; for us." His eyes fell halfway. "Now let me go."

Riku's hand on the other's shoulder slid up to take Roxas' neck. His fingers ghosted across bites and bruises new and old; it was easy to tell exactly how they got there. His hold tightened around Roxas' throat keeping him pinned right there on the lockers. "I don't want to take you by force..." He continued in a quieter voice as he neared his head to Roxas', sharing the same breath and knowing just how much the other hated it. "But it's obvious you like it exactly like that." His thumb drew up and down the side of Roxas' throat. "... But I have a better idea."

Roxas' eyes had snapped open as soon as pressure was put on his throat and fingers touched each bruise and bite that had been placed there by Axel. The fact that Riku had moved unbearably close only put him more on edge and if he hadn't been pinned so hard to the metal behind him he would have easily slipped out from under the other boy. Instead he found himself trying to turn his face away as best he could. The fact he could feel Riku's body heat so close to his own made something inside of him twist painfully, but his anger over powered it easily. "You're insane. Get away from me before I make you."

Riku could feel, beneath his palm, in Roxas' heart that someone had messed with it before. The emotions inside were in disarray, swirled around in sadistic play, it reeked of a Heartless' work. It built up that icy wall that had started to build inside of Riku; how dare the dark touch Sora's heart like that, like it was some kind of plaything. This heart was his, and he was going to remind it; just whose it really was.

"What you feel... this love in here." Riku's hand on Roxas' chest tightened, digging fingers into skin. "It isn't for Axel. Not this part of Axel. The Axel you want to love died for Sora years ago. You're too late. The past is gone. Pretending to love with Sora's heart, you're lying to yourself." Riku rested his head against Roxas', despite how much he tried to turn it away, Riku kept it where it was with the hand at his throat near his jaw. Riku blinked slowly; something made sense. "The half...-the half of heart you have took the love Sora had... That's why Sora couldn't feel anything while he was a Heartless again." Riku's grip loosened, moving to Roxas' jaw, softly clawing it. "The love you're using is... love for me." Riku gave a sad chuckle; oh what sweet sick delicious irony.

Those last words cut off anything Roxas wanted to bite back with in the span of a few seconds. He could feel his head moving back and forth, but didn't even notice he was doing it until he could feel Riku's fingers nearly brushing against his lips. It was that one touch that had him going completely still. He didn't want to believe such words. They were too cruel. The heart he had was his and his alone. The love he felt was for Axel. That was the truth, right? Not these harsh words that Riku spat out. It couldn't be. But all he could do was stare up at the older teen with wide eyes and a heart that raced faster as it twisted inside his chest.

Riku's cruel grip on Roxas fell completely. There was no need to be so unkind anymore. His fingers brushed on either side of Roxas' cheeks, an action that wasn't unfamiliar to Sora. He leaned his head down lower; he could feel Roxas' quick panicked breath. "I'll prove it to you," he spoke barely a whisper before he touched his lips to Roxas'. A soft kiss, gentle despite the biting words they'd thrown back and forth. This was affectionate, the smallest of endearing touches on lips, a part of himself he'd only give in a kiss to the one he loved most.

Roxas' entire body went rigid at such a bold move and for what felt like forever his eyes stayed wide open to stare at the one that had locked lips with him. Something deep inside of him clenched painfully at his soul and it was the only thing that had Roxas staying right where he was, and for an instant he actually leaned into that small press of lips. Just as quick he seemed to realize what he was doing along with what Riku was forcing upon him and it was that which had his eyes narrowing. With his hands finally free he was able to reach up and push roughly at Riku's chest, forcing the taller boy away from him with as much strength as possible.

As soon as Roxas had his space back he glared so viciously at Riku that it was amazing the other boy didn't keel over with just the look. With the back of his hand, Roxas wiped away at his mouth, feeling as if he had just been poisoned and ignoring the way his heart continued to move about in his chest. "Don't you _ever_ try something like that again!" He nearly screamed the words. "You have no right! I'm not Sora! Just because you have it in your head that you _think_ I'm him, doesn't mean you can go doing that to me." In a second he lifted up his arm and displayed one of the branded marks that the Heartless had left behind. The harsh burn had yet to even try to fade away and it was that which Roxas was sure to show off best instead of just the tiny little scratches littering his arm. "I don't belong to _you_. I belong to Axel. So just leave me the hell alone."

Riku's hand came to rest lightly on the mark on Roxas' arm. His voice was calm and still quiet. "Obsession and possession isn't love. Abuse isn't proof of love." His fingers slowly closed around Roxas' forearm before it was suddenly pinned to the locker high above Roxas' head. "I notice you referred to yourself as a possession. You can't even say it, can you? Not anymore." Riku's other hand fell to Roxas' tie, running his thumb over the fabric before he began to loosen it. "Call yourself whatever name you want, I don't care. You still can't lie, least of all to yourself. Especially now that you have those emotions you desired." Riku leaned down, still pinning Roxas' one arm above. He nipped the thread of a button near Roxas' throat, his breath ghosting over skin. He flicked it away, instead of bothering with unbuttoning. The button below gained the same fate, plinking to the hall's floor to roll away forgotten. Now with Roxas' collar loose Riku was able to slip his hand inside, intimate skin on skin, to brush over where Sora's heart lay beneath. Riku whispered warm breath near Roxas' neck. "Wake up, Sora."

That same twisting and turning that had been gnawing at Roxas from the inside grew worse with just those few simple words. Any other time he was sure he would have kicked and screamed to try and get Riku away from him, especially with what the other boy was doing to him at that very moment, but with that hand so very close to his heart he felt as if all the fight had been sucked out of him. This wasn't like that time with Axel, though. This was so much different and for some reason Roxas couldn't stop himself from using his one free hand to bury fingers as tight as he could manage into Riku's hair, pulling roughly at the silver strands. "I hate you so much." The words were spoken in a whispered breath while his other hand twisted and turned while it was pinned to the locker.

Riku gave a low sound in his throat at the pulling at his hair. "No," his lips brushed across the side of Roxas' neck denying him, "you don't." Inside Roxas' shirt fingers fluttered down across skin over his heart, drawing forth the raw feelings and memories Riku knew were meant for him. Roxas could mask the love as someone else's, but he couldn't change what they were, and whose they were. It was a matter of clawing away the film to reveal the truth; it was still Sora, nothing else could change that. So Riku dragged his fingers across Roxas' chest as he touched small kisses up Roxas' neck. "You feel something more," he whispered in a husky whisper against Roxas' ear.

Each play at his heart only made the feelings inside Roxas worsen to an unbearable degree. He wanted badly to deny every word said, but the noise that left him after Riku's whispered words would have only contradicted anything he had to say. Instead he found himself pressing back as much as he could against the locker, not caring at all that it was one of the most comfortable objects to be pinned against. "I don't feel anything." The words were weak, especially since his hand was still buried within Riku's hair and that hand clawing near his heart had him breathing much too quickly.

Riku gave an affectionate bite to Roxas' ear. He moved his head back to face Roxas, a small smirk crossing his lips for just how ragged Roxas' breath had become. "You always were such a bad liar," he whispered in the same tone before he crashed his lips against Roxas'.

Roxas tensed up once again when their lips touched, but unlike last time, he didn't stay that way. The turmoil that Riku had caused inside his heart had him pressing back just as heatedly against the kiss and he wasn't at all gentle. Teeth bit down on lips hard enough to draw the tiniest bit of blood that was licked away quick enough to give any opportunity for tongues to touch, and even then Roxas was nothing less then forceful. He wanted to pull away and do anything to tear at Riku and make the other boy wish he had never laid a hand on him, but for some reason he just couldn't break away. He couldn't stop himself from dropping his hand away from hair to claw up the back of Riku's white uniform shirt so it was clenched tightly in his fist as he no longer tried becoming one with the locker.

A low throaty sound left Riku. Never could he imagine something so vicious or spiteful ever coming from Sora. Roxas was Sora's polar opposite in every sense. His voice, kiss, his touch; all so rough and tearing, when Sora was so gentle and loving. But this was a side of Sora that he was becoming familiar with. Riku knew hate and viciousness all too well. Much too well.

Fingers raked through Roxas' hair, clawing scalp only to grab a fistful of blonde hair. Roxas' head was forced still, clunked back hard against the lockers as Riku slammed their mouths together, deepening it fiercely. But the kiss didn't last long as Riku yanked Roxas' head back against the lockers, forcing him to look up to expose his neck. It was that vulnerable part that Riku heatedly attacked with his mouth; biting kisses to unmarred spots of sensitive skin.

Roxas' eyes were trained on the ceiling in the hallway as Riku kept his head pinned rather hard against the lockers. Little by little that last bit of fight was slowly leaving him with each rough bite that Riku was giving to his neck. His heart beat faster against his chest and he knew in that instant that Riku would feel it just as well even if he wasn't pressed so close against his body. He tried so hard to hold on and continue to hate this person that had put him through so much hell, but all he could do was let out a rather needy moan and in one single breath his voice followed. "Riku..."

A low amused hum escaped Riku against Roxas' bruised throat. He stood straighter so that he could look down at Roxas' expression, silver hair falling down to brush against Roxas' cheeks. He couldn't say that Sora ever looked at him like _that_ ; Sora was too innocent to have that kind of need in his eyes. Perhaps Roxas had taken that part of Sora with him as well.

"Yes?" The one simple word left Riku coolly, though the smirk of humour never left. He liked this, all of this; to watch Roxas' will fall apart and to hear such a needy sound to his name. It was sweet justice. Riku turned Roxas' head to the side with the hand in his hair so he could place a few less wounding kisses to the soft skin behind his ear. His own eyes fell heavily shut as he murmured there in a husky tone, "You want something?"

Roxas had been ready to crumble after looking into Riku's eyes, but something about those last words had his breath hitching in his throat and his body tensing up much like it had when Riku first kissed him.

 _'Tell me exactly what you want.'_

The words echoed inside Roxas' head in a voice that his hazy mind had nearly forgotten because of the tight hold Riku had tried to claim on his heart. It was that which snapped Roxas out of the dazed feeling he had suddenly been caught up in, but the churning was still present inside his chest despite that. With a frustrated noise he struggled as much as he could and used his free hand to yank Riku away from him by the back of the other boy's shirt, stumbling himself since Riku still had a tight grip on him. "Let me go you bastard!" His voice was hoarse and trembling, but he tried his damnedest to put on a front after what had just occurred.

"...Roxas." Riku could feel exactly what occurred; it struck him like a knife in his own heart. It was 'Him', a living rift between him and Roxas. Riku wanted to rip to unidentifiable pieces every memory and emotion that Axel had placed in Sora's heart; they didn't belong there.

"... You don't love this Axel." Riku refused to renege his hold on Roxas' arm. "What does it take for you to believe the truth?" He yanked Roxas back, firmly cupping his cheek to force him to look up at him. "I don't want to fight you, but if that's what it takes." He stroked Roxas' cheek with his thumb as he held the other's gaze with heavily lidded eyes. ".. I won't hold back."

Roxas was quick to narrow his eyes at such a threat. That's the exact thing he was used to and he was comfortable with between them. The usual words thrown back and forth that would lead into the usual harsh comments or blades clashing. It was those words that finally had his usual cocky attitude returning to him and a small grin coming to his face despite that hand at his cheek. "Neither will I." He struggled a bit, but still couldn't break free. It didn't seem to bother him much and he only continued to glare up at Riku. "You think I'll listen to you? You wish. I do care about Axel. I do love Axel." His heart twisted even more painfully at those words, but still he ignored it. "And you know what?" The grin on his lips turned up even more. "It was Axel's name I was screaming again and again and again as soon as we came back here to Twilight Town." His eyes narrowed further and he finally turned his head away from Riku's hand as best he could. "Learn to deal with it, Riku. Obsession isn't very healthy you know."

Riku's eyes narrowed at Roxas' crass words and attitude. By now it was becoming trite. His hand fell down to Roxas neck; with his tight grip he slammed Roxas back against the lockers hard, glad when the other's head slammed against the metal. Perhaps that would knock some sense into him.

It was easy to keep the sound between them since Riku was familiar with the program. He didn't want any NPC students or teachers walking in on their moment.

While Roxas was still dazed Riku ran his finger down from Roxas' clavicle down to the next surviving button of his open shirt. With a swift gesture he tore open Roxas' shirt, sending buttons flying to clatter along the hall floor. It exposed skin that was just as bruised and scratched as the rest of Roxas. Riku's hand roved over exposed skin, tracing each and every scratch and bruise, vile flashes of how each mark got there flitting through his mind.

With a new hold on Roxas' throat Riku moved his finger back up to the top of Roxas' chest. "I propose an end all to end all." He dug his fingernail deep into skin, needing to make his own mark on the 'Nobody's skin. His finger moved up to curve around and down. "If you win, I'll finally leave you be, and you can stay here in this fake life with Axel, live and die here in your lies." Three points were drawn next, falling very low beneath Roxas' belly button. "If I win, you come back with me without argument ever again, and go back where you belong." Up his finger drew the curve that was mirrored on the other side of Roxas' chest, and it ended where it started.

Roxas' stomach clenched beneath Riku's fingers as they scratched rather harshly against his already marred skin. He could feel a headache coming in the back of his head from how hard it had knocked against metal, but it wasn't the main thing he was concerned with. It was the hand at his throat that he had to pay attention to all while listening to Riku speak. Still, he tried his best to keep a narrowed gaze on Riku through clenched teeth despite his position and thought over what the other said. He was always so sure of himself when going against Riku. If he won then he could be left alone with Axel, but the last time he tried Riku had thrown him into the darkness. Could he really chance a fight with the other teen again?

Thinking hard on it his answer was quick while Roxas struggled against the near choking hold that Riku placed on him. "Screw you, Riku. I'll win and I'll finally be free of your constant bull." The words were whispered since he had a hard time speaking any louder. "And I won't ever have to hear Sora's name again."

Riku allowed his hold on Roxas to let go, drawing his hands back to his sides as he took a step back. "It's a deal then." He offered his hand out to officially seal the agreement. "The gym is free at the moment. We won't be disturbed there."

Roxas took in a much needed breath as he slumped back against lockers to get a hold of himself. That horrible feeling inside his chest was still there, but he refused to let it be known and kept his eyes trained on Riku's hand instead. He kept silent for a good few minutes then slowly raised a hand that was now free to clasp it in Riku's own. "Yeah... sure. Whatever." He spoke quietly and with distaste over the fact that he had to touch Riku at all. He quickly drew his hand back and brought both up to his shirt, trying his best to close it up without the buttons. It wasn't working. "You ruined my shirt you ass."

The corner of Riku's lips perked again. "Good." He leaned a hand on the lockers and before Roxas had a chance to realize it; Riku's lips were on his. Riku could feel the torment in Roxas' heart as if it were right before his eyes instead of Roxas' chest. It was a wonderful contradiction; stirring up what Roxas felt inside versus what he tried to feel outside. He ran his tongue along Roxas' lips before he was stepping back again. "You should say your goodbyes before you head to the gym. You won't be in this digital play land long."

Riku's actions along with his words had that familiar anger bubbling up inside of Roxas once again as he tried to ignore that horrible part that wanted him to realize how good the press of lips had been. In a quick instant he was taking a step forward so he could reach a hand out to slap it across Riku's cheek, making sure to add nails into the violent action. As his hand fell back down he glared hard at the taller teen, not caring about the fact he had to look up at Riku at all. "Just shut the hell up and let's get this over with." With those final venomous words, Roxas turned to take steps away from Riku to walk down the hall towards the gym.


	49. Chapter 49

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 49

Rest. Relaxation. And recreation. All of the above were found in at the Inn at Costa De Sol on a warm tropical planet. A well needed vacation that Zax was persistent they all took, at least for a few days; a week at most. Donald and Goofy had been hard to persuade, they needed to find Sora. But they didn't have much of a choice since the ship was Cloud's to begin with. And one look at the Nobody and they realized they needed the pit stop.

They all got rooms in the villa near the beach; something that Demyx wordlessly appreciated. The first order of business was cleaning Ikurx up. Cloud took care of that (he didn't want Ikurx to drown in the tub with how weak he was), and Demyx was forbidden to be anywhere near two rooms worth while this took place. It was Ikurx's first bath, though he tried not to let that be known considering he was trying to keep everything hidden for the moment. But the way he kept staring at the water that trickled from his hands, amazed when the grime fell away from his skin, Cloud could easily tell otherwise. But he kept all questions to himself for another day; he wasn't about to pry at the moment.  
Zax and Demyx had the dirty job of washing Ikurx's clothes. So in other words it was Zax 'supervising' while Demyx did the grunt work of washing, making sure he didn't do anything 'funny' with the clothes. Being a water Heartless Demyx didn't find it all that bad.

Ikurx was finished with his bath before his clothes were done. He borrowed one of Cloud's sleeveless turtleneck shirts that was much too big for him, it hung down like a short dress on him; he clipped his keychain on the collar for safe keeping. He also wore a pair of cheap shorts from the gift shop in the villa. It was far better clothing to run around in for the moment rather than sitting around in a bath robe while he waited.

The Nobody sat on the edge of Cloud's bed, hugging his legs loosely to his chest while Cloud ruffled his hair dry with a towel. Ikurx made quiet fussy noises under the towel. When Cloud lifted the towel up Ikurx's short pale hair went poofy. Ikurx shook his head, but it did little to help. Though, something more was on his mind at the moment. He rested his chin on his knees as he stared at his toes which he soon wiggled.

"... Mister Cloud," Ikurx spoke up quietly, "can I ask you something?"

A hand ran through Ikurx's hair to fix the mess that the towel had created, but stopped in an instant at the quiet tone that the teenager had used to speak up with. Cloud threw the towel he still held away to the far side of the bed as he settled himself more comfortably beside Ikurx. "Sure, ask me anything you need to." His hand started to move again, hoping to flatten the pale hair on top of Ikurx's head that the boy had only made worse by shaking. "What's on your mind?"

Ikurx went cross eyed as a pale lock of hair fell on his face. He blew up at the hair, lifting a hand to brush it aside but looked back down to his toes again. "Well, just a question I've been meaning to ask your opinion on." He fiddled with his toes, so used to wearing his boots; he'd never had a chance to really see his own toes. "Is it alright to lie to someone to make them happy?"

Cloud stopped what he was doing a second time because of Ikurx's words. Instead of keeping his hand on top of the other's head he dropped it down to rest on the bed as he looked at the teen with concerned eyes. "Lie to make someone happy?" Cloud shook his head a bit, but it wasn't in any form of response. Mostly in confusion. "Ikurx, why would you even ask such a thing in the first place?"

Ikurx glanced at Cloud. "Curious... I guess." He gave a small shrug of shoulders before he looked back down to his toes.

Cloud kept his eyes on Ikurx for a few seconds before he let out a long sigh and turned his gaze away. He found himself actually thinking over the question carefully and while he wanted to set a good example for the Nobody, he knew that he and Zax had already lied to a good few people to keep them in the dark, especially one person in particular. "Lying is never the right thing to do." He finally spoke up after a long while and kept his voice quiet. "But there are times when you just want to keep people you care about safe and it's the only thing you _can_ do. Possibly the only thing you're able to do to keep them happy as well."

Ikurx gave a small nod, turning his gaze back to Cloud. He could see the experience in the man's eyes when he spoke. He trusted Cloud's word near unconditionally; how could he when the man had sought through worlds upon worlds just to find him. "Lying hurts people... yet sometimes it can make them happy too. If it makes people happy, is it really so bad? Couldn't it then be the right thing to do?"

Cloud gave a slow blink as each question continued to only make him think back to his own lies. He realized he had to answer and it was his own opinion on the matter that he soon spoke up with while he turned his eyes back on Ikurx. "Sometimes the right thing to do isn't always the best." He reached his hand back up to ruffle it through the boy's hair which only made it a complete mess again. "You just have to think about the situation in your own way, Ikurx. You have to be able to think about it carefully and come to the conclusion beforehand on if the outcome will be worth the lie."

Ikurx blinked at the new hair falling into his face from the ruffle. Brushing the hair from his eyes he nodded again, it made sense. It made a lot of sense. It was different than Demyx's answer. Demyx had said it was wrong, yet he couldn't help it being a Heartless, here Cloud was saying it was a useful tool when the time was right.

Ikurx studied Cloud's expression before he spoke quietly again. "Have you ever lied to Mister Zax?"

Cloud shook his head as soon as the question was asked. "No, never to Zax. I don't think there's ever been a time that I've told a lie to him. Sure, I may have kept a secret or two, but that doesn't count as lying." Cloud turned his attention ahead once more as his hand dropped down to his lap. "I have lied to other people I cared about though, but the lies were told to protect them from the truth."

"Never to Mister Zax?" Ikurx was a little startled to hear that. Everybody lied to everybody it had seemed, except Cloud now broke that assumption. Perhaps that too made sense. Zax meant everything to Cloud. There was no real need to lie to someone when they were that close to you. And somewhere in-between those thoughts Ikurx had to wonder if Riku had ever lied to Sora and vice versa. Then that moment in that abandoned building flitted through his mind and Ikurx pushed the memory far back for the moment. "Why never to Mister Zax?" He paused to rub his bare legs in thought. "Would you? I mean, if it meant his happiness?"

The question caught Cloud a little off guard. It was something he had never thought to wonder about. Of course since it was suddenly brought up he found himself actually taking the time to carefully consider it. He knew he'd do anything in his power to keep Zax safe and Zax would do just the same for him, especially after finally having their friendship back and more. It made the answer so much easier to think over. "I think that yeah, I probably would. I'd do anything to keep Zax happy, but I would hope that it never had to come down to me having to lie to him. It feels like such a last resort kind of thing to do."

Ikurx hugged his legs a little more as he rested his cheek on his knees giving Cloud a small smile. "You care for Mister Zax that much, enough to lie to him to keep him happy." But just as quickly his smile fell. "But what if he found out? What if that hurt him very badly? Is it worth lying?"

Cloud shook his head and he tried his best to keep his expression neutral, but the topic made it hard. "Lying will always hurt at least one person, Ikurx. Whether it's the person you lied to or yourself it can't really be helped, but it's the reasons why the lie is being told which makes all the difference. If it's for an honest and good reason then hurt is the last thing either person should worry about. As long as the motive is a good one then there's nothing to be ashamed of."

Ikurx's eyes widened some and he gave a small nod. "As long as the motive is good," he echoed the words. "Sounds kind of manipulative." He looked down at his toes again. "So... keeping a secret isn't like lying? But isn't that just a sneaky way of avoiding the truth and hurting someone just the same?"

"Of course not." Cloud finally got up from the bed to pick the towel up which he had discarded. "Sometimes secrets are kept between friends if one person doesn't want anyone else to know a certain situation that happened." He made his way into the bathroom that the small room had so he could hang the towel back up, but his voice still carried into the room. "Sometimes one person keeps their own secret from everyone if it's something they're ashamed of or if it's just something they'd rather not speak about. Something hurtful to them." Cloud came back out, flipping the light off in the bathroom, and leaned against the door way. "Understand?"

Ikurx nodded. He was keeping a secret right now from both Cloud and Zax; who he really was. It wasn't hurting anyone, and it was keeping them safe from getting mixed up in everything. Zax had been animate about letting him keep his information to himself. He knew that Ikurx would tell when the time was right. "What sort of secrets have you kept from Mister Zax?"

Cloud blinked his eyes, but soon found himself smiling a little. It was a forward question and he couldn't help being amused that it had come from Ikurx. "Well, mainly how I felt about him." As soon as the words left Cloud he was looking away nervously. It was strange to admit something to a teenager, but Ikurx had an effect on people that just made them want to talk. "But, that's not much of a secret between us anymore." He shook his head and started to make his way back to the bed, sitting down next to Ikurx. "I tend to keep my inner demons a secret from him as well, but he has a knack for seeing right through me. I haven't told him much about what I went through while he was away. I don't know if I intend to."

"No? How come?" Ikurx wasn't a stranger to Cloud's previous misery before Zax had come back. He could easily see the improvements made on Cloud by having Zax back. He was so much happier to say the least. Ikurx could only imagine what Cloud's life was like alone and guilty. "What happened? Was it really bad? I guess it must be if you don't want to admit it to Mister Zax."

Cloud only shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it." He kept his gaze down to his hands which rested in his lap. "Just some things that I'm glad are behind me. Sorry, Ikurx." He turned his attention back on the boy and narrowed his eyes to study the other with a small amount of concern in his eyes. "Well, was that all? Are all your questions answered?"

"Yes, that's all." Ikurx lowered his feet down to the floor, his hands on his lap. He gave a small smile. "Thanks, Mister Cloud. It's helped very much." He tugged at the hem of his shorts, not used to wearing anything but pants. "All of your help, it- it means a lot. Everything you've done."

"Well, you've helped me and Zax more then I think you'll ever really know." A small smile came over Cloud's face after those words while he moved to stand up again. "We'd do anything to help you out, Ikurx. So, don't be afraid to come to us about anything that might be troubling you." He gestured towards the door of the room with a nod of his head. "Now, want to go see if your clothes are clean yet?"

Ikurx gave a wider smile and a nod. He pushed off the bed, staggering a bit on his feet. "And thank you for letting Demyx stay with us. I- I know it hurts because of... what happened with Mister Zax... but, it means a lot that you'd give him a chance." He took a few practice steps and found he was alright to walk on his own. He paused in his steps to glance at Cloud. "I hope Mister Zax isn't picking on him while he's alone." That had Ikurx's steps quickening.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they're both fine." Cloud watched as Ikurx started to hurry and it caused him to move quickly after the teen to make sure he didn't trip. The door was opened in an instant to let them both out and towards the room that Zax and Demyx were occupying at the moment to do the laundry. Thankfully the room wasn't too far away and it wasn't long before they were knocking once before they let themselves in without waiting for a response.

Just as Cloud had stated the room didn't really look to be in shambles, which meant that Zax and Demyx must have gotten along well enough. For the moment the Heartless was in the far back of the room and sitting in a chair near the clothes which were hung up on a small line. Little by little the water that was still soaked into the clothes was being dried out as he moved his fingers near each of the fabrics to call every bit of water out of them. The excess wetness stayed near him in small strands that turned into tiny obsidian bubbles and he didn't even seem to notice that there was sudden company in the room, too occupied with his task.

Hands slipped over top of Demyx's glowing eyes from behind. Ikurx tried to with hold his laughter as he tried to speak in a deeper voice than normal. "Guess who, Mister Demyx."

The sudden break in his concentration had the water already surrounding Demyx falling straight down to land on his own person and inside the chair he sat in. He didn't seem to notice it much though, and only focused on the block in his view as well as the voice. He couldn't help letting out a small nervous laugh after his bit of shock and decided to humour the one covering his eyes. "Hmm... I don't know. Gimmie a hint?"

Ikurx chewed his lip to stifle a giggle. "Hmm." He cleared his throat to talk in a deep voice again to mask his voice. "Well, you told me before to just call you 'Demyx' without the 'Mister'." He leaned over on tippy toes to peer down at Demyx's face, the long strands of his soft clean hair brushing against the Heartless' cheek. "And I think I'm the only person who calls you 'Mister Demyx'." Ikurx chuckled. "Dead give away."

"Okay, okay." Demyx lifted both his hands up to place them over Ikurx's own, drawing the other's down off of his eyes. As soon as his vision was free again he blinked glowing eyes before a small smile tugged at his lips. "Ikurx, hey, you're all clean." He couldn't help speaking the obvious words and was quick to lift a hand to run a few fingers along the strands of hair that hung down the sides of the teen's face.

"And so are my clothes." Ikurx gave a playful laugh as he loosely hugged his arms around the Heartless' neck. "Squeaky clean, like me." He gave Demyx an appreciative squeeze. "Thank you. Very much." He glanced at Zax who was standing watching with his arms crossed. "You too, Mister Zax." The man only gave him a dry nod.

Demyx gave another nervous laugh at Ikurx's sudden need to hug him. The look on Zax's face didn't really help him feel any better and only made him feel more nervous, especially with Cloud in the room as well. He was quick to remove Ikurx's arms, so he could move around. "Watch it or you'll get dirty again." It was his excuse to make the situation less tense as he waved a hand around to remove the fallen water from himself as well as the chair, moving it all back over to the sink that rested on the other side of the room.

Cloud watched the scene, just as unimpressed as Zax seemed to be. His eyes strayed to the moving water that Demyx controlled before he turned his gaze back to Ikurx while he laid a hand on Zax shoulder to get the other man to keep a cool head even though he knew he wasn't fairing much better himself. "Ikurx, did you want to get changed?"

"No, not yet." Ikurx grabbed up Demyx's arm and began to pull to encourage the Heartless to get up. "I want to go to the beach. Shorts are perfect for the beach." He stumbled over his own legs a moment but managed to catch himself before he pulled more on Demyx's arm. "C'mon, Mister Demyx, let's go to the beach now. It's almost just like your beach. You know you want to go to the beach."

Demyx stumbled as he was pulled up off the chair. "H-Hey, wait a minute!" The words were spoken in retaliation since he wasn't really ready to be pulled around in such a way. As soon as he found his footing he couldn't really help but be just as eager to Ikurx's words. He had been excited himself as soon as he saw how close they were staying near the beach. He instantly felt cooped up inside the inn and wanted out as fast as possible. "F-Fine, sure. Okay."

Ikurx actually grinned wide for the first time in a while. "Let's go- let's go- let's go then!" Demyx's words was enough for him to start pulling the Heartless out of the room, staggering on his quick steps but only laughing when he caught his footing. "Hurry up, Mister Demyx!"

Zax blinked as he watched the two go rushing out of the room. "Good to see the kid is feeling better." He raised his hands to crack one knuckle after another against his palm; though his disapproval for Ikurx's company was quite easy to see.

Cloud had been staring at the door watching the two leave until he heard the small cracking noise right beside him. He didn't even have to turn his head to know what was going on. The most he did was raise a brow as he kept his eyes on the door. "You know..." He started speaking in a bit of a teasing voice. "I'm quite surprised we didn't come in here to see that Heartless in more then one piece. I'm proud of you for behaving yourself." He finally looked away to focus all of his attention on Zax. "I wouldn't have."

Zax shot Cloud a crooked grin at that. "Guess we're lucky I'm the better man then." He leaned over and stole a quick kiss off Cloud's lips. "Now are you going to chase them down and make sure they play nice?" He began to crack his knuckles on his other hand against his other palm.

"It really couldn't hurt to supervise them from a distance." Cloud shrugged a shoulder after his words and lifted both his hands up to place them on top of Zax's own. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were about ready to snap." He stole a kiss of his own before he was pulling away to head for the door. "Don't worry, I'll watch over them. A water Heartless near the water. This'll be fun." The sarcasm was obvious in his voice as he made his way back out the room.

Outside Ikurx had dragged Demyx all the way to the waters edge. The Nobody was enthralled to be on another beach. He was amazed to see clear blue waves lapping at the sand instead of inky water like the Heartless' beach. It was new to feel the sand soft beneath his bare feet, rough between his toes. He buried his feet, wiggling his toes only to playfully kick at it.

There were a few people along the beach on large colourful towels, some under large beach umbrellas. Those who spotted the Heartless became wary and were quick to pick up their things and vacate the beach. Some didn't even bother getting their things and left the beach quickly. None wanted to be the next victim of the vicious creatures that no one was unfamiliar with.

Ikurx watched the people leave. His eyes closed as a cool breeze blew by rustling his hair and loose shirt. He turned towards Demyx with a small sad smile. "You know what I miss most about the beach..." Ikurx turned his head to look out on the ocean, the glittering reflection of the sun and sky. He ignored the pale hair that fluttered over his face and obscured his vision at times. "The sound."

Demyx couldn't help but stare at each person that left as well. He could feel their fear so clearly even if it wasn't shown on their faces. It took Ikurx's voice to snap him out of the trance that he had been pulled into and quickly looked back at the Nobody with a somber gaze himself. "Hmm, really?" He looked up to watch the waves crash around, finding it much safer then keeping an eye on the few remaining people around the beach. "You really liked that little beach that we brought you to before?"

"Not the sound of the water." Ikurx turned to look at Demyx. "But the music you played. It sounded most beautiful on the beach." He smiled a little shyly as his gaze fell on the water that crept up on the sand darkened and smoothed by water. "It was the first time I had heard music." He cautiously stepped up to the wet sand, stepping on the balls of his feet since it was so much colder. He made a soft sound as the cool water splashed across his feet on the sand he stood on.

Demyx hadn't expected such words. Of course he had gotten such a compliment from Ikurx before, but to hear it again and in such a way caused Demyx to be speechless for a little while as he stared at the Nobody with wide eyes. After a few seconds he got a hold of himself and looked away shyly back to the ocean and gave his own nervous smile as he tried to speak up. "Well, I'd play some more for you, but I'd only end up ruining the beach. It was safer back at my hide out." He glanced back at Ikurx. "I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, though."

Ikurx lightly kicked the water. "Don't worry about it. It'll be something I'll always remember. For as long as I exist... and longer." He slipped his arms behind himself, one hand lightly holding one wrist; it still felt so strange to not be wearing his arm warmers. He stepped a little further into the water, the clear cool water rushing past his shins. "A happy memory just for me, and me alone." Ikurx closed his eyes and listened to the soft sound of waves moving in and out like a constant soft breath. He could recall each soft note that nimble fingers created on strings, the soft breath of water keeping steady rhythm. So softly Ikurx hummed the tune he could remember hearing when he sat on the edge of the black ocean, when time felt at a stand still between so many complications.

It wasn't long before another voice was joining into Ikurx's small little song. Demyx had started to hum right along with the Nobody as he took small steps towards the other until he was right behind the teen. The Heartless' humming grew a bit louder since he was closer, especially when he bent down and slipped his arms around the Nobody's neck from behind to pull him close. The entire time Demyx kept his own eyes on the ocean while the song drifted out between the two of them. For some reason it put Demyx at ease and he wasn't half as nervous as usual.

Ikurx let his humming voice peter away; he couldn't remember much more of the melody. In the silence he let his hands run up to rest on Demyx's upper arms. It was a comfortable silence after, another of many he shared with the Heartless. Though unlike most silences, in this silence Ikurx's mind wasn't cluttered with thought or worry. He leaned his head back to look at the Heartless. Ikurx gave a small smile. "Hey," he spoke in soft playfulness as if he had just seen Demyx.

Demyx finally looked away from the water to look down at the sudden face that was only a few inches from his own. He gave a weak smile after Ikurx's playful greeting. "Hey, yourself." He was soon moving to stand up straight again, but kept his arms around the Nobody as best he could. "It's good to see that you're feeling better. You seem to be much calmer since we got here." He reached one hand up to run fingers through the clean hair. "See, I knew your friends would take care of you."

Ikurx smiled a little more, he rather liked it when Demyx toyed with his hair, and it made him feel something he just couldn't word. "Well, they had a little help from someone."

Demyx only shook his head at that. "I only did the laundry. That doesn't really count for very much." He twirled a strand of hair around a finger and watched as it fell back down without resistance to keep it in place. "Besides, I think that Zax fellow was trying to find any way possible to harm me with just his eyes. It sure felt like he was digging holes into my back with just his gaze." Demyx shrugged after his own words as if he were finally used to it.

Ikurx gave a quiet hum. "Kind of like Mister Cloud is trying to do over there behind us." He tried to keep his laughter in since it wasn't exactly nice to laugh at Demyx's miseries. He did appreciate everyone's tolerance, he really did. "They mean well, that's all. I'm sorry."

Demyx didn't need to be told that Cloud was behind them to know the man was there. He had known the human was following them from the moment they stepped outside onto the beach. In a way it annoyed him, but after all he had been put through because of their hatred for him he didn't really care what Cloud saw. For a split second his arms actually tightened around Ikurx before he spoke up again. "It's not your fault. Don't apologize. We've been over this."

Ikurx gave a small blink. "If I don't apologize, no one will." He leaned back against Demyx. The Heartless' embrace was cold, but not unpleasantly so. It was as cold as the water around his feet, a calming sort of cool. "Will you let me complete my promise? Today."

"T-Today?" Finally Demyx stuttered and the calm demeanor he tried to have fell away in an instant at just that one question. He pulled his arms away only to rest hands on Ikurx's shoulders so he could turn the teen around to face him. "Ikurx, why today? You're supposed to be relaxing and enjoying yourself. This is a vacation. The others, they'll just come after you if you do such a thing."

A warm hand rested on Demyx's chest, over his still heart. "Helping you... would finally put me at ease." He smiled a little as his eyes downcasted. "I would be able to relax once you're okay." His fingers curled weakly. "Please don't say no. I want to finally give you what you've been fighting so hard for from the start. Si- since... Since Axel." His hand curled completely into a weak fist on Demyx's chest.

Demyx was quick to place his hand right on top of Ikurx's own after those last stuttered words. Part of him wanted so badly to just take what Ikurx was willing to give him, but another part that was worried about the Nobody was the part that had him hesitating. Still, he couldn't deny Ikurx what would make him happy. "F-Fine, if that's what you want." He leaned down a little to quickly brush lips again the top of Ikurx's head before he spoke up again. "I'll protect you, so do what you have to do."

Ikurx threw his arms around Demyx's neck and hugged him tightly. He didn't know exactly why he did it, maybe it was to console the Heartless and show him that he believed in what he could do, or maybe it was to reassure himself that this was the right thing to do. Ikurx knew he wasn't entirely at full strength yet, he still staggered sometimes on weak legs, small waves of dizziness. But he had enough strength to help Demyx. And he knew that even if unconsciousness took him again, Demyx would take care of him. "Make sure everyone else gets out safe too, Mister Demyx," he very quietly whispered.

Demyx was quick to give a small nod to such words. He may not have liked how Zax and Cloud had been treating him as soon as they laid eyes on him, but he refused to leave them behind. The same went for Sora's two friends that Demyx had been trying his best to avoid this whole trip. They were important people to Ikurx and that meant Demyx had to help them out in any way possible as soon as the others came. "I'll do everything I can." He whispered back just as softly.

Slowly Ikurx let go, standing back down. "Then let's go somewhere else. Where Mister Cloud isn't staring." He leaned over to the side and gave a wave 'hi' to where he could feel Cloud's stare.

Demyx turned around and watched as Cloud seemed to jump from where he was hiding at just that small wave. It was obvious the man was a bit miffed at being caught, but had still given his own quick wave in return before he turned away from them. Demyx didn't pay much attention, deciding to look back at Ikurx so he could give the teen his full attention and a small smile. "Alright, sure. We can go further down the beach if you want. Maybe it will be a little less crowded." In the back of his mind Demyx knew everyone on the beach would run away. That would add to the privacy factor around them.

That was enough for Ikurx to snatch Demyx's hand and pull him further down the beach. He followed the water's edge, splashing through the water when it washed up to him on the wet sand. You wouldn't think they were going to light a beckon big enough to alert the most vicious of Heartless of the known worlds with just how light hearted Ikurx's actions were. Though from inside him no real feelings ever emitted from him for the Heartless to read the Nobody was still all smiles and soft laughs when his weakness caused his footing to be clumsy.

Ikurx turned around to face Demyx, walking backwards as he spoke up with new excitement. "What will be the first thing you do as a Somebody, Mister Demyx?"

Demyx had been watching Ikurx with a small smile on his face. It was good to see the teen just try to act as carefree as he could despite the danger he would be put in soon. The question caught him a little off guard though, but Demyx found it wasn't that hard to answer. "I want to see my reflection." After the words left him he realized how silly they probably sounded and that same nervous feeling suddenly resurfaced as he let out a small laugh. "I mean, ya know, since I haven't seen the real me in so long. It will be nice."

Ikurx tilted his head. "You'll look at yourself?" He gave a small laugh. "That's different. When Mister Zax first came back he gave Mister Cloud a big hug. Hmm- Zexion didn't do much of anything. Not that I can remember the moment all too well. Or what Roxas did. My memory blanks out for most of it. I just remember waking up and-... and things were, well, they're alright now." He clasped Demyx's hand in both of his to tug better. "Everyone's reaction is different when they come back, because all their reasons for coming back are different. But I guess that's expected."

"It is." Demyx confirmed easily with those two words. "Everyone is expected to react differently when they become Somebody. We've all been waiting for the moment for different reasons, just as you said, but we've still waited just as long. I can't say much for Zax since I don't know him very well, but he and Cloud seem close." That was putting it lightly. The two men were much more then that. It wasn't hard to tell by how strongly one's heart felt for the other while Demyx had been staying with them. "It doesn't shock me that his first reaction would be just that." Demyx gave a thoughtful hum for a few seconds before he continued speaking. "I want to see the real me, just to see that it's all real. That I finally have what I've been trying to accomplish for so long."

"You will. But you won't just see it. You'll feel it." Ikurx let a hand go to raise it to his own chest and tapped it on the left side. "Here. Even the cruelest of Somebodies have a warm heart. Inside." His hand grasped Demyx's hand again. "I've seen it. I've felt it, as they come back to fit the missing pieces for those around them." Ikurx gave a weak smile. "I'm sure it feels wonderful to have that soft beat in your chest, giving you life and love."

"I can't wait to feel it." Demyx whispered the words quietly after everything Ikurx said. He gripped the teen's hands tightly in his own, giving the Nobody a small smile. He only wished he could really let Ikurx know how much this all meant instead of just telling him with simple words. It didn't feel like very much. "Thanks, Ikurx..." He spoke the words anyway, hoping the boy could see the gratitude somewhere in his expression and beneath glowing eyes.

"You don't have to thank me, Mister Demyx." Ikurx's smile broadened. "It's what I was made to do. Like you were made to control water. It would be kind of silly and obscure to thank you for moving water around." He gave a small laugh. "But you're welcome. I'm glad to be able to finally help you."

Demyx gave a small nod to those last words. After a few more steps he finally slowed. The area of the beach around them was rather unoccupied and there weren't even any stands around that handed out food and such. It was as private as private could get. It was easy to tell Demyx was still nervous about what would be coming up after all was said and done, but he tried to mask it as best he could with a small smile to Ikurx, letting his hands finally fall away to rest at his sides. "You're really sure about this?" The question came out quickly. He couldn't help it, wanting to make sure Ikurx didn't make a mistake risking so much just for him.

Ikurx gave a firm nod. "I am." He unclipped his star charm from his shirt collar and in a burst of illumination the angelic keyblade was in his hand. The Nobody couldn't help but stare at the winged keyblade, like it was his first time seeing it. It had been a long while since he held it, back when he tried to bring Axel back and told Roxas to leave him behind, making him promise to take care of Demyx. So much more had happened between then and now. Ikurx wondered if all that personal experience had distorted his view on life, living and 'people'. It hadn't jaded him yet, simply made him a little more opinionated.

"Demyx..." It was one of the few times Ikurx ever said the Heartless' name without the 'Mister' prefix. "I've never questioned- why I can call this, or why this is mine. It just always felt as if that was the way it should be. And I never questioned it." He twirled the blade in hand. "I've questioned everyone else but myself." He gave a sad smile. "It just always seemed that everyone had the answers except me, so I never bothered." Ikurx raised a hand to rest it on Demyx's chest. "So... maybe I could ask you to answer a special question for me one day. Since I don't know the answer to it."

Demyx placed a hand right on top of Ikurx's own. "Anything, Ikurx." His eyes fell away from the Nobody to stare at the keyblade with interested eyes. He kept still though, and only seemed entranced by it for a few seconds since his eyes moved right back to Ikurx's face. "You can always ask me anything and I'll always try to answer you the best I can. Now. Later. Whenever." He gripped fingers beneath his own for a moment before he loosened his hold to continue speaking. "I'm here for you." He smiled weakly.

Ikurx's eyes fell down to the keyblade instead of physically gesturing to it. His voice was far quieter than a whisper. "What is its name?"

Demyx's attention turned to the keyblade once again as his expression became thoughtful. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer such a question. Of course his Nobody had been briefed about Keyblades and such in the past and as a Heartless he had to remember every little detail about how dangerous they could be as well. There were other bits of information that finally had him opening his mouth after so much silence. "I'm not sure, Ikurx. The name is usually chosen for the blade I believe. Although, if you're not sure of it then I suppose that means it's up to you to name it yourself." He finally looked back at Ikurx and gave another quick squeeze to the boy's hand before he dropped his own. "It just has to come to you."

Ikurx shook his head slowly. "That's not entirely what I meant." He could feel his cheeks grow warm, and something akin to embarrassment. He gave a small shy smile as he glanced up at Demyx. "Name it... for me?" He suddenly felt terribly aware of his hand on Demyx's chest and that he was nervously fiddling with the Heartless' shirt. He retracted his hand to his own chest, but there wasn't any charm there to fiddle with, so he idly tugged at the large collar of his shirt.

Demyx could feel his eyes widening over Ikurx's words. He hadn't expected to be told to name such a weapon ever in his lifetimes. It seemed a bit surreal and a little ironic in a way as well. Once again Demyx found himself staring at the blade that Ikurx held that could give hearts back to anyone that had lost them. He felt touched in a way he had never felt before and found himself smiling a little. Of course it left his mind in a complete blank as to what exactly to answer with. He didn't know when, but soon enough he felt his lips pressing close as could be against Ikurx's own, smiling the entire time against them as he tried his best not to give a small laugh.

When Demyx pulled back he looked right into Ikurx's eyes and nodded a bit before he finally spoke up. "I promise. I'll think up a very good name for it." He raised a hand up to run a finger down the Nobody's cheek, letting it fall back down after the action. "Alright?"

Ikurx gave a shy weak nod, the warmth spreading darker on his cheeks with that one happy kiss. It left his mind spinning in a pleasant way, and he felt a little dazed and uneasy on his feet. "A-alright." His smile was a little crooked. It was hard for him to think beyond that moment when all inside he felt flustered and now giddy. Ikurx took a small shaky breath and rested his hand back on Demyx's chest, over the still heart. His fingers smoothed over the fabric of what Demyx wore. "You... you don't remember much of your Somebody... Mostly just memories of your Nobody. Why?"

"Mmm, well, I suppose it's because all of those memories belonged to my Nobody. It's easier to remember my Nobody's life then anything that happened to my Somebody." Demyx shrugged a shoulder to the topic as he straightened back up and looked out at the ocean. He could feel Ikurx's hand still on his chest, but didn't pay as much mind to it. "It's just how things worked out for me when splitting into a Heartless. It doesn't bother me too much, though."

"The same Somebody, but not the same person." Ikurx let his eyes fall shut. "You both existed at the same time at one point... Did you share the same memories then?"

"Well, at one point we all existed in the same body." Demyx lifted a hand to tick off on his fingers. "Somebody. Heartless. Nobody." His hand dropped back down as he turned his eyes back on Ikurx. "We were all one person, so I suppose we did share the same memories, but, heh, that's just what made us a Somebody." The nervous laughter came again and he gave another quick shrug. "It can't really be helped, ya know, memories being lost."

Ikurx's eyes slowly drew open to look up at Demyx. "When your Nobody was alive, did you two share the same memories then? Or... was it when he-... when he died, that you remembered his memories too?"

"When he died." The answer was quick and there was no emotion to it, but Demyx couldn't help that. It wasn't really a memory he wanted to continue to think about, especially considering the reason his Nobody had died. He didn't want it to be brought up if it didn't need to be, and he had already explained it once. That was enough.

Ikurx's eyes down casted at that, at his hand on Demyx's chest. His own memories of when they laid in the dark in the spare room on the gummi ship clouded his mind's eye; how much he clung to the Heartless and how short Demyx's answers had been.

"... Close your eyes," Ikurx quietly instructed, "and... tell me where you were when you remembered his memories. What were you doing when it happened?" Ikurx let his own eyes fall shut again. "Why did you remember?"

Demyx swallowed hard at the quiet command, but did as told. His eyes shut slowly and before he knew it words were coming forth from his mouth in a near whisper. "There was nothing but darkness around me. I could feel it crawling all around me; twisting all over me." His voice broke for a second, but he managed to continue on. "I could see everything replaying that happened like some sick and twisted movie. It was taunting me and showing me how dead I really was. I didn't- couldn't handle that. It wasn't fair." His hands shook as he spoke. "That cruel darkness...it even showed me..." The words stopped before he even spoke them and he took a deep breath before going on. "I gave into it. I let it take over my being and gave into all of the hurtful memories and clutched onto my reason to live again."

"... Axel." Ikurx barely finished.

 _'...He made me feel... like I had a heart.'_

"He... just wanted to see Roxas again. At least once." Ikurx's fingers tightened on Demyx's shirt. "... He never did."

 _'Oh- we do too have hearts. Don't be mad...'_

"He inspired you to try. You wanted to prove you could be just as passionate about fighting for something as he was... But he never cared why. ...So when it was your turn to retrieve Roxas, you didn't care if it was alive or dead."

 _'You can't trick us!'_

"... But it wasn't Roxas this time."

 _'Silence traitor.'_

Water was spilt instead of blood while music wasn't enough to stave off the determination of the light. There were cries and doppelgangers fell, the water so much clearer then. The sitar fell with a choking gurgle of water and he clutched his head as his entirety, not a soul but his existence, was torn away into utter nothingness. He fell to his knees and screamed, and Sora watched with his companions without a flicker in hard expression as nobody died.

Ikurx jerked back with a choked gasp caught in his tight throat. His hand yanked back, tearing the physical link. His mind reeled with the realization, the disturbing truth that hurt far worse than any physical pain. Without a heart Ikurx had nothing to feel for the horror seen, so with nothing came nothing and all his energy drained from him. The keyblade fell from his hand, disappearing in a blush of light only to fall on the sand as the single keychain. Ikurx was next to join it, falling hard on his knees in the sand without so much as a small cry.

Demyx had been sent to retrieve Roxas, but instead he fought Sora. Sora killed Demyx. No one cried for him. No one cared.

Demyx's eyes had snapped open as soon as Ikurx had pulled his hand away. The link between them had brought back every painful memory of his Nobody's death, moment by moment, and through it all he could still hear Ikurx's own words in the back of his mind. It was that which made him realize that the cover was blown. He couldn't protect the Nobody from the truth any longer. His wide eyes stared at the crumpled form on the sand and despite what had just been seen he tried to reach a shaking hand out to touch the teen. "I-Ikurx?"

It was under the weight of that simple touch that the Nobody fell apart, falling onto the sand on his arms. His fingers dug into the smooth texture of sand, a desperate weak clawing. Ikurx stared with dull empty eyes at the sand. But he had no strength left to hold his head up so he crashed his forehead into the sand, shaking his head in denial, as if that would be enough to erase the past.

It hadn't been quick, it hadn't been painless; not that Ikurx could push those few words past his lips. His throat ached with the choking tightness and his eyes stung hot with tears that would never shed. Still, even if Ikurx was never meant to feel or cry that didn't stop the destroyed choked sob that wracked through his body.

Demyx flinched at hearing such a distraught sound come from Ikurx. He felt as if this was all his fault. He wanted so badly to keep those memories hidden away and safe from the Nobody, but it seemed as if it wasn't meant to be. "Ikurx... please..." He pleaded softly, hoping that it would help in some strange way. Slowly he moved to kneel down in front of the other, moving one hand to the Nobody's shoulder and the other to run through his hair.

Ikurx's grip tightened in the sand. It was pitiful that those hot tears wouldn't come and all he could do was mimic the pathetic sound while the Heartless was able to touch him with such worry. All of it was just too much to bear; his chest couldn't hold the ache and frustration. Ikurx ripped his hand free of the sound to pound an angry fist into the ground, again and again and again. His fist then stilled in the sand a tight trembling thing, and another dry tormented sob left him.

Demyx jumped a little and frowned at Ikurx's frustration. He pulled his hands back and fisted them tightly in his lap as his eyes fell to the teen's one hand that had pounded against the sand. It was such a sad sight to see. "Ikurx." He spoke the Nobody's name once again, but in a weaker tone. He knew he probably wouldn't get an answer. There was nothing he could do. He only seemed to be making the situation worse with each touch given and word spoken, but he couldn't help trying. "I'm sorry... I just thought it would hurt you to know what I did. What my mission was and why my Nobody died." His eyes fell halfway as they kept on Ikurx. "Sorry..."

On trembling arms Ikurx pushed himself up. Leaning heavily on one arm he wiped the sand off his face. His head hung heavily after that, hair hanging over his face and littered with sand. Still his glazed eyes stared at the sand. "...I ... I believed in Him." His voice was a broken mess, pushed through a tight throat. "... But even the Light is tainted too, I guess." His brows furrowed. "... He was my... my-..." No, Sora was Riku's everything, not his. Ikurx's eyes fell heavily shut half way.

Demyx kept silent for a long time after Ikurx's words. This was the exact reason he didn't want to say anything. Heart or not, Ikurx was still Riku's Nobody and would share a strong bond with the person that Demyx had tried to put away. This was just too much, but Demyx found that he couldn't keep secrets any longer. "Most of us... most of our Nobodies died fighting him. It's obvious that the ones who did failed..." And in an instant he found himself revealing to Ikurx what had never been cleared up on the ship what felt like long ago. "We fell at the hands of the Keyblade Master."

"S-Sora... the Keyblade Master." A single tear fell down Ikurx's cheek but it wasn't what he wanted, it wasn't worth the hundreds of unshed tears he was forced to keep inside. Slowly Ikurx raised his gaze to look at Demyx's face. "Donald... Goofy... Sora... Riku... The Organization. All of you wanted to kill each other." He slowly shook his head. "The reasons don't matter. All there is between each of you is death." Ikurx took in a hard breath. "Is the only point of my existence to bring you all back so you can kill each other again?!" His voice broke and he choked on emotion that wasn't there. " _That's_ the real reason for the 'Fail Safe' isn't it?! To come back and try to kill the other person!" Ikurx's arms holding him trembled dangerously. "An endless loop of killing... I don't want any part in that."

Demyx's eyes fell even more at such words. He had never heard Ikurx sound so broken and angry before. His hands closed even tighter in his lap and soon nails were digging into his palms, but he ignored the pain. It didn't matter to him. He tried so hard to find something to say, especially after those last words. He never meant to upset Ikurx so badly, but he couldn't think of anything when the truth had been revealed finally. He couldn't go back and deny it. "Ikurx...I'm sorry." It was the only thing he had left.

Sorry just wasn't enough to quell the hurt and betrayal that racked through Ikurx's chest. All of what he'd just seen was in the past; the Heartless Demyx was just a twisted half with memories of his former Nobody. This Demyx's reasons were different than the other; still, they hadn't been for Ikurx to start. Had Axel given in, Demyx wouldn't be here like this. And some how that cheapened the sincerity. The truth always did. Ignorance had been bliss, but there was no getting that back again. Nothing seemed to be truly meant for him.

"... Cloud was wrong." Ikurx blindly searched for his keychain in the sand. "Keeping secrets hurts more than lies." He found the charm and grabbed it up clumsily in his hands. Moving quickly to avoid as much physical contact as possible, Ikurx pried open one of Demyx's hands only to place the keychain in it. "Here... It seems I'm as bad at keeping promises as my Someone. You keep this Promise." Ikurx closed Demyx's fingers over the star charm; the little star that was the embodiment of paopu promises.

The wind blew a cool gust as Ikurx stared at the keychain in Demyx's hand before he forced himself to stand. He kept his dull eyes on the sand as he moved slow and lifelessly like an empty doll.

Demyx stared down at the small keychain that was suddenly in his hands. This all felt so wrong. Everything felt so broken apart after they had just fixed so much. Had it been any other situation Demyx would have hurried after Ikurx, but instead, he found himself letting the Nobody go. He couldn't deal with hurting Ikurx anymore then he had already.

With a shaking hand, Demyx placed fingers onto the sand beneath him. In a matter of seconds blackness began to take over the area around him to form a portal to the darkness while his other hand held tight to the keychain with little more then a death grip. He needed to clear his head. He needed to be away from Ikurx while the Nobody was so upset with him. He couldn't do that while cooped up in the same area. He would stay away until he was needed. He had promised to protect Ikurx no matter what, but until then he would stay where he belonged.


	50. Chapter 50

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 50

The doors to the school's gym slammed open and it was a blessing that no one was occupying the area at the time. If they were they would have thought Roxas rather insane for the way he stormed in with such a serious, not to mention angry, expression crossed over his face. Roxas wouldn't have cared either way though, because Riku's actions prior to coming to the gym had annoyed him enough to want to tear down the entire building, but he couldn't, so he just opted for trying to knock the doors off their hinges and scowled when he didn't succeed.

Roxas only stopped walking when he was in the center of the gym's floor and turned on his heel sharply to face the older boy that had been following him the entire way. He had felt Riku's eyes on his back all the way through the halls and it had added to his frustration. It was like being in the classroom all over again. He didn't say a word and just stared at Riku with narrowed eyes, but did get some satisfaction out of seeing the mark he had left on the other's cheek.

Riku's calm steps stopped as he entered the gym. With a simple gesture the doors slammed shut on their own, locking tightly. All the other doors to the gym did the same. Along all the walls and ceiling a clear barrier materialized only to glimmer into invisibility.

Riku's gaze fell from the walls back to Roxas, his composure like ice unlike Roxas' raging emotions. "No way in, no way out."

Roxas tore his eyes away just long enough to look around. His body felt tense at the sudden caged in area, but there was no turning back now. He was soon turning his attention back on Riku and the rigid stance he had been in relaxed a little as he tried to get a hold of himself. "Fine by me." He spoke the words quietly, but still they echoed in the large gym.

Hands moved up to the torn shirt that Riku had destroyed and soon Roxas was discarding it to the floor. The flimsy uniform shirt would only get in the way since it was no longer buttoned; there was no sense in wearing it during a battle. His tie was quick to follow before he dropped his hands back down to his sides where black flames started to lick at the air around them. Before they became too intense the two blades he had been given came to life in his hands as he continued to stare into Riku's eyes.

The corner of Riku's lips smirked, amused at Roxas' intensity. He didn't call Way to Dusk yet. Instead he raised a hand to run it over the button of his own lips, giving them an idle lick. "So, where did the fire Heartless scurry off to anyway?" He mocked a glance around as if Axel would show up there and then. "I'm sure he'd like to know whose name you were just whining for while you were just pressed up against lockers."

Roxas' hands tightened at that memory and that familiar tightening in his chest returned, but he pushed it away again. He refused to answer Riku's question and only bit back his own response. "It's because you were toying with me. You were playing around with my emotions and twisting them into something that wasn't meant to be there." He twirled one of the blades he held, feeling as if he were about ready to snap. "And you call Axel manipulative. Quite hypocritical of you, Riku."

Riku's smile was cold. "I didn't make you kiss back. That was all you," his smile grew malicious as he added, " _Sora_ "

Roxas' eyes flashed with obvious anger at that one name he easily despised more then the person standing in front of him. The one label that Riku and others had continued to stamp on him again and again. It was a constant annoyance. Added onto the taunting words Riku spoke, Roxas was done with talking.

Sneakers squeaked against the gym floor as Roxas made a quick dash away from the spot he had been standing in since they entered the gym. He didn't care that Riku hadn't drawn his blade yet. It was Riku's problem, not his. One blade was slammed into the wooden floor inches from Riku as flames trailed down away from the blade to surround the other teen. Roxas didn't wait for the flames to rise very high. The twin blade he held swung around in his other hand to try and make its mark on the other teen as the flames were made to keep Riku at bay.

Roxas' actions were fueled by seething emotion, despite the fiery power behind them it made easy to read. Riku smirked; Roxas' long desired heart was now his weakness.

Riku leapt into the air, it saved him the heat from the surrounding flames below as well as the deadly strike to his person. He used Roxas' outstretch arm as ground to flip over him, adding insult to injury by poking the back of Roxas' head as he landed behind him with ease. Though Riku was quick to move back to avoid Roxas' lash back.

Roxas glared something fierce when his blade hit nothing as he swung backwards. The poke to his head had annoyed him more then Riku's cocky attitude. He twisted around completely to face the other once again and swung both blades beside him, causing the flames to flicker out of existence. "You wanted to fight me, Riku, so fight!" He shouted the words this time and they echoed even louder then his last ones. "Stop fooling around!"

Riku gave a short dry laugh. "It's not my fault you can't hit me." He gave a cocky 'heh'. "Or that you have the raging emotions of a teenage girl." Oh how fun that anger was to stir in Roxas' heart. It was much more fun to stoke the fires with just simple words. Riku shrugged out his hands dramatically as if this were truly such a lost cause. "I guess you handle your keyblades like you do your emotions." Riku grinned from under silver bangs. " _Badly_."

"You weren't saying that when I kicked your ass before!" Roxas was quick to spit back harshly. After the words left him he kept his gaze narrowed on the boy across from him for a few seconds before he was speaking again. "In fact..." A small grin finally started to come to his own face at his own remembrance. "...you had to be the one person you loath to even defeat me." As soon as the words left him he brought both blades together, connecting them like perfect little puzzle pieces, and watched as black flames gathered at the joined ends before shooting out in a vicious blast towards Riku.

A little harder to dodge. Riku staggered from the leap back he had to make to avoid. He tsked and dusted the sleeves of shirt. "Almost singed my new uniform shirt," he idly muttered as he went to rolling up his sleeves. After, Riku's attention was better on Roxas. "Hmm. Well, if we're getting down to the nitty gritty, you had to borrow a vital part of Sora just to feel." He drummed a rhythm on his own chest with a smirk. "His heart pumps your humanity through your veins, giving you feelings." Riku gave a mocking smile as he rested his hand over his own heart. "It must be truly tearing you up inside to know that no matter how much you deny it, you love me." He raised his hand up to kiss his fingers, blowing it Roxas' way.

Roxas had torn the twin keyblades apart to be by his sides again and scowled at Riku's actions. "You're so full of it. You think I actually love you? Just because I have half of what is rightfully mine?" He scoffed and turned his head to the side, but never his eyes. "I'm not going to believe a word you say. These feelings are mine. I can feel everything I was always meant to feel." Roxas straightened back up, turning his head towards Riku once again. "And I know that I hate you, Riku and I'm going to end this entire thing. I'm going to have my own life without you and without Sora."

Riku narrowed his eyes with a dark smirk. "I can think of far better uses for that cocky little mouth of yours." His smirk grew. " _Sora_." He reached out a hand towards Roxas and beckoned for the other teen to come hither.

There was that twisting pain in his chest again as Roxas stared at Riku's out stretched hand. His expression fell to something more troubled as the hold he had on his blades loosened from such a tight grip. He was soon walking step by step towards the other teen as the ends of each keyblade moved across the wooden floor. Closer and closer Roxas moved as the emotions inside of him continued to stir around.

As suddenly as Roxas' feet moved they stopped when the teen was but a couple of feet away from Riku. His eyes were hard again, but it was easy to see that he was still battling everything inside of him by the look in his eyes. Without a word spoken he lifted one of his blades to place the sharpened end at Riku's throat, breathing heavily as he tried to get himself under control. "Shut...up..." He swallowed hard, pressing closer with his blade. He lowered his head a bit, having to look up at Riku through his bangs as he spoke his next words. "You...I can't believe Ikurx is really your Nobody. He's not a cold, unfeeling bastard like you. Is this what you both have planned for him? To take him away from whatever life he wants for himself too?" His next words were screamed near Riku's face as he lifted his head back up. "We're not allowed anything, are we?!"

Riku's eyes snapped wide at that, surprised that Roxas would even bring up his Nobody above all things. The comparison to his fragile other, dragging him down to the level of all Nobodies, woke the venomous anger that slept in him like a dark serpent around his heart. His cool eyes were quick to narrow.

"You're not even supposed to exist!" Riku shouted back as his tightened fist drove itself into Roxas' jaw with fierce murderous intention.

The force of the blow sent Roxas back a good few feet and sprawling out on his back. His keyblades both clattered away from his hands and vanished in an instant. A low groan left his lips, but he didn't stay down for long. He pushed himself up on shaking arms and took even longer to stand back up. Blood leaked down from his lip which came from inside his mouth, but all he did was wipe it away. "So what?" Roxas started to speak again as soon as he was steady. "I'm here aren't I? I was born and went through hell just to get to this point in time. You have no clue what it's like not to feel." His eyes narrowed to slits. "To want something so badly you'd do anything to get it." He spit out the excess blood that was in his mouth onto the floor before that cocky smirk came back to his face. "I've talked to Ikurx and after that stunt you pulled I'm sure he isn't too fond of you, am I right? Heh, want to talk about irony now, Riku?"

Riku rubbed his fingers over knuckles that were bruising over from just how hard he'd hit Roxas. He didn't notice the pain as he kept his eyes trained on Roxas. Instead he tightened the fist and cracked the joints against his other hand's palm.

"Looking out for your fellow Nobody?" Riku scoffed. "You're anything but selfless. You scurried and clawed your way to find _Ikurx_ , to use him like a lifeless tool just like your ex-Nobody comrades. Comrades who you betrayed to find your other, I might add."

Riku lowered his hands at his sides as he calmly stepped towards Roxas. "I know what it's like to want something- _need_ something so badly," his eyes fell heavily lidded as that dark smirk returned, "you'd give every last inch- to acquire your _heart_ 's desire." He walked until he was a good few feet beside Roxas facing the other way. "Cyclically, you and I. You want Sora's heart, I need yours and Sora has mine."

Roxas had been on his guard as soon as Riku stepped near him, but still he listened closely. The last part spoken had his gaze narrowing more, and he finally turned his head to study the boy beside him. It wasn't long before his lips twisted up as he snarled a bit and he was looking ahead once more. "You'll both just have to deal with things the way they are."

Roxas took a few steps away from Riku, but still didn't turn around. His fists clenched at his sides and he could feel that familiar anger bubbling up again. "You treat me like I'm such a bad person. Have you tried looking into a mirror lately? You've done far worse things then me lately, Riku. At least I'm trying to make up for my mistakes. All you're doing is digging yourself deeper." He finally turned around and glared at the older boy with vicious blue eyes. "You'll always be a puppet, Riku. Just something for the darkness to have its fun with and the day you killed Kairi made that more then obvious."

Riku hummed absently. "Pot to kettle, Sora." At his own leisure he turned to finally face Roxas. "What can you honestly say you've done to atone for your 'sins'?" He gestured about them. "Is this it? Forgetting those you stepped on to get here. I never claimed to be the better half. No, he's elsewhere." He gave a loose shrug. "Funny you should mention Kairi. Heh, I've made peace with her. At least- a piece of her." Riku reached into his pocket and pulled a piece of folded cardboard. "She drew me this." With ease he tossed it Roxas' way.

Roxas caught the piece of cardboard and eyed it as if it would blow up the moment he touched it. When nothing happened he immediately opened it little by little until the entire thing was unfolded and he could get a good look at the picture. Sketchy lines made up very familiar figures that he guessed were himself and Riku. The tall clock tower that was infamous in Twilight Town settled in the background as the both of them stood in front of it. Even with the charcoal look it still wasn't difficult to make out and Roxas knew in an instant whose masterpiece it was. The white room from long ago pointed to that. For some reason he felt a bit betrayed that Naminé would give such a picture to Riku, but it wasn't his place to say.

The picture was folded back up just as quickly as it was opened and tossed right back to Riku. Roxas narrowed his eyes once again before his gaze fell down to the floor under his sneakers. "I'm doing whatever I can. I know I'm a traitor, but I chose that path. I just want to forget about it. I want to be normal and have a life. If I have to fight to stay here with Axel, then fine." His hands twitched again at his sides and he had to take another deep breath. "That picture will never become a reality..."

"But it has." Riku held the picture up he had caught. "I'm here." He pointed to the taller figure who was himself on the drawing. "And you're here." He pointed at the other drawn figure. "And Twilight Town." He tapped the tower. "We're here too. Heh, funny how that worked out." He neatly folded the picture to put back in his pocket.

Riku regained his composure, but instead of apathy it was more casual. He didn't want to continue their cat and mouse game for the moment. It was getting them no where. "You can't say Sora hasn't respected you, treated you well as his other. You sought him out; you needed him just as much as he needed you. You tested him and found him a worthy other. Together you were perfect." He rested a hand on his own chest. "You're his passion, his energy, determination; a vital part of Sora. You gave him normalcy." Riku's hand fell away as he searched Roxas' expression. "... He loves you, and needs you. And so do I."

Roxas was quick to roll his eyes. It was a simple gesture and caused him to break eye contact with Riku which was something he wanted to do. "Doesn't matter how many times you say it. I still care even less then I did before." His eyes strayed to the score board high up on the wall of the gym. Anything to keep his eyes off Riku. It had only seemed to make him feel worse inside. "Why should I stay dormant while he gets to have the life that I wanted? How is that fair? I was ripped away from everything just so I could watch the two of you be happy and I've come to hate that."

It hadn't been a good idea to remove eyes from Riku, for in a breath the older teen was far too close without the sound of a single footstep. Roxas' chin was quirked up with a knuckle and soon a slow lick to the corner of his mouth came, cleaning the new trickle of blood falling there. "... If you hate it so much, Sora," the whisper was breathed against the corner of Roxas' mouth, "why do you feel so guilty?" A sharp jab spiked under Roxas' ribs, a fist to his gut. Riku leaned nearer to murmur against Roxas' ear. "Why does your heart hurt so much?"

Roxas gasped for breath at the sudden pain and both his hands fell instantly to claw at Riku's arm. He glanced at Riku from the corner of his eyes as he tried to get a hold of himself and spat vicious words back. "I don't feel anything for you. No guilt or hurt. Any guilt I feel is for past actions that happened between me and Axel, and I'm not going to let you twist any of that into something it's not." After the words left him he removed one of his hands, clenching it into a fist to swing it up towards Riku's face.

Riku easily caught the sloppy punch, grasping tight to Roxas' wrist. "I don't need to twist what's true." He placed a soft affectionate kiss on the underside of Roxas' wrist, trailing up to nip hard at the soft underside of his forearm. "I'm twisted enough for the both of us." With his free arm Riku slipped it around Roxas to drag his winded form near, nails clawing down the bare small of his back.

Roxas' breathing quickened at Riku's actions. The inner turmoil he was dealing with started to pound against his chest again as nails raked down tracks that were still healing on his back. His eyes stayed narrowed while he struggled in Riku's strong hold. His free hand rose up to punch hard against the taller boy's chest, gripping tightly to the uniform shirt he wore at the same time, hoping to tear it to make up for what had been done to his own. "Quit trying to molest me, Riku. It's really getting old!"

"Then how come your heart is beating so fast?" Riku gave a throaty chuckle. His hand dragged up higher, he could feel the heated beat through muscle and bone. "How come you're so _excited_?" His lips touched skin that was unmarked on Roxas' shoulder, trailing to the crook of neck and shoulder. " _Masochist_ " he murmured in a throaty tone against skin before he bit the soft spot fiercely.

Roxas' eyes had snapped open, hearing the one word that had been spoken to him by Axel, now being shot back at him in Riku's husky voice so close to him. He felt twisted in so many different directions and still wanted badly to fight against what Riku was pushing onto him, but the harsh bite to his skin caused a loud sound to leave his lips and his eyes to flutter closed. He had no answers for the one person that was trying so hard to dominate him. He could only cling tightly to the shirt beneath his fingers as he held on.

Riku ran his tongue across the bite mark made deep enough to break the skin. Roxas' weakening fight had him smirking against the wet skin. He attacked the abused skin again with his mouth, nipping up his neck with fierce little bites. Behind Roxas, Riku's hand grasped the back of the other's neck to yank his head back to expose more neck. Riku chuckled low in his throat near Roxas' ear. "You're so easy, _Sora_."

Roxas couldn't help moaning at each harsh bite given to him by the person he hated. The emotions running wild inside of him wouldn't allow him to keep quiet. Even when his head was yanked back his eyes still stayed closed, but that fierce anger he felt before came back at Riku's words along with the name and his hand that was clenched so tightly in Riku's shirt moved up and around to bury itself in Riku's hair. As soon as he had hold of a few strands he was yanking the other teen back, none too gently, away from his throat and allowed his own breathing to settle before he pulled his own head away from Riku's hand as best he could.

With a snarl, Roxas opened his eyes and leaned in close, moving up on tip-toes since he had pulled Riku's head back so far. He moved in to speak near to the other boy's lips in a harsh whisper. "Wrong again." As soon as the words left him his fingers tightened and he gave a rather rough bite to Riku's bottom lip.

Riku gave a low sound in his throat at the sharp bite. He could taste blood, but it was hard to say if it was Roxas' or his. His hands were quick to bury in Roxas' hair, yanking him forward to roughly cover his mouth with his own. Teeth scraped against lips and gums as the kiss was far from kind. Riku could taste the metallic tang of blood in Roxas' mouth only sweetened by the ice cream the teen was always constantly eating. His retaliation for the bite to his lip was to bite hard the corner of Roxas' lips. Riku licked his own lips after. "I think each kiss says otherwise."

Roxas let go of Riku's hair after such words. They were like a switch for him and he was quick to pull himself back together. As he licked the corner of his lips and more to be free of each drop of blood that lingered he used his sudden free hand to push at Riku, wanting the other teen away from him as far as could be. "Manipulative asshole. Get the hell away from me!" His other hand slapped Riku's hand away from his hair, annoyed that the other was still touching him. "Quit toying with me and twisting my feelings around. Go slobber all over Sora you sick bastard, and quit calling me by his damn name! I'm _not_ Sora! I was given a name and it's still my name to this day!"

"Name given by a mad man." Riku smoothed a hand through his hair, brushing it over his shoulder. He shrugged. "Though sadly, this time, I didn't mess with your feelings at all. That was all you." He rubbed his lips, licking the bite on his bottom lip after. "And like it or not, you're still a part of Sora." He coolly walked a few steps from Roxas. "But I'm not 'slobbering'; I believe I'm 'biting'." He turned to give Roxas a wry smirk. "And it didn't sound like you minded in the slightest."

Roxas clenched his teeth rather hard since the grinding could be heard throughout the gym. He could feel the phantom touches as if Riku's lips were still there, lingering on his skin and biting wherever able. It had him looking away from Riku in a quick second to glare at the floor instead as he lifted a hand to rub it along his neck where the worst of the freshest bites lay. "You wanted to fight me. If this is your idea of fighting then you can just get the hell out of here right now, because I'm not leaving with you."

Riku gave a short laugh; seemed he'd stressed Roxas out in the best of ways. His gaze traveled from Roxas up to the score board the shorter teen had been looking at before to avoid looking at Riku. "Fine. Have it your way."

In a breath Riku was up atop the score board. A flash of dark light and Way to Dusk was in his hand to cut the metal bars that kept the score board firmly in place. A powerful kick dislodged it from the ceiling and the wall to fly directly to Roxas.

Roxas' eyes widened as he heard the creaking sounds of the score board falling away. His head snapped up and his breath caught in his throat, but he was quick to act. He had just enough time to call out both keyblades just as the board was inches away from him, lodging both twin blades deep inside to try and stop it from coming in contact with him. Sparks flew instantly all about as the blades imbedded themselves inside and started to destroy while he skidded back on sneakers. The fake data that had created the score board started to flicker in and out around it as it was being ruined, but Roxas ignored it as the angry sparks flew around him and on his person.

Riku pushed off the wall. In the air he twisted round while dark energy gathered round the blade of way to Dusk. Slashing the blade forward the intense dark energy flew forward to Roxas while he was busy with the angrily sparking score board.

Roxas was able to see Riku's actions from over top the board. He had no way of defending himself with his blades buried deep within the hunk of metal, so he tried to use it to his advantage instead. With careful movements he moved the board out a little as he straightened his arms, hoping the brunt of Riku's attack would be caught in his make shift shield, but he was sorely mistaken. With as much damage that had already been taken the attack only ruined the board further until it finally flickered out completely and the remainder of the attack caught Roxas in the chest sending him back more then a few feet.

That had given Riku enough time to land, hitting the ground running. Using the remaining flickering pixels and curling excess of the dark blast as cover Riku rushed Roxas while he was hit. Way to Dawn was whipped out, slashing at Roxas' open middle.

Riku may have been covered, but none of it masked his footsteps on the wooden floor beneath. Roxas tried his best to move out of the way as he heard the other approaching, but he didn't get away in time and the hit meant for his middle hit his shoulder instead as he rolled away. He masked the pain as best he could behind a scowl while he was quick to sit back up, but he didn't stand. His good arm swung out to try and catch Riku's legs with a blade.

There was the loud sound of ripping as Roxas' keyblade snagged into Riku's pants. Despite how Riku had tried to avoid the hit the sharp ends of the keyblade hooked into pants. Riku staggered and yanked his leg free, though the keyblade took a good large patch of the pants with it.

Riku grouched. "Bastard- now my pants!" He took a good few steps back from Roxas, narrowing his eyes. "No respect for your elders." With a twirl of his blade he charged to swipe at Roxas with his keyblade.

Roxas ignored Riku's spoken words, moving to kneel instead so he could be ready for the attack. He raised both blades and connected them with Riku's own, locking them together tight with Way to Dusk so the dark keyblade could have limited movement. His injured arm shook, but he kept each blade held tight as he locked his gaze with Riku's own. "Go back to the pit of darkness that you crawled out from, Riku."

"I have a better idea." Riku pushed harder on Way to Dusk, using his weight to force it down harder between the twin blades Roxas possessed. He locked eyes with Roxas', holding them there. "Why don't I," from his shadow coiled thin mist at first, then thicker as it curled around his legs and up, "let that pit of darkness crawl back here to me?" The shadow drank into the thin cloth that was Riku's school uniform, warping it as it spread over. The hem of his school shirt grew out with a flair of coat tails as all the rest of his white shirt bled to change to his black coat. The dark trailed up to form dark cloth, hooding Riku's face with shadows though his gleaming icy grin was easily seen.

Through the entire ordeal Roxas couldn't help the shivers that ran through him. The entire gym felt as if it had grown colder with Riku's sudden change along with the darkness that had moved around. He stared at that cruel grin while he tried to keep a steady hold on Riku's blade, but his arm was starting to hurt worse then before. Blood trailed down and dripped onto the wood under him until finally he was forced to let go of the locked hold and jumped back before Riku could swing at him since his own blade was free. Roxas didn't speak on the sudden change in appearance. He only kept a careful eye on Riku while he tried to pull himself together.

"No witty retort? I'm surprised." Riku began to take slow leisurely steps towards Roxas, minding the blood spilt on the floor. "Though I can't say I'm disappointed." As his darkened shadow passed over the droplets, the blood was greedily consumed by the wavering darkness. "So I suppose I'll have to fill the silent void with my own thought provoking words, like: where is this Heartless of yours anyway? Has he found what he's looking for? Or did I kill him before he reached his destination?" Way to Dusk was pointed at Roxas' chest, where his quick beating heart lay underneath. "I mean, how else was I able to get into this program."

The pain in Roxas' arm was forgotten as Riku's last few sentences hit something deeper within him. Even though Way to Dusk was pressed so very near, Roxas still stood straight and tensed up as his eyes widened for only a second before they narrowed on the cloaked figure in front of him. "Liar!" The word was shouted in more of a desperate way then anything harsh. "Y-You knew about this place and everything in it. You know about the program! I'm not stupid, Riku! You didn't...there's no way..." He couldn't finish the sentence at all without his voice breaking and he was forced to swallow hard while he tightened his hold on both blades.

Riku tilted his head to the side. "Sad that I couldn't bring you proof. You know how those Heartless just go _poof_ after you run them through." The tip of Way to Dusk poked hard against Roxas' chest. "Otherwise I would have brought you a memorable piece." He gave a quiet chuckle. "You thought you would have felt something when he passed, didn't you? Like some kind of romantic omniscience, a flash of unbearable sadness in your heart. Heh. But here you were, carrying out your lie, as if the tragedy never happened." Way to Dusk's blade flicked a quick gashed line over the left side of Roxas' chest, another soon to follow intersecting it leaving a bleeding 'X' over Roxas' heart. "Proves how strong your supposed 'love' truly is."

Roxas flinched at the sudden sharp pain that the blade struck across his skin and it had him doubling back a few steps to get some space between himself and Riku. It didn't stop the blood that poured down from the new wound and Roxas forced himself to look down at his chest where the mark was still fresh. The words spoken had his hands shaking. That same familiar ache that he had felt in the dark street before came back and he wanted to do everything in his power to deny what had been said. "Shut up. You're lying, Riku. You're playing dirty." He choked on his words before he could continue. "A-Axel is fine. He'll be back. He doesn't go down easy."

"Delusions; adorable." Riku twirled Way to Dusk in his one hand, watching it with idle amusement. "You can feel it now, can't you? Now that I've pointed it out- you can feel the loss. He's no longer there. Gone." His free hand fluttered across the air to point. "Back to Kingdom Hearts." He gave a short amused sound.

That last little bit caused Roxas to snap his head back up in an instant. Tears rolled down his cheeks, but for once he ignored them to glare hatefully at Riku for what he dared to say. His mind and heart were in a mess and together it made for a dangerous combination that didn't allow him to think clearly. He just wanted to be rid of Riku once and for all. He didn't want to hear those horrible words spoken any longer.

In a second Roxas was moving forward the bit of space between them with blades raised. He intended to strike a final blow with both keyblades after what he had just been told. He didn't believe any of it, he couldn't, and with two vicious swings he struck out at Riku to hit above and below on the taller boy the moment he neared him.

For Riku watching the rage that cause Roxas to lash out so violently was like perceiving the expected; for him the action was slow and predictable. Riku crossed his arms over turning his palms to face Roxas and in the space between either of them a strong thin dark shield appeared between them. The barrage flickered hard into visibility when Roxas' keyblades smashed into it, seething black fire erupting from the twin keyblades as they pressed hard into the patch work barrier. Riku was pushed back with the force of the impact. There was no point in trying to meet the fierce passion of the heart, especially that heart that lay nestled in Roxas' ribcage; Sora's. It had always beaten him time and time again. So Riku gave up his traction on the scuffed wood flooring of the gym, lifting his booted feet from the ground so they both flew forward.

"... Wasted tears."

The barrier fell to shattered nothing. With nothing to barrage them from each other Riku's Way to Dusk was quick to come between Roxas' keyblades. It was able to cut nothing but the single tear that flew from Roxas' cheek from the many that streamed down; the drop flew in two. Riku forcefully ripped himself from the mess of keyblades they had become; flipping in the air to neatly land perched on the basketball hoop high on the wall.

Roxas' breathing was heavy and he knew he was running on pure adrenaline and nothing else even as he flicked his gaze up to where Riku had landed. He was beyond aggravated with Riku's words and the constant defense that he just couldn't break.

For a while Roxas kept a steady gaze on Riku until he broke it to look towards the bleachers. Without a second thought he was quick to move towards them and took each step two at a time until he was more then halfway up. It was then that he launched his body away and towards the hoop, swinging only one of the twin blades out while an angry sound left him.

Riku leapt off the hoop flipping upside down a moment. He gripped his keyblade with both hands so he could swing hard to cut the metal bars that held the basket ball hoop in its entirety. And like the score board he kicked it free to send it flying towards Roxas.

Unlike last time Roxas was much faster to ready himself. His other blade was quick to move up in a wide arc to slash straight through as flames melted it to aid in the process. The entire hoop split in two before the data fizzled out while Roxas fell back rather hard onto two feet and stumbled with the action. His eyes stayed narrowed on the floor for a few seconds before he raised his head and glance around; on the lookout for the cloaked teen.

"He didn't die quietly," Riku's voice spoke behind Roxas, "if that brings you any solace." His assured steps walked across the lowest of the bleachers. "No, he begged. On his hands and knees he pleaded for mercy. I believe his exact words were 'please, please don't! I just wanted him to be happy. We just wanted a normal life. Please- I love him'." Riku's Axel impersonation abruptly ended with the sick mock of the sound of someone's throat being cut out. He gave a choking death rattle before his gurgling noises turned to cold laughter. "I guess he didn't love you enough." Riku hopped off the bleacher back onto the floor. "Or rather- _you_ didn't love him enough. Or not at all. You are a Nobody after all."

Roxas didn't turn around at all. He kept still, listening and each word said felt like spikes driven straight through him. His vision was blurring worse then before and the sudden adrenaline started to leave him in just a shaking mess. "N-No..." He started to speak quietly and shook his head so fast it was a miracle his neck didn't snap. The tears that dripped from his face fell onto his blades and evaporated as soon as they hit as Roxas forced both to give off the welcoming flames that proved to him Axel was still with him. His eyes stared, entranced, while his mouth moved on its own. "I'm a Somebody now and as soon as I got this heart I made sure to tell Axel how much I love him as many times as I could. Axel..." He choked on the name as the fear gripped at him inside. "A-Axel would never _beg_ like that. Never, no matter what." That fact alone helped Roxas deny everything Riku said, but still the tears fell.

"Of course." Riku's voice spoke directly behind Roxas. "You keep telling yourself that. Maybe it'll change history if you lament it more." A merciless attack slammed violently into Roxas' back; it was his fault for stopping in the middle of a battle.

The attack had Roxas' eyes snapping closed as a pained sound left him. Flames extinguished and blades vanished as his concentration was lost in that one quick moment. He stumbled in his steps as he tried to pull away from Riku, wanting distance between them once again and away from the other's violent actions. His own mind was in too much turmoil after Riku's words to do much else.

But of course Riku wasn't ready to give in, not in the least. He was on Roxas again, now that the smaller teen's blades had disappeared, Way to Dusk cutting into skin, again and again and again. A hard knee slammed into Roxas' ribcage throwing him from the bleachers. While Roxas spun from the attack Riku dealt the final blow. Dark energy gathered at Way to Dusk and exploded fiercely as it was slammed into Roxas sending him hard into the bleachers, spilling down the last few steps.

Riku landed on the last bleacher where Roxas' legs still lay sprawled across while he lay prone on the floor. He stepped one foot over Roxas' legs and from the shadow of hood he gave the prone shambles a once over of cruel satisfaction. The coils of darkness that sifted from Riku's shadow took it on their own to curl around Roxas' legs, slinking around limbs or under clothes like cold vile snakes.

"Heh." Riku hopped off the bleachers to straddle himself over Roxas' middle. "I think you've lost." He spoke much too casually. "There's nothing left for you." He wiped a smear of blood near Roxas' lips before he flicked the dirty red from his fingers. "That had to hurt. All of this much hurt, much too much."

Roxas didn't even have the drive, or the energy, after such vicious attacks to act on the darkness that curled around his ankles and further up. In the back of his mind something told him he should be afraid and fighting it after such a terrifying experience previously, but his body hurt too much and the blood from each gash in skin only had him groaning.

As soon as he heard Riku's voice, Roxas opened his eyes to only mere slits to stare up at the cloaked figure perched on top of him. It made him sick inside to see such a thing and the finger that wiped away the blood which had trickled down had him letting out a pained hiss. "...Hate you..." The words were choked out as best as Roxas could manage.

Riku's hand smoothed around Roxas' cheek. "Love you too." His gloved hand gripped Roxas' shoulder, needing to dig fingers hard into skin to get a good grip since blood made it so slippery. Roughly he forced Roxas onto his stomach; the boy didn't have much energy to fight back. Riku pressed near against Roxas' bare and bloody back. His hand gripped a fist full of blonde hair to yank Roxas' head back, far enough so he'd have to arch his spine. "See." Riku bore his palm forcing Roxas to look at the slick blood there. "You've lost. Fair and square." He gave a hard yank to blonde hair. "This makes you mine." Riku traced a bloody heart on Roxas' bruised cheek "So come," Riku murmured the words huskily in Roxas' ear, "quietly."

Roxas let out quickened breaths through clenched teeth as he tried to ignore the pain in his skull from the force Riku used to yank on his hair. It was just another added annoyance on top of all the other wounds that continued to linger on his body. He kept eyes shut as tight as he could even when those last words were spoken and clawed against the wood under him with his fingers. He knew the deal he made, but he was still stubborn. He refused to live up to his end of the bargain so easily, especially after all the hurtful things that had been said. It just didn't work that way. "I'll never be yours." He hissed out before he closed his teeth tight once more.

Riku's free hand trailed across Roxas' left side where it came to rest over the other's shoulder blade; he could feel the hammering palpitation underneath beneath bone. "I beg to differ." It was so delightfully sweet, sweet and tight, he plunged his hand deep into Roxas' back. But it wasn't flesh, blood and bone he pushed himself into, but that beautiful plain of serenity where the metaphorical 'heart' lay. Riku couldn't help the elated groan that past his lips, such vile ecstasy to be in someone in a far more intimate place than the physical flesh could offer. Riku pressed nearer to Roxas anyway, muffling his groan as he bit hard on Roxas' ear. His gloved hand brushed over the surface of the half crystalline heart. How he could taste the raw anger and fierce emotion through his fingertips, drawing the negative feelings to the surface to leave a black stain with each touch left. Without warning he plunged his fingers into the heart piercing it with more than that, but with his own dark devoted hatred like jagged hooks into its center, forcing his own darkness to steal and snuff out that precious light he loved yet abhorred. Riku made Roxas his.

And through it all Roxas let loose a scream that echoed throughout the gym, but would never be heard further then inside the four walls they were trapped in. A tortured sound that ripped at his throat, but never stopped, even when it started to force his voice to crack. The twisted darkness and intense emotions had his whole body shaking and his nails dug more and more into hard wood to try and escape, but there was no getting away. Each tendril of darkness that had kept his legs in place slipped further and further up, covering every inch of his body as Riku forced that twisted darkness into the heart he had finally gotten.

Every bit of love, light and happiness was slowly being drained away to be replaced by a numbing cold and vicious feelings that belonged to the person that gave them. The pained scream was fading away into nothing and along with it Roxas' head bowed as best it could to be the only thing left that was covered in the inky blackness. It seeped into skin causing the owner's body to tremble with the feeling of chilling cold, but in an instant the shivers stopped and there was nothing as that darkness became one with the body as blonde hair was the last thing to become a deep midnight color. Any and all marks that were not created by the person perched a-top Roxas were wiped away; branded hand prints on wrists the last to go.

The darkened body gave one last shuddering breath. The last warm breath that would ever leave Roxas. There was no more resistance and no more sounds. No more snarky words and no more narrowed gazes. Eyes continued to stay closed even after all had settled and Riku's hand stayed near the corrupted heart.

-

In the black endless dark the Darkness was without mercy, sharing with the unbeating heart of one of its particular searching Heartless what it had now brutally claimed. Axel froze his eyes and mouth agape. His hands shook and all the rest of him convulsed in agony as raw cold seized his chest, boring deep into his still heart. It tore away the fiery warmth that was the element of his being, pouring liquid ice throughout instead.

Axel gripped his chest, clawing at the flesh over his heart. "R-...Ra..." A choked sound raked him as he fell to his knees, but there was no physical ground in the Darkness.

It was lost; what? Everything; where?

Cold, dead, flesh. Axel could feel the stilling of once, passionate, love and life, _their_ heart, in his own.

Another lifeless Heartless was born.

Manic yellow illumination took the colour from Axel's eyes as Roxas' name tore from him in a raw desperate scream.

-

Feet came to an immediate halt as a sudden pain tore through Sora's entire being. An emptiness brought on by something that felt incredibly off. His eyes stung and his body trembled when just seconds ago he had been perfectly fine. It didn't make any sense, but he knew the thundering in his chest wasn't an illusion.

Sora tried to move his feet again so as not to worry the two that were walking behind him. It was better to keep up appearances then have Mickey and Naminé fret over him. Still, he couldn't shake any of what he felt no matter how hard he tried. He felt as if a piece of him had just been broken apart. The short breaths he took did nothing to help ease his sudden panic. He wondered for a second if Riku was alright and considered stopping, but words spoken between the two of them were the only thing that kept him from doing that. He had to be brave. He couldn't let paranoia stop him from finding Ikurx. Everything would be okay. Everything _was_ okay. He believed those words even as the tears tried to fall.

-

The hand yanked itself free from the back of the prone figure. Riku sat back up, his breath ragged. He could feel the perspiration falling from his hairline to cause his silver hair to stick to skin.

A sharp pang captured his chest, causing Riku to flinch hard.

Dark? When had it gotten dark?

Riku pushed back the hood, it was far too hot. His hands fumbled across a strip of cloth and it was then that Riku's heart sped with panic. The blindfold. He pulled it up, flinching when the light hit his poor eyes. It was then that Riku saw the still body underneath him.

"... Oh god."

What had he done-?

Riku yanked the blindfold off and threw it aside. He quickly clambered off the dark body, staring at it dumbly for a moment. It was all so unreal; his mind swam, clouded by the light that was just too bright.

"Roxas!" The 'Nobody's' name left him, finally. He grasped Roxas' shoulder and turned him over with shaking strength. "Roxas? R-Roxas are you okay?" The question felt so stupid when the obvious was so true in plain sight. But panic washed over Riku so intensely; please- no- this wasn't supposed to happen. "R-Roxas, please!"

Despite the desperate pleas, Roxas continued to keep still for longer then he normally would have. The marks and wounds that kept on his person didn't even seem to be bothering the younger teen as much as they had been during the fight. There wasn't even a single twitch of movement from him.

It was after long seconds of silence, only accompanied by Riku's worried breath, eyes finally opened much too slow. The usual intense blue that came from being Sora's other had disappeared and in their place was the glowing yellow that made it all the obvious what Roxas had become, as fully opened eyes turned to look at Riku with none of the malice or spite that used to be present in his gaze.

A shuddering sound exhaled from Riku's lips. "N-no." Riku suddenly couldn't breathe. "No- no, no, no." He shook his head, but it did no good, it wouldn't undo the horror he'd committed.

He'd never done this before- never taken it _this_ far. There was always something that stopped Riku from taking it to this extreme.

"S- Sora." Riku sat back as his shaking hands rose up but never touched his face. Guilt and shame washed over him as the boy's smiling face flitted in his mind. All those tears and trust. "Oh Sora- I'm so sorry." This was Kairi all over again. Except it was Sora's heart he violated. The first heart he had now corrupted. Sora's Nobody was his first Heartless made; how disgustingly ironic.

Riku felt nauseous, the bile rising in his throat as he stared into those empty glowing eyes across from him. "Roxas..." His hands fell lifelessly at his sides as all the fight drained from him; there was no fixing this. He had failed. Again. Failed Sora. There would be no forgiveness for this betrayal. "... This is your fault," he whispered hoarsely to the Heartless. But that was such a worthless lie.

At the sound of his name spoken again, Roxas finally moved around. The whispered words didn't seem to bother him all that much. As soon as he sat up from the floor he crawled his way towards Riku to sit, on knees, in front of the one whose own darkness rested within him. He kept his head bowed only a bit and was forced to watch Riku through bangs for a few calm moments until a steady hand reached out to touch the distraught teen.

Riku could feel the cold fingers touch his cheek. The touch startled him since he hadn't expected anything 'gentle' in contact from Roxas, nor such a cold touch on his hot cheeks. The icy touch sent an unnatural chill down his spine and the hurt inside his ribcage tightened.

"Why?" Riku could feel hot ache of tears sting his eyes, but all he could do was stare at the peeking yellow eyes beneath the dark hair. "...W-why did you have to push me, Roxas?"

The question went unanswered; instead Roxas only raised his head so he could gaze at Riku better. The gentle touch that had been given became more as Roxas' fingers moved up and down the other's cheek to try and sooth the person that deep inside he only knew as his master. This was the person that held all control over him, yet at the moment seemed to be upset with him. It was that thought that had Roxas daring to move a little closer into Riku's personal space. Face to face he stared into the other's eyes until finally he spoke barely above a whisper. Words that couldn't be helped after seeing such a pained expression and hearing such words from the other. "I'm yours?"

That had a small choked sound leaving Riku. He shut his eyes, squeezing them tight waiting for the tears to subside. It was so strange to hear that question in Roxas' voice. It sounded so pathetic, like a lost child who knew no more than that they should belong to someone.

To hear such a thing from Roxas was proof enough for Riku to see just how far gone they'd become.

Riku gave a few quick nods before he opened his eyes. Roxas' face was not unlike Sora's a good few days ago. Except Roxas didn't twitch and spasm like Sora had, nor was his voice echoing everywhere but from his mouth. In some twisted way Riku was reminded of the dark Sora he'd created from dark fragments of his own jealousy and longing while long, long ago. His Heartless Sora had been no match for the real thing on Captain Hook's ship; but he had missed that Heartless there after, for reasons he would never tell Sora, even now when they were as close as he wished back then.

With a wet sniff Riku placed either of his hands on Roxas' cheeks to pull the new Heartless' face nearer. He rested their heads against one another before he weakly nuzzled their cheeks together, feeling his hot tears fall down between them. "Yes, you're mine."

The answer seemed to satisfy Roxas along with the actions. He couldn't help the content little purr that escaped him at having his reason for being hold him so near. His hand dropped back down only to cling as tight as it could to Riku's front. It was when one of Riku's stray tears hit his hand that Roxas blinked his eyes at the feeling. That lost feeling came back as he wasn't sure what to do, but turned his head a bit to lick away the stray tears on Riku's cheek.

A small sound escaped Riku. He was reminded of a cat or a puppy; it was so strange, yet comforting in such an odd way. "We can't go back," he quietly spoke up. "... Not like this." He weakly ran a hand through Roxas' now dark hair. He swallowed thickly; it was so different to go from violent to gentle. The extreme left Riku in a lulling daze. "And we can't stay here." Riku continued to pet his fingers through Roxas' hair.

Roxas ducked his head a little so that Riku could run fingers through his hair a little better. It was such a calming action to have done. Still, he paid attention to each word spoken; hanging onto every single word Riku said. So eager to please. "Where?" The one word left him just as quietly as before, questioning what needed to be done.

"... I'm not sure," Riku spoke the words distantly. "Far... far away." He glanced down at Roxas. Such a dramatic change, he could barely grasp it. He rested his head down atop Roxas' while he continued to run his fingers through the Heartless' hair. Riku shut his eyes tightly again. "... Do you forgive me?" Riku did all he could to keep his voice from shaking. "R-Roxas?"

"Forgive?" Roxas echoed the word softly to himself, running it over and over again in his mind. In all honesty he wasn't sure why Riku would ask him such a thing. All he knew was the here and now. The fingers running through his hair and the face he had woken up to. This was all that mattered. "There's nothing to forgive..." After the words left him his hand held even tighter to Riku while his eyes finally fell shut again.

That was enough for Riku; just to hear that it was alright from Roxas. Without hesitation he reached out and pulled the Heartless closer, doing of all inane things, hugging Roxas near. It was like hugging Sora while he was a Heartless but without the trembling jitters. No, it was more like hugging the Sora he made several years ago. So cold, yet so eager to cling back; the duality of comfort from the darkness, it always left Riku dizzy and confused, feeling as small and needy as if he were really young again. The need to be needed.

Riku needed to know.

"Roxas..." Riku buried his face against dark hair before he continued in a small voice. "... Do you love me?"

Roxas had kept still at first with the sudden embrace. It was a strange thing, but he didn't hate it. He found himself clinging back just as tightly, wanting the same comfort he had gotten earlier with the simple touches through his hair. He buried his face against Riku's shoulder and listened closely to the question asked of him, thinking it over carefully once again. It was much more difficult then the last. Love; it was an emotion that meant caring for someone deeply. It meant devotion and trust. It was the only knowledge that Roxas could pick up on of such a word and it was that which helped him come to a quick decision. "Yes, I do. I love you."

Riku swallowed the sound he wanted to make. This was perverse and wrong, but he couldn't help it. This was something he'd wanted from Roxas a long time. Just to be loved, hell, even liked by Sora's Nobody. It hadn't mattered what he'd done, Roxas had always hated him for loving Sora so. It hadn't been fair. It had hurt so godamn much. But now, Roxas did love him. It had a disturbing relief wash over him.

"Again... say it again," Riku whispered as he couldn't help but cradled the Heartless near.

"I love you." Roxas was quick to speak the words again. Anything to make the one that held him so near and dear, happy. "Love you..." He echoed the words one more time before he started to nuzzle his face against Riku's shoulder. The quiet content sounds that Roxas had given off earlier came forth from his lips once again, muffled, but still clear enough to try and sooth Riku just as much as the other's tight hold was doing for him.

Riku placed a small kiss atop Roxas' head. He wasn't quite sure why he did it, but he did. It was all so wrong. So horribly wrong. But something about the way Roxas clung to him, spoke those words he needed to hear and made that soft unnatural purr, it made everything okay. Somehow.

Riku's very quiet words were muffled against Roxas' hair. "... I love you too."

The press of lips had Roxas opening his eyes once again to look ahead past Riku's shoulder. It had only caused the calming noise to grow louder in the back of his throat, especially when Riku spoke those words so close. Soon, he was pulling back to look into Riku's eyes again, but still keeping his arms wrapped as tight as he could around the other's waist. He wanted Riku to feel the same calm and give back what Riku had given him.

Roxas leaned forward, and with only a cool unneeded breath between them, pressed his lips against the other boy's in only a small hesitant second. Glowing eyes closed and the loud noise ceased that had been coming from Roxas as all his attention had focused on this one action for Riku.

Chaste and sincere, Riku never expected both to exist on Roxas' lips as they touched his. Each kiss had been angry, feral, and least of all endearing. Not like this. This was cold yet kind. Riku's hands drew up to rest on either side of Roxas' cheeks. He let the Heartless kiss him a moment longer before he pulled his head away.

Riku sniffed wetly, petting Roxas' dark cheeks with his thumbs. "You'll stay with me? Never leave?"

Roxas leaned into the touch on one of his cheeks while he gave a quick nod to the new questions he was asked. "Yes, of course. I belong to you and no one else." He turned his head so he was able to give a quick lick to one of Riku's fingers. "I love you. I'll never leave." He was just about to turn his attention back on Riku, but something nearby caught his eyes instead. It forced him to leave Riku's arms so he could crawl over and retrieve it as something in the back of his mind told him it was much too important to stay on the wooden floor.

The thin strip of cloth that Riku had discarded what felt like an eternity ago was soon held in Roxas' hand and the Heartless stared at it for a few seconds with unblinking eyes before he moved to make his way back towards Riku. He settled himself just as comfortably near Riku as he had been before, but seemed a little hesitant with his next movements. Slowly his hands rose up to press the dark cloth over Riku's eyes, but as Roxas did such a thing he leaned forward to nuzzle the other's neck, giving comfort as he tied off the blindfold in place where it belonged.

"... Thank you." The words just tumbled out of Riku in automation. He slowly blinked under the bandana, all the world black to him now. The action had been touching, even if Roxas didn't quite grasp the meaning or significance of the blindfold in its entirety. It meant enough.

Riku sightlessly slipped his arms back around Roxas. It was the same cold texture of dark skin, the feel of Heartless never changed. It brought the same longing for that warm embrace he could remember. Oh god, he missed Sora so much already. But unlike his younger self when he had created the shadow Sora, he didn't know each loving touch and kiss from Sora that he did now.  
For now this semblance of his former would have to do. It would have to.

"Let's go." From Riku's shadow a portal was called to the Darkness. It wouldn't matter this time; there was no fear to be had, because Roxas' heart was impurely his now. The dark wouldn't steal what was already its vicariously.

Roxas' head moved up once again to watch the portal behind them grow darker and larger. There was little curiosity in his expression and he turned his gaze back to Riku after a few seconds of silence. "Go?" He continued to speak in that same quiet voice as he searched what was left of Riku's face. "Where?" He questioned the order given after there had been no idea as to where to move to much earlier.

"... Far." Riku whispered. And he rested his head against Roxas' heavily. "... Together."

The portal then swallowed the both of them into the Darkness. The gym was left in its shambles and soon without Riku there to keep it, the barrier surrounding the inner walls fell into dissipation.

It wasn't long before a new portal from the Darkness tore into the fabric of digital existence. From it a certain fire Heartless stepped from it. His glowing eyes were wide around as he took in the abandoned battle field. The scent of blood, sweat, and hatred hit him hard.

Axel's hand rose shaky but it never made it to cover his mouth as his sight went from the flecks of blood to the discarded clothing on the wood flooring. He shambled his steps over, falling to his knees he snatched up the uniform shirt. Tightly he clutched it to his chest, half burying his face against the now cold shirt; oh god, it smelt like Roxas. His eyes fell upon the crumpled tie. The yellow glow faded from back to green eyes and a choked sound escaped him, black tears falling down his pale cheeks obscuring the little markings that Roxas had poked playfully and kissed at least a thousand times over.

The Heartless crumpled against the floor, curling weakly around the shirt in his arms as he pulled the tie in to clutch as well. He was too late. Roxas was gone; Axel could feel it like someone had ripped his precious insides out with rusty hooks on chains. He had promised Roxas he'd be safe, he'd be back before anything could happen.

Empty lies, in a farce world that just wasn't worth living in without it's reason for continued existence.

Axel let out a scream of tortured anguish of two lives of nothing but failed love and try, not caring how deep the sound echoed within the school program.


	51. Chapter 51

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 51

A strong sense of light had led the group of three to a sunny beach that held none of the usual threats that lingered on other worlds they had been to thus far. Keyblades had been put away as soon as it was deemed safe and Sora had been busy breathing in the fresh air tinged with salt-water that brought on memories of home while he chewed on some cotton candy that he had bought from a stand nearby.

They had asked around about the pale haired boy named Ikurx, giving a description to a few people, including the vendor, hoping to have some luck to his whereabouts. They certainly didn't come up empty handed and had been pointed in the direction of a local inn that a few people had seen the Nobody come out of once or twice. Instead of taking the lead, Sora had followed behind Mickey and Naminé the entire time they walked towards the building and continued to eat as Mickey got permission to speak with the occupant that they now knew to be residing inside.

In front of a room door they all stood, Naminé and Sora behind Mickey, the latter of the two licking at sticky fingers and offering the girl some of his spun sugar. Not paying nearly as much attention to the task at hand as he should have been as Mickey raised a hand to knock as loud as he could on the door to get attention.

The brief talking inside the room stopped and soon the door was answered. Zax blinked when he saw no one at eye level and lowered his gaze. The first person he saw was Sora, who was currently stuffing as much cotton candy he could into his mouth. He found the boy a little loony to be wearing so much clothing, black clothing above all, along with a scarf in such hot weather. "Who are you?" He noticed the blonde girl beside him who seemed embarrassed and startled she'd been caught nibbling on cotton candy since he'd answered the door. "And you?" Zax blinked several times when he noticed the mouse with the perfectly circular ears down below. Great, another talking animal; and from the looks of the mouse's expression, he looked as just as much a chatter as the other two animals. "And you too, Mister Mouse?" Zax clicked his tongue.

Mickey looked a little confused at first. The owner of the inn had stated that this was the room Ikurx was presently in at the moment, but he didn't recognize the face that answered the door. At least not from Sora and Riku's description of the Nobody they had spoken of. He tried to shake off his confusion though, seeing as the two behind him were too involved in their treat to really be of much better help. "Ah, well, you see. I believe we might have the wrong room. My name is Mickey and we're..."

"We're looking for someone." Sora was quick to jump into the conversation as soon as he swallowed another piece of fluff. He licked his fingers a few more times before he dropped his hand down to wipe it on his clothes as he stared up at the owner of the room. "You haven't seen him have you? Kinda tall." He moved his hand back up to place it over his head as an example. "Sorta pale hair." He pulled at his own. "Green eyes." And down his hand fell to point at blue ones before it finally fell back down. No matter how many times he described Ikurx he still felt like he was talking about Riku. Just as quick his attention was back on his treat to try and forget about what he had just explained.

Zax blinked a few more times. This was definitely one of the weirder knocks on the door he'd ever gotten. Now he was sure he'd seen and heard everything. The description he was sure was near unmistakable. But he wasn't about to just let out and say anything. "Does this person have a name?" He thoughtfully scratched the back of his head through his thick black hair.

Mickey looked away from Sora after having watched the teen as he described the one they were looking for, and turned his eyes back on Zax. He gave a quick nod and hoped that giving the name would help get them on the right track again to find the Nobody. They didn't need anymore dead ends. "Yes, his name is Ikurx. Please, can you tell us if you've seen him? We thought he would be here. We've been searching for him for a while."

Zax gave a blank look and soon an equally blank smile. "Hold on one moment." He closed the door quietly locking it after. He walked over to Cloud with the same blank smile, speaking in a quieter than normal voice so only they could hear. "Say, Cloud, you haven't seen a guy, kinda tall." He raised a hand shorter than himself like the boy did before. "Sorta pale." He tugged at his own hair. "Green eyes." He pointed to his blue eyes.

Cloud looked away from the television that he had decided to flip through and stared at Zax as if the other man had lost his mind. He raised his hand which held the remote to point the device towards the lump that had taken over Zax's bed and was currently fast asleep under mounds of blankets. "You mean that tall, pale haired, green eyed thing right there?" He continued to stare at Zax for a few seconds before he shook his head and turned his attention back to the TV. "Nope, never seen him." The sarcasm was obvious.

"Hmm." Zax hiked a thumb back to point at the door. "Well, those people at the door are going to be very disappointed." He crossed his arms as a more serious look crossed his face. "No Heartless people." He clicked his tongue. "They asked for him by name."

Cloud was quick to look back towards Zax with a shocked expression. "What?" He glanced at the door for only a second. "Well who are they then?" Cloud flicked off the television before he stood up from the chair he sat in. "What did they say? What did you say?" He couldn't help every question that came from his mouth after being told such a thing.

Zax uncrossed his arms to give a shrug. "Some strange kid eating cotton candy with a girl, and a talking mouse named Mickey." He gave another shrug. "I said 'hold on one moment'. The rest you know."

The same blank look that had taken over Zax's face seemed to replace itself onto Cloud's own for a few seconds until he was quick to place his hands on Zax's shoulders to shake his friend a bit. "Mickey?! You're serious?" He didn't even wait for a response before he was letting go to brush past Zax and head for the door, trying not to wake up the other occupant in the room as he almost bumped into the bed.

Zax waved his hands as he tried not to fall over from Cloud's rush. "Who the hell is Mickey?" He staggered over to follow Cloud to the door. "I don't know any Mickey. This isn't one of those 'while you were dead' things is it?" He did bump into the bed but that didn't seem to wake up Ikurx. Though, Zax was quick to push off the bed to continue to follow after Cloud.

"Actually it kind of is." Cloud was quick to answer. He didn't open the door just yet. He knew he needed to fill Zax in on some things first before anything else and kept his hand on the doorknob as he looked at Zax. "Remember what we talked to you about? About Ansem being gone and there being another king? That would be Mickey. I'm pretty sure Donald and Goofy are looking for him too. If he knows about Ikurx then there's much more to it then the kid just being a Nobody. Much more."

"Oh-kaay." Zax ran a hand through his dark hair as he gave it some thought. "Right. I remember Leon going on about some King Mickey guy. Of course- I was expecting something human, didn't think it was some short talking mouse with a high squeaky voice." He ruffled his own hair. "Didn't Leon say this King Mickey guy had something to do with another legendary key? I never did listen much to Leon's ramblings." He gave a guilty grin. "In one ear and out the other." He gestured to and from one ear to the other.

Cloud rested himself against the door for the time being and his eyes strayed over to the bed to make sure they didn't disturb Ikurx while they talked. "A key, yeah. Mickey can use a keyblade. I've seen it happen before while we were all fighting. Although, I'm not too fresh on the details myself. I paid as much attention as you did." He looked back at Zax and shrugged a shoulder. "I just know that Sora seems to be some sort of true keyblade wielder." At those last words his eyes narrowed as he thought over something else Zax said. "Who else did you say was with him?"

"Hmm. Some loopy looking kid with a scarf; it looked like he was dressed for the tundra rather than the beach." Zax twirled a finger by his head gesturing that he thought the kid was crazy. "And a blonde girl. They both looked about the same age." He shrugged. "They didn't give their names though." He smirked some. "Friends of yours?"

Cloud only gave a puzzled expression. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer that in all honesty. Instead, he turned around and unlocked the door so he could finally open it, swinging it open so both himself and Zax could be seen. What he saw caused a huge amount of relief to wash over him as he spotted two very familiar faces, but the fact that one of them was covered in sticky, pink cotton candy didn't really help him feel any better. "Uhh..."

Sora's head snapped back up at the sound of the door opening and he expected to see the same man that had answered the door the first time, to be there once again. When someone completely different and whom he had seen many times before answered instead it caused his entire face to break into a smile as he shouted much too loudly. "Cloud!" He moved past Mickey to stand in front of the man, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Wow! I haven't seen you in forever! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Radiant Garden? How are Leon and the others? How have you been?" He blinked. "Why are you in an inn on the beach?"

Cloud blinked his eyes after Sora seemed to have gotten all of his questions out of his system. He was amazed that the teen didn't need to take a single breath during anything he said, but he had gotten used to it as long as he had known him. "It's usually polite to say hello first, Sora, before going into twenty questions." It was the only thing he could really think to answer with for the time being.

" _Sora_?!" Zax spoke his shock loud and pitched. " _That's_ Sora?" He pointed to the eager boy standing directly in front of Cloud. " _That's_ Leon's fabled Keyblade Master? _Him_? He's the Keyblade Master? _This kid_?" He grabbed Cloud's shoulder and gave the man a shake. "You gotta be kidding me." He stared as Cloud gave him a look. "You're not kidding me." Zax's expression fell. "But he can't be more than twelve." He glanced at Sora's face. "... And he's sticky." Zax let go of Cloud, slapping the hand over his face with a sigh. "Wonderful. The weird cotton candy kid is the Keyblade Master. He looks like he's more ready to build a snowman than save the universe."

Sora's eager expression fell at Zax's shouts. It was as if the man had forgotten he was even there. His eyes hardened a bit at each word said and he turned all his attention on Zax, sounding just as upset as he looked. "Hey! I'm right here! So what if I'm the Keyblade Master? What's it matter? What's so bad about that? What's your problem anyway, huh?" He stepped back a few steps before he continued on, speaking up on a sore spot that Zax had hit. "And for your information I'm sixteen. Not twelve. So there!"

Cloud looked back and forth between the two with a bit of an annoyed expression. He finally gave up and turned all of his attention on Mickey instead, speaking up in a curious tone. "You were looking for something?"

Mickey had to tear wide eyes away from Sora to actually look at Cloud. He hadn't expected all of this to happen. It had caught him a little off guard. It took him a few seconds to remember why they were there in the first place and why Cloud was asking such a thing before he was quickly nodding once again. "Oh! Yes, yes we were. Or rather, a someone."

The girl that was with them stepped by Sora to rub his shoulder in assurance and comfort. "An Ikurx." She finally spoke up.

Zax peeked between his fingers before he lowered his hand back down with a sigh. "And who are you suppose to be, little girl?" With his luck she would _be_ the living personification of the keyblade. It would be just his luck.

"I'm Naminé." The girl looked up at Zax.

Zax looked at Cloud before he gave the man a nudge. "Do we know a 'Naminé'?"

Cloud quickly shook his head. "No, I'm just as lost as you are on that one." He looked back at the three who stood in the doorway. "Where did you find Naminé?" It was obvious the question was directed at Mickey more then Sora since the teen was still more then a little upset.

"Well, it's quite the long story." Mickey didn't know what else to say. If he said much else they would be standing there for a very long time. "Naminé is a Nobody which is something you're familiar with, Cloud." A small frown crossed his face. "To make a long story short, she is here to help us and vice versa while we set everything straight so she can return to her other." It was good enough.

"Who's Nobody?" Zax looked from the mouse to the girl.

"Kairi's.", Naminé quietly spoke up.

Zax gave Cloud another nudge. "Do we know a 'Kairi'?"

Sora spoke up before Cloud could even open his mouth. "Kairi is my friend." He kept narrowed eyes on Zax for a little longer before he finally let out a long sigh and dropped his eyes to the floor. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Do you know where Ikurx is or not? We need to find him. It's really important that we do. He'll be in danger if we don't keep an eye on him." The serious tone that had been in his voice made it obvious how important this was, compared to much earlier when he had been so excited to see an old friend again.

Cloud let out a heavy sigh as he watched Sora before he looked back at Zax. He gestured towards the teen with his head before he spoke quietly even though the three in front of him would hear anyway. "Well? Are you going to keep asking questions or are you happy yet?"

Zax gave a sheepish grin. "You know me, I'm a happy guy." He looked to the three, which was three too many. Ikurx was asleep and he seemed worse for wear once more. It wasn't a good idea to have a new herd of on comers come trampling into the room.

Zax pointed at each of the three. "Which one of you is the leader?"

"That would be Sora." Mickey stepped aside and pushed the boy forward with a hand to his back, giving him a small smile as he did. He may have been a king, but the entire search had been Sora's idea. They all counted on Sora's thoughts and plans of actions on what to do next.

Sora nearly stumbled, but held his hands out to catch himself on the door frame. He quickly looked up at Cloud and Zax, giving them both a sheepish smile at his own fumbling and it was as if he had never been angry in the first place. "I-I guess it's me then." He stood up straight, dropping his hands back down. "Why do you want to know?" He looked back and forth between them both as curiosity got the best of him.

"Threes a crowd, right. You can come in." Zax gestured for Sora to do so, side stepping. He looked to the other two. "House of mouse, the door you want is one over. There's two in there I think you're also looking for." He pointed to the right.

Mickey instantly perked up at those words. "Two others?" There was a hopeful tone to his voice and he was quick to hurry Naminé away with him so they could both check the other room.

Sora watched them leave then turned back to the room. He walked through the door, looking around the room, having not been inside an inn for a while. Usually their group would have to settle for sleeping outside or abandoned homes. It came with the job of having to seal up worlds that had been destroyed so far by the Heartless.

Cloud closed the door back just as soon as Sora was far enough in the room. He turned to study the teenager once again, asking a question of his own much like Zax had been doing a while ago. "Sora, explain to us again why it is you're looking for Ikurx."

Sora had been busy picking at a vase of flowers that was settled on a table in the room for decoration purposes. The question didn't really surprise him very much; it was such an easy thing to answer now. "Because he needs to be protected. There are people after him and we can't let those people get a hold of him." He shook his head a little at his own words. "I guess it sounds odd, right? Especially since you probably have no idea who I'm talking about, but I could have sworn I felt something and it led me to this world."

Zax looked from Sora to Cloud. It was nothing new to them that people wanted Ikurx, they'd seen first hand just what kind of vicious people wanted him and why. Zax knew he was proof enough of that. It was strange to hear exactly what he and Cloud thought come out of this Sora kid's mouth. It had an unsettling expression crossing Zax's face.

Zax walked over to Sora and tapped him on the shoulder. When he had the boy's attention he pointed to the bundle on the bed. Zax then tapped his own lips. "He's sleeping." He spoke more quietly. "How do you know Ikurx?"

Sora looked very relieved to know his search had come to an end. He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders as he stared at the lump he knew to be Ikurx and kept his eyes on the bed even as he started speaking again. "It's a little hard to explain. I met Ikurx through circumstances involving my own Nobody to be honest, but I know him because of much more then that. You see Riku..."

"Riku?" Cloud cut off Sora's words for a second. "That friend of yours that you were looking for a long time ago? You found him didn't you?"

"Y-Yeah, I did." Sora nodded and only looked at Cloud out the corner of his eyes as he tried to ignore the pain in his chest he suddenly felt at the sudden memory. His eyes fell to the floor and he continued speaking. "Anyway, Riku fell into the darkness again and because of that he lost a part of himself. Ikurx is that part."

Zax's mouth slowly opened before it clacked shut. He stared at Sora, shocked to say the least. He opened his mouth again trying to attempt speech once more. "Nobody, right? S-so this Riku friend of yours, that's his Nobody in there?" He pointed to the bundle that was Ikurx. "And you," Zax pointed at Sora next, " _you_ also have a Nobody too?" He gave a long sigh. "Life was simpler when it was just light, dark, and Heartless." Zax turned to walk over next to Cloud, nudging his arm. "You better damn well not have a Nobody. I can only take so much of this criss-crossing insanity."

Cloud waved the words off with a hand. He couldn't do much else. He was just as shocked as Zax it seemed and could only look back and forth between Sora and the pile of blankets on the bed that Ikurx was under.

"When a strong willed person gets turned into a Heartless a Nobody is created." Sora spoke the familiar words that he knew while he stepped closer to the bed, nearing the edge of it. "Riku...he was always battling the darkness within himself, ever since Ansem...I mean...Xehanort's Heartless used him as a puppet. It was only a matter of time before it finally took him completely and now that it did Ikurx is finally free." Now that the words were said out loud it made so much more sense to Sora as the pieces fell into place.

The words were so upsetting to hear spoken from Sora's mouth. The kid was usually so upbeat and excited most of the time. Cloud couldn't help feeling a certain sense of dread to hear him speak about his friend in such a way. The same friend he had been looking for what felt like so long ago. "Sora? Where is Riku? What happened to him? Is he a Heartless now?"

Sora tore his eyes away from the bed to stare at both Cloud and Zax, looking between both men for a while. Soon he dropped his gaze back down to the floor as he shook his head. "I-I'm not really sure to be honest. After Ikurx separated from him he's been a bit unstable. Only when we're together does he seem okay. He can control the darkness better then ever now. I'm not sure whether to really call him a Heartless or not because there are times when he's still Riku." Sora felt like he was going to cry all over again and quickly looked away from the two to hide his face. "He left to go find Roxas; my Nobody. We agreed it would save time and effort if we split up."

Zax tapped his lips in thought as he drank all that Sora said in. "So," he drew out that one word before he pointed at Sora, "you sent the guy, named Riku, who's only stable near you, _away_ , to find your Nobody named Roxas?" He looked over at Cloud then after. "What do you think of this? Turns out our little Ikurx isn't really a normal kid at all but some other kid's long lost Nobody. Puts a bit of a kink in things, doesn't it?"

"Well, we did know about the Nobody part, Ikurx just refused to tell us anything further about it." Cloud ran a hand through his hair, but it did little to relieve his stress over the situation. "Honestly? I don't really know what to think about it. From what I've been told all Nobodies used to be a Somebody. I guess it isn't all that surprising to know Ikurx is only one half of a whole, but to know how it all came about is a bit much to take in." He shook his head, turning all of his attention back on Sora. "Sora, if Roxas is gone then how are you okay? Riku obviously isn't. Shouldn't something have happened to you as well if Riku is out searching for your Nobody?"

Sora's entire body tensed up at the question. He was still pulling himself together and had to rub at his eyes furiously before he could turn his eyes back towards both Cloud and Zax. "Well, um, a lot of things happened actually." Sora didn't even know where to start and where to end. He only knew the whole reason why he was safe again. "It's hard to explain. I...I'd rather not talk about it really. I can't even remember some of it." He looked back at the bed, staring at the table that rested beside it. "Riku did help me out, though. I wouldn't be standing here, as I am, if it wasn't for him..."

"Guess that Riku guy deserves our thanks." Zax gave a smile and he then nudged Cloud. "At least that's what Leon would want me to say." He gave a short laugh. "Oh, by the way." He walked over to Sora and offered his hand with a grin. "Between the drama here we weren't formerly introduced. I'm Zax Fair. Cloud's friend." It was a simpler way of putting things.

Sora looked back up with wide eyes at Zax, having been startled out of his own inner thoughts. He glanced down at the outstretched hand while he tried to figure out if he had ever seen this man before while he had been to Radiant Garden. He didn't seem familiar, but Sora always did meet so many people. Maybe he just misplaced a face. He hoped not. "Uh... well... you already know my name." He took Zax's hand and shook it. "I don't think we've ever met before. I've only seen a few of Cloud's friends, or rather, people that hung around him. You know him?"

"It's a long story, Sora." Cloud spoke up from behind the two. If Sora was trying to protect Ikurx just as they were he guessed that he knew enough about the Nobody that it was safe to speak about certain things. "It pretty much has to do with when I found Ikurx. That's the brunt of it. Zax was never around when you and I talked in the past."

"He just doesn't like saying the 'D' word." Zax gave a wry smirk.

"The 'D' word?" Sora echoed.

"Y'know," Zax shrugged, "'Dead'." He spoke the last word a little too casually for both Cloud and Sora's tastes. "I guess you could call us old war buddies. I was apart of the original resistance that Leon created to battle against the Heartless." He hiked a thumb back to gesture at Cloud. "Me and Mister Strife here fought the Heartless side by side back in the old day." Zax straightened, putting his hands on his hips with a grin. "Back when the Heartless were just showing up around Radiant Garden."

Sora looked past Zax, having to lean over a bit, so he could glance at Cloud with a curious expression on his face. "Hey, how come you never told me any of this, Cloud?" He seemed generally upset that one of his friends had kept such a thing from him.

Cloud crossed his arms as he gave Sora a rather blank look. "Oh, I don't know, Sora. Maybe it's because the first time we met I was too busy fighting you to really bring up much about the past. That could be it. Casual conversation wasn't really on my mind at the moment."

"Oh!" Sora smiled a little nervous at how easily he could forget such a thing. "Yeah, sorry about that. I guess not." He stood up straight again and looked back at Zax with wide eyes. "So then, that must mean Ikurx made you whole again, right? We know that's what he can do. I mean, that's one of the reasons why Roxas is apart from me. Ikurx split us up."

Zax blinked. "Wait- split you apart? That's the exact opposite of putting things back together again." He dragged a hand through his hair. "That doesn't make much sense. Why would he do that?"

"Well, Roxas wanted to be whole." It seemed Sora would be going into detail about the incident anyway. As much as he really didn't want to. "Like I told you before, some of the details aren't really that clear, but from what Riku told me, Roxas kept taking over my body. It was all because of Axel up until the point where they found Ikurx and used him to split us apart from each other." His hand moved up to his chest to rest where the beat lay beneath. "We each had half a heart and Axel took Roxas away." That wasn't even the whole story, but it was all Zax had asked for.

Zax crossed his arms as he gave a long thoughtful sound. "Axel? ... Axel. He isn't apart of that lovely Organization I keep hearing so much about is he? The Nobodies gone Heartless." It was a shot in the dark, and he hadn't heard about anyone else specifically who wanted Ikurx for his gift. "We had a run in with a rather nasty one. What was her name?" He snapped his fingers. "Laura- Larxene! Yeah, her. It was after Ikurx brought me back. Vicious wench. While Cloud and I were fighting her some other Heartless guy snuck up and snatched Ikurx right out from under all of us." He left out the finer details, things like Cloud losing control; they didn't need to be said.

Sora nodded to each question asked and each word said. "He is. Axel's whole reason for being is my Nobody. That's the reason for the entire mess that I've been in with Roxas." His hand dropped back down and he walked away from Zax to move over to the chair. He needed to sit down. "I've run into a couple others myself. They're all after Ikurx and he's pretty easy to find once he uses that gift he has. It gives off a tremendous sense of light." Sora sat himself down and curled up in the chair as tight as he could, resting his head near his knees. "We were going to let Ikurx go on his own, but with so many people after him, and knowing what they wanted to do, we knew we couldn't just leave him alone."

Cloud had been keeping more of a watch on the bed Ikurx was resting in, rather then Sora. So, when he turned his head back around he was surprised to see the boy had walked away from where he had previously been standing. A few things said had him thinking before he was able to voice his next words. "You said you sensed something and that's what brought you here, right? Was it that light you were just talking about?"

Sora shrugged a shoulder. "I think so. It felt like it, so I couldn't just ignore it." He fiddled with his scarf as he continued to speak. "It didn't feel very strong though. I'm sure that if I hadn't been paying attention I would have missed it."

"Hm. I guess it makes sense in a way. You're Riku's friend and Ikurx is Riku's No- wait." Zax waved his hands. "Wait, wait. Light? Ikurx never used his gift while he was around here. At least, I don't think he did." He looked over to Cloud. "Did he? You went to keep an eye on him while he was with that Demyx Heartless on the beach."

"Demyx?" Sora's head rose and he looked back and forth between Cloud and Zax. He could vaguely recall the Heartless being around, but so much had been a blur while he, himself, had been a Heartless that most of it felt like a dream. Or rather, a nightmare.

"Yeah, Demyx." Cloud was quick to answer for Sora before he went on. "I _tried_ to watch them, but Ikurx seemed to realize I was there the entire time." He gestured towards the bed with a hand. "He and that Heartless went off further down the beach. I would have felt rather stupid if I had followed after them since they knew I was there. So, I'm not really sure if he did do anything. Of course, I haven't seen Demyx around lately, but wouldn't the other Heartless be here?"

"Yeah, that's true." Sora rested his head back down. "I suppose the light would have been much stronger, but either way I still felt it. I'm not sure what it was that happened, especially if the other Heartless aren't here to try and take him."

"Demyx goes missing and there's random light." Zax gave Cloud a tense look. "... You don't think Ikurx tried to 'help' Demyx do you?" He ran a ragged hand through his hair. "Man, brash kid. He'd be leading the other Heartless straight to this place. One of the few untouched places. If those bastards came here it'd only end up like the ch-" Zax quickly stopped himself as he shook his head. He was talking like Ikurx wasn't there in the room with him. He looked to the bundle on the bed and rubbed his face. "What a mess." Zax walked across the room to the large picture window on the far wall. "What a mess, what a mess. What a mess."

Sora frowned at the repeated words. It was great that they had found Ikurx, but the circumstances didn't seem all that wonderful. If Ikurx really had tried to use his power then that meant they had to be on their guard. He just hoped that wasn't the case.

Cloud kept his eyes on Zax. His own mood seemed to have gone downhill much like the other two. "Listen, we can't just jump to conclusions. Ikurx has yet to even tell us what's going on. Besides, things have been pretty calm so far aside from the situation right now. Who knows what really happened. Maybe Demyx just left or he's somewhere else right now. There's no telling. He'll probably be back and if anything we can talk to him."

"Doesn't it seem a bit strange that Ikurx crawls into bed right after going out to the beach? Especially when it's still day light." Zax pointed to the pile of blankets that were over Ikurx. "Not to mention hot out." He glanced at Sora in his scarf. Zax sighed. "So much for our vacation." He walked over to plop himself down on the unoccupied bed.

"I just figured he was tired at the time, but after a while it was a little odd." Cloud looked between both Sora and Zax. Both of whom had the only two comfortable places left in the room. "Our vacation isn't really ruined to tell the truth. Nothing has really happened yet. We can still try to relax as best we can." He moved away from the door to make his way over to the bed Zax had taken over, deciding to sit near the edge of it.

Sora buried his head a little deeper in his knees. He suddenly felt guilty for barging in on the two like he had, especially Cloud. The man wasn't really prone to being very talkative as much as he was now. Sora felt bad that he was invading on time that was probably being used to catch up with a friend. "I'm sorry about all of this..." He spoke up in a quiet voice.

"... It's not your fault." The words didn't come from Zax or Cloud, but muffled groggy words from the bed across from all three of them. The Nobody weakly pushed the blankets like they were lead weight instead of light fluff. "Not... not really." Ikurx sat up, his pale hair a mess. "Circumstance or... something." His red rimmed eyes tiredly rose to look at Sora. "You're better now." What should have been a happy smile faded before it started. "... Everything seems to work out so well for you." He rubbed his eyes looking down. "Must be nice."

Sora's head snapped up to stare over at the person he had been searching high and low for. He frowned a little at Ikurx's appearance and the words spoken, but quickly shook his head in response. He didn't even give Zax and Cloud time to react. He was out of the chair in an instant to run towards the bed, launching himself across it to latch arms around Ikurx's neck as he hugged the Nobody as tight as he could. "Ikurx, you're okay! I'm so glad. We've been looking for you."

Ikurx hadn't expected Sora to be clinging to him in the least. Given what he'd been through and seen, he expected something more violent, though he wasn't sure why. The mess he'd left Sora to was vivid in his mind, along with many other horrors that replayed in his minds eye over and over again each time his eyes closed.  
Ikurx couldn't lie, despite what he knew now, how bitter it was inside, it felt good to be hugged tight.

Ikurx gave a tired blink. "'We'?" He prayed that 'we' didn't mean Riku. Riku was the last person he wanted Cloud and Zax to meet. He didn't want what happened in that abandoned building to ever happen again.

Sora nodded his head up and down even as he continued to cling tightly. "Yeah." He pulled away only a little so he could look Ikurx in the eyes, giving a small smile to the other. "Me, Mickey and Naminé. We've been searching so many worlds for you." His voice cracked a bit as he stared into those same vivid green eyes and he was quick to cling back with his arms just as tight around Ikurx's neck as they had been before. "We came here to keep you safe."

Ikurx gave a small blink. He couldn't recall a 'Mickey' or a 'Naminé'; at least he didn't think so. But those teary blue eyes and desperate clinging embrace, Ikurx found himself far too over whelmed by the selfless need of Sora's heart. It felt like a malicious betrayal as his arms seemed to slip around Sora on their own. But Ikurx just couldn't help hugging Sora back. It felt exactly as it did before when he'd crawled up to Sora when he was a Heartless, and hugging him tight when Riku offered nothing but cold malice.

Ikurx could feel his resolve melt away, along with any fight or grudge he had held for Sora in that moment. He should have been angry with himself; perhaps he should have been more stubborn. But he just didn't have it in him anymore.

"I am safe," he quietly spoke in a weak attempt to assure Sora. Ikurx held Sora just a little tighter, rubbing the other's back.

Zax gave a short nod as he continued to stare at the scene. " _Now_ I've seen everything."

"You think." Cloud was quick to add in as he too watched. It wasn't all that odd to him to see Sora being overly happy to see someone, and maybe not even all that strange to see the boy happy to find the Nobody of his best friend at that. Of course Cloud was just at anxious over the fact that Ikurx was finally awake, but he was too afraid to break the moment between the two.

Sora pulled back once again, but made sure to keep his eyes down this time around. The hand moving along his back was comforting and helped ease the pounding of his heart. "I'm glad you are. I felt something, and like I told Cloud, it's what led me here. I was afraid something might have happened to you. We shouldn't have just let you leave on your own. With so many people after you it was a bit reckless, but I guess at the time it was for the best." He finally raised his eyes again and his smile stayed in place. "It's good to know you had others that were watching over you."

Ikurx's hand stilled. He stared at nothing, feeling nothing but perhaps complacent apathy. "... You came to take me back to him, didn't you?" The words left him so very quietly. He gave a lethargic blink as his gaze down casted to the pile of blankets over his legs. "... Or to ask me to use my gift." He gave a short sound with a heavy breath. "Or both." Even if Sora was so very happy to see him, to hug him, the reasoning and end would always be the same.

"H-Huh? N-No, nothing like that, Ikurx." Sora seemed a bit put off by the sudden words and the smile faded away just as quick as it had come. "We only came here to see you and to protect you from all of the people that keep trying to take you away and harm you. Riku, he's..." Sora bit his lip before he forced himself to go on. "He's not even here with us. We weren't going to take you back to him. We only wanted to talk to you and see if you were alright."

Ikurx's hand touched Sora's cheek, fingers folding until only one finger rested there. "No one would ever harm me... well... at least, not kill me." Down his finger traced a small line only to move back up making a point. "They all know what I can do, even before I did." His finger made another point; it was a small star he drew. "Even before Riku did. So don't worry, little star. I can't do what I'm supposed to do anymore." His hand fell down and so did his gaze. "I gave my Promise away... or was it our Promise?" Ikurx flicked the barren collar of his shirt where no charm lay. "And now I have nothing." Ikurx looked back down at Sora's wide eyed expression. He didn't know what motivated him to brush his fingers through the brunette hair or to stroke that warm cheek. It was nothing like the cool feeling of Demyx's face at all. "... I'm sure if I wasn't _his_... you'd kill me too." He tilted his head as he watched Sora's face through a mangled mess of pale hair. "Hm, Keyblade Master?"

 _Little Star._ The echoed words sent a chill down Sora's spine as he remembered the small little talk Riku had given him that had meant so much to him before the other left. Of course it didn't last long and his eyes only grew wider as Ikurx kept speaking and he found himself shaking his head as quick as he could. "No! That's not true!" He grabbed the other's hand, holding it tightly between both of his own and squeezing. "I would never do such a thing, Ikurx! How could you even say that? Why would you even think that? I'd still try to protect you from everyone."

Ikurx slowly shook his head, his pale hair in pillow made knots swaying with the action. "I thought you would understand, Sora... I thought you knew everything. An answer to every problem, even though we've only met once. I trusted you implicitly... But you only have forgiveness for _him_ and no one else... _Nobody_ else." His expression fell, so sad, so crestfallen. "Is it really so bad to want to feel what you do? To do everything in all your power to know what it's like to feel wet tears down your cheeks when your chest aches, to let everyone around you know that you're suffering too, or to give a smile unconsciously when your feeling warm and lighter than air with friends, instead of forcing muscle in your face to move your lips to match what they're doing too?" Ikurx's fingers tightened to hold Sora's hand back. His thumb very slowly stroked the side of Sora's hand. "Feeling _nothing_ is horrific, Sora. Especially when you remember what it was like to feel each of those things so naturally. Does every Nobody deserve to die for wanting to feel? Is our existence really so blasphemous that we don't deserve existence too?"

Sora opened his mouth to respond, but was forced to close it just as quickly. He didn't really know what to say to any of that. He felt like anything he had to say would have been contradictory after what had happened with Roxas. His own Nobody had wanted to feel everything for the person that tried so hard to see him again. Yet, here they were trying to bring Roxas back, trying to force him back into a life that he wanted no part of. The thoughts caused Sora to look down as he lowered their hands. "I..." He started quietly and tried his best to get his thoughts in order. "I can't really imagine what that must be like." His lips turned up and he gave a shaky laugh. "Or, maybe I can. I couldn't feel much of anything while I was a Heartless."

Sora glanced back up to stare at Ikurx behind bangs and gave a soft sigh. "Not every Nobody deserves to die, Ikurx. Sometimes it just can't be helped, though. Terrible things have happened to the worlds for years now. You probably don't want to hear that, but it's true." He glanced away and for once he finally looked more like the broken, worn, teenager that he actually was. "There have been plenty of times where I didn't _want_ to fight, but I did and I still do because it's just the right thing to do. No matter what happens I have to do it and I'm so sorry for any and all consequences because in the end, I feel like it's all my fault." His eyes dropped to the bed. "I'm so sorry, Ikurx..."

"I'm sorry, Ikurx." The Nobody echoed Sora's words as his gaze dulled. "I'm so sorry, Ikurx." Sora. Demyx. Sora. Demyx. Demyx. Sora. Demyx. Sora. "'I'm sorry, Ikurx' doesn't fix anything. What good would my forgiveness fix? It won't help anyone. It won't save anyone." His free hand came to rest on top of their holding hands. "Sometimes light and dark, good and evil, are a matter of opinion." Ikurx stared down at their hands. "Maybe instead of saying 'I'm sorry, Ikurx' you could say 'I'm sorry, Roxas'. You're going to bring him back and force him to be nothing... And then you'll do the same for me. But it shouldn't be you apologizing to me when that time comes. Maybe at that time you could say... 'I'm sorry, Demyx'." He shut his eyes and lowered his head considerable.

"Demyx..." The name left Sora again much like it had earlier and he looked back at Ikurx with confusion in his gaze. "Why Demyx? Ikurx, he's one of the people that are after your gift. He wants you because you can make him whole again." He freed both of his hands so he could place them on the Nobody's shoulders, squeezing gently as he tried to look into the other's eyes. "He's one of Heartless that used to be part of the Organization. Don't you know this?" There was genuine concern in his voice.

Ikurx leaned forward to whisper something in Sora's ear, so only he could hear it. "I know that you killed him. I know that you killed most of the other Organization Nobodies as well." His arms slipped back around Sora, keeping him near. "But did _you_ know why he wanted to use my gift? Did you know that reason didn't care why, and used his feelings to take his chance? And did you know that even after your Riku stabbed him from behind that Demyx still kept me safe from _you_?" Ikurx let his aching eyes shut, as his voice fell quieter still. "... Do you even know what it is you feel and want from me?"

Sora's eyes shot wide open for a second before they fell halfway. Just as quietly as Ikurx had spoken up Sora found his own voice whispering back just as softly. "I had to do it. I couldn't let them continue to hurt people like they were. He tried to kill me. He called me a traitor. He thought I was Roxas and attacked me. I had to, Ikurx." His arms fell to wrap as tight as they could around the Nobody's waist and for a moment he felt as if he were holding Riku; asking for Riku's forgiveness instead of the other half. "Please...I'm sorry."

Ikurx hugged Sora tighter on impulse. "It's okay. I don't know how to hold a grudge. I'm very bad at it. I guess that's what happens when you can't get angry or you can't hate." He nuzzled Sora's cheek with his own with simple affection. "You're so warm, and you feel nice to hug, and hold... I can see why he loves you so much. He's lucky. It must be wonderful to be able to love you." His hold began to slack. "And to be loved by you."

As soon as Sora felt Ikurx's arms nearly fall away he was quick to hold on even tighter. Those last few things said had him letting out a small noise and he couldn't help clinging. He had tried so hard to be brave, to live up to so many expectations, but he just couldn't help breaking down at this very moment. He didn't want Ikurx to let go just yet. It felt like too much and at the same time he felt guilty for using Ikurx as some sort of crutch, but he just couldn't help it, especially when Sora turned his head and could feel hair brush past his cheek. It was the same. It all felt so much the same and tears stung at his eyes because of it. Before he could stop himself his voice was cracking and he was holding on for dear life as if it was the moment Riku left to find Roxas all over again. "R-Riku..."

Ikurx let out a soft sound of acknowledgement. "I am... in a way, I guess." His arms hugged tighter back around Sora since the other teen had such a desperate hold on him. "Don't cry, little star, you try so hard, I know." He rubbed Sora's back again, trying to sooth the upset emotion in his chest but never trying to stifle the tears Sora would want to shed. "... I don't know what I can do or even say to make things better for you. I don't have anything to give anymore..." Ikurx felt his eyes grow wet but blinked away nothing but ache. He weakly nuzzled Sora's head, the soft hair, leaning in to whisper even more quietly than he had been talking so far. "I could lie to you, if that would make you happy. I could say I loved you too, if that would make you smile again."

Sora was so tempted to say yes. So very tempted to hear those familiar words from the person that resembled the person he loved so very dearly. It felt so wrong, but he couldn't help it. He was just so tired of being away from Riku. Of being taunted with touches and kisses and then having them ripped away from him again and again. It wasn't fair. He had failed; he couldn't be brave for Riku.

Sora pulled back a little with wet eyes, but before he could even open his mouth something caught his attention in the shadows on the floor near the bed. A growing darkness that had his eyes widening as he watched a familiar figure make their way out to slip dark arms around Ikurx away from Sora's tight hold and off the bed, against a cold chest instead. Sora could only make a grab, but failed at catching Ikurx as he watched the Heartless hold the Nobody protectively.

Glowing eyes stared at Sora with as much bitter hatred as they could manage while hands kept held tightly around Ikurx's front. It had been too much to just watch from the Darkness the scene that had been going on. Despite the low whispered words Demyx could hear and feel it all. Especially Sora's own inner turmoil and it was that which had his own hate and selfishness forcing him to show himself and snatch Ikurx away. He didn't care that Cloud and Zax were in the room and he certainly didn't care that Sora was the Keyblade Master. Ikurx didn't belong to Sora and with careful steps he backed up against the wall while he rested his chin on top of the Nobody's head.

Ikurx could only stare ahead of himself, shocked that the Heartless was back. He hadn't expected Demyx to ever return, least of all to hold him so possessively. His dazed mind was slow to realize he wasn't on the bed anymore. Sora was so much further away now. Sora had tried to reach for him, grab him, and need him; even if it was because he was a close facsimile to Riku. A surrogate. But it would have been such a lovely lie.

Ikurx shut his eyes, unable to bear the sight of the expressions on everyone's faces. It had been thoughtless to forget Demyx and his feelings. He had tried to consider Demyx, but when Sora had leapt to cling to him, it was so hard to think of anything but Sora. So Ikurx didn't struggle or fight Demyx's hold. He had no energy for much of anything else save for being the living doll that was there for who ever needed him most.

Cloud had been quick to jump up from the bed as soon as he saw Demyx back up towards the wall. He feared the Heartless might create a new portal and steal the boy away into the Darkness. He certainly seemed to be angry enough to do such a thing. "Let him go, Demyx. Where have you been anyway? What did you do to Ikurx? He's been holed up in this room with us ever since the two of you went to walk on the beach together."

Demyx only turned his narrowed gaze onto Cloud and kept it on the man for a long moment. He didn't speak a word to any of the questions asked, but it was easy to tell that they seemed to trouble him a bit by the way his arms tightened.

"... Don't do this, Demyx." Zax quietly spoke up, calmer than Cloud was with his quick words. "You know how long we've been looking for him. We just found him. So don't think about running off with the kid." He shrugged out his hands. "This is supposed to be a vacation, relax."

"It sure doesn't feel like a vacation." Demyx was quick to snap back. The part of him that was usually so reserved with his words because of nerves had buried itself deep and the glow in his eyes was more intense then before. "Humans...you all think you're so much better then us, but you can stab us just as deep with words as we do you with our hands." His attention turned back to Sora and his gaze narrowed. "Especially with false hopes." His head fell to rest beside Ikurx's own while he spoke in a harsh tone to the boy that still sat on the bed. "He's _not_ Riku, so just stop."

Those words hit Sora hard because they were the horrible, cruel truth. Ikurx wasn't Riku and it took a Heartless to tell him that. But he had wanted so badly to hear those beautiful words one last time. It would have been wonderful, but also a cold, dead lie. His wide gaze fell halfway and as much as he wanted to look away he just couldn't. Only a sad noise would leave his throat as the tense situation continued to form inside the small room.

Zax frowned angrily at the Heartless. "Now just wait a minute. We're not the ones that started this fight; it was the Darkness that started this war to begin with. Despite our differences, we've let you come with us, trusted you around innocent hearts, all because we trust what Ikurx has said about you." He gave a quick shrug. "Our biased has only come from your kind hurting us first, and not the other way around." He pointed at Demyx. "So let's not go botching that, trust, alright. We've been getting along quite nicely. Let's keep it that way."

"My kind. My kind." Demyx echoed the words in an angered and mocking tone of voice. His eyes moved back over to Zax and narrowed just as much as they had been before. "You don't know anything about my kind! I'm not the one that hurt you!" He took another careful step back, bringing Ikurx with him. "I was never even a Heartless back when you were harmed. You don't know anything! Yet you've acted as if I'm responsible for so much. You've only _tolerated_ my time here." His next words were hissed before he buried his face near Ikurx's neck. "There was never any trust."

"... Demyx," the Heartless' name quietly left the Nobody's lips. Ikurx didn't say much more as he raised a weak hand to brush over the short buzzed hair at the side of Demyx's head. His fingers numbly brushed over the loose hair that didn't stand straight up. Ikurx didn't want anymore of this sadness, the hostility was too much.

The touch seemed to startle Demyx. He hadn't expected it at all and only believed that he was the one keeping Ikurx where he was. He didn't expect the Nobody to reach up to touch him. It caused him to lift his head to stare at the teen with wide eyes and for a moment he forgot everyone else in the room as he turned Ikurx around in his arms so the boy was facing him. "Ikurx, I'm so sorry. You have to believe me. I never wanted to hurt you." The anger that had fueled him seemed to vanish as he leaned forward to hug the Nobody tightly to him, burying his face in the boy's hair. "Never."

Ikurx finally let his eyes flicker open. He stared at the wall behind Demyx, his eyes opening wider. "I believe you," he answered quietly, perhaps too quiet for anyone but Demyx to hear. "It wasn't your fault what he did. You're a different Demyx. You only saw what happened, like I did. You didn't attack Sora... But both of you thought what you were doing was right." Ikurx turned his head so he could bury his face against Demyx's chest, the cold cooling his heating face. "... If I had existed sooner, maybe none of this would have had to happen... But it's unfair to pine about the past. Otherwise I'd be just as much to blame, for things that are unable to be controlled."

Demyx held onto Ikurx even tighter after those words and once again it seemed as if he wouldn't let go. He did finally pull away though, and looked down at Ikurx as soon as he had the boy at arms length. A small smile pulled at his lips as he tried very hard to calm down while he spoke up again. "None of it would be your fault. You'd have no reason to be to blame if it had happened sooner or at any time. Things just happen." His arms were quick to go back around Ikurx to hug the Nobody once again after he was finished speaking.

Sora looked on through it all and the entire time his expression never changed. For some reason he just couldn't feel happy that things seemed to have been resolved. He just felt worse then he did before and he felt as if it had to do with the way Demyx was holding Ikurx so easily, as if it came so naturally. Sora almost felt jealous. He wanted that same comfort back and finally forced himself to look away.

Zax gave a quiet sigh. It was strange to watch the Heartless hug Ikurx so, but at the same time he was relieved to see that the tension was gone. They'd all had enough stress. He crossed his arms and looked at Cloud. "Crisis averted?"

Just like Zax, Cloud found the entire situation a little odd, but he wasn't about to stop Demyx if the Heartless was finally somewhat stable. He looked around the room from the two and towards Sora. The boy seemed more then a little upset, but he couldn't really comment on it at the moment, so with a quick nod he allowed himself to settle back down on the bed. "Yeah, for now."

Ikurx's hand slipped behind Demyx to rub the Heartless' back in a soothing manner like he did with Sora. He wasn't sure what else to do. He was glad that Demyx was back, happy that the Heartless wanted him near despite what had happened out on the beach. Still, he wished it was over better circumstances, and not jealousy. A jealousy that Ikurx never expected to be situated in.

The Nobody rested his head against Demyx's chest. With the hold the Heartless had, it didn't feel like Demyx was going to let go anytime soon. But Ikurx made no complaint, letting Demyx hug him as long as he liked.

"I...I have to go..." The words were quick and shaky as they left Sora's mouth while he moved to get up from the bed. His legs felt like jelly and he nearly stumbled on his own two feet, but caught himself in time. "I mean...I need to go see Mickey. I need to talk to him." It was an excuse. Anything to get away from what was happening at that very moment. He made his way to the door and nearly fell against it as he grabbed the handle, twisting it this way and that. It wouldn't budge and he was becoming frustrated when it refused to open while his blurry vision became worse and worse.

Cloud frowned at Sora's distressed state, but continued to keep quiet about it. Instead, he decided to help the boy out. "It's locked, Sora..."

Sora's hand stilled and stayed there for a few seconds. On top of everything he now felt a huge amount of embarrassment rise up, but tried not to think about it. His fingers moved to unlock the door and with just that action the knob twisted easily the next time he tried it. He opened the door and slipped through, stopping so he could turn to give Cloud and Zax as best a smile he could. "See you guys later." With those few words he quickly closed the door behind him as he left.


	52. Chapter 52

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 52

Deep within the Darkness Riku had stayed with Roxas close by. It had been the safest place to be far away from everything else after what had taken place in the fake Twilight Town. The Darkness was quick to nurture each ill thought in what was left of Riku's twisted form of a heart; his regret, his loneliness and the hate the boy still had for so many people that lingered in the worlds outside. It pushed at the boy's mind as well as that brittle half a heart until both snapped and Riku was reminded that revenge was such a bittersweet thing.

The knowledge that the Organization's Heartless were still out and about was only part of it. It had been only two of them that had that familiar anger coming to as the Darkness had reminded Riku very well how everything had started. Why he had been ripped away from the one he cared about in the first place, and why he had been forced to deal with his own abomination known as a Nobody. With so much known Riku had refused to stay still for long and had been on a search ever since, using the darkness around them as a guide and his need to confront the two to hurry and finally found himself on a planet made almost entirely of ice with Roxas by his side.

The newest Heartless didn't seem very bothered by the freezing cold temperature that surrounded them. Roxas found that it felt just the same as the pitch black darkness that they had been residing in for what felt like forever. His glowing eyes had scanned the icy surface though, taking in everything around. The area looked like a battle field here and there with a few cracks in the surface and a few places looked as if they had only been melded over with new ice. It was a strange place to suddenly be in and Roxas finally turned his eyes over to Riku, cocking his head in curiosity.

The sharp wind was quick to lash against either of them, dry and freezing. Riku didn't seem to notice, as it whipped his coat near mercilessly, the tails of his blindfold fluttering madly like a murder of crows' wings. He'd tasted far colder treatment from his heart, and the dark beneath their feet.

" _They're_ the reason for all of this." Riku answered Roxas' curious glance with calm words, the fierce anger needn't be spoken. He didn't bother giving the targets names, they wouldn't need them soon enough. "They have to pay... in blood, for their crime. Death is too good for them. Not until their raw swollen throats can't scream anymore." A gloved hand slipped down to pet fingers through the dark upsweep of Roxas' hair; a possessive yet kind touch despite the violent thoughts that went through Riku's thoughts.

All of this was deliciously poetic justice in Riku's mind. A mind that had removed the shambles that had been Roxas' school outfit and adorn him in a perverse mockery of Sora's outfit new and old; short sleeved jacket, shorter zipper shirt underneath that allowed Roxas' slender bare middle to be exposed before a loose belt and low sitting puffed shorts continued. Assured it was twisted to put Roxas in something akin to what Riku wanted Sora to be in his mind, but to Riku it was as perfect a surrogate to him as the real Sora should be. The matching 'X' of belts across a heart was proof of Riku's property on Roxas' person. To Riku this felt right. Both, together, fighting; it didn't matter what, as long as they slaughtered it together.

The Darkness assured him that all of this made perfect sense.

"... They made me." Riku continued darkly as he took a few steps on the icy tundra. "So I'll unmake them..." he finished simply.

Roxas followed and stayed behind Riku as he kept his eyes on the other's back. He questioned nothing that was said, he had no reason to question Riku's motives, but he did question the how. Especially with how far and wide the area they were in went on for. It seemed as if it would make things difficult if they were searching for more then one person. "But," Roxas finally started to speak up, "where will we find them, Riku?" The name was spoken in that same soft purr. "These people that made you. Will it be easy?" His eyes scanned around the ice once again.

"Of course." Riku's steps ended at a hole that was long carved out with fierce fire and blades. The hole made was cut into ice that was far older and stronger, the pathetic attempt to fill it with new jagged stalagmites of ice that was far too new and fragile caused a corner of Riku's lips to quirk up. He gave the new ice a small tap with the toe of his boots. "It's as easy as catching a white rabbit." Riku then back stepped and gestured for Roxas to clear the way.

Roxas kept his gaze on Riku for only a few more seconds before he was turning his attention to the thick ice. His eyes slowly narrowed and as if it were instinctual, his hands moved to his sides as he rose up a bit. Black flames licked at the air as the two keyblades formed to settle themselves into claws before they were gripped tightly. The weapons weren't questioned by Roxas nor was the order. Instead he moved forward swiftly to try and break away each piece of ice that blocked the hole, smashing the blades one by one into the barricade and watching as the vicious fire that accompanied each strike began to melt it away.

Riku watched as it wasn't long before the new ice was cut away to reveal their entrance inside. He walked through the new puddled water to the hole. He ran his fingers through Roxas' hair in a small acknowledgement of praise before he stepped inside to fall through the hole.

Riku's landing was purposely loud, boots crunching against ice and slush from above, announcing his entrance into Vexen and Zexion's keep. It sent Vexen's minor Heartless scampering away; life over loyalty. Riku let the scrambling few leave with fear as he took a few unlucky ones out with a quick slash of Way to Dusk on summons.

Roxas had landed with soft steps near Riku as soon as he dropped down. He had watched Riku take out the few remaining Heartless and kept out his own weapons just in case there were more lingering about. In an instant he could feel a presence nearby and it put Roxas on edge. It was quite similar to his own but stronger and with its own will. He could also feel a heart that didn't belong to the Darkness at all and it had that curiosity coming back to him as he moved closer to Riku and rose up only a little to nuzzle the other's free hand. "It's them?"

Riku gave a single nod, his fingers running across the cheek that nuzzled them. He started walking down the corridor of ice. There were a few lights lacing the halls, new for the one human who could no longer see through the dark. Each small light burst as Riku past it, throwing the corridor into its proper black oblivion.

They were getting closer... Riku could feel their fear as if it were something real to drink in with his five senses. They knew he was coming.

The corridor soon stopped and opened to a much larger room; the main lab. There was still lingering evidence of a battle that resided, chunks of ice cut and slashed away in the walls and parts of scientific machinery still littering the icy floor. But it was one thing in particular that caught Riku's covered eyes.

X

The letters were written neatly on a frosted monitor of machinery that had been left untouched in repairs. Riku was compelled to walk to the name, a name he was not unfamiliar with now.

 _'No heart of your own.'_

 _'I. K. U. R. X. Th-that's my name! I'm Ikurx?_

 _A fail safe. Buried too deeply to gain control of. It was never allowed freedom. Never allowed that extra push_

 _The one Nobody that holds power over the light. You are what can bring back the dead and make our bodies whole._

 _The final push was given and here you are._

Riku's fingers slipped down from the 'R' he'd touched. "... Here I am." His hand fell away.

With a furious shout he grasped Way to Dusk with both hands to violently abolish those letters on that screen. Sparks flew with shrapnel and smoke, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to destroy the screen, he needed to destroy the broken down machine it was attached to, the computers near it. All of it.

Wires, metal, glass, ice- Riku cut and gutted the innards of whatever was near. His fury stopped when he turned and stumbled upon a metal chair with many discarded little wires littered about it. His insides went cold seeing it, his stomach churned sick like he'd swallowed a hand full of ice and anti-freeze. Riku stared at it, tense like a small child expecting a hard slap in the face from a parent. Way to Dusk came to rest on the floor still loosely gripped in Riku's hand. Riku didn't know why he did it, but he obliterated the metal chair, its own shadow violently ripping it apart before melting the remains with an acidic explosion.

This was just the start of wiping Ikurx from memory of existence; just the start of rewriting his wrong.

Through the entire ordeal Roxas had kept far away in a corner of the room watching with wide sorrowful eyes as Riku destroyed everything that was close to him. He could feel the pain and frustration that Riku's own being gave off, especially when the metal chair had been completely demolished. He flinched back, keeping near the shadows of a nearby wall until everything was settled. When there was silence he allowed the blades in his own hands to vanish so he could make his way over to Riku and finally stand. Slowly and carefully he wrapped his arms around the other's neck from behind despite the difference in height. "Riku..." The name was purred out once again as Roxas tried his best to sooth.

The cool body against Riku's back soothed the seething anger that lingered in him. The mangled sight of metal was shut away as Riku closed his eyes behind the blind fold, just focusing on the shorter body hugging him from behind. He could vaguely recall someone shorter before hugging him whenever he was upset; someone who was always smiling. Riku pushed the new memory away, the past didn't matter anymore.

"... It's okay." Riku pet Roxas' hand at his neck. "It's over now." The fit of anger anyway. "Let's continue."

Roxas gave a quick nod against Riku's back. He slowly pulled away, not wanting to, but knowing that he had to. He dropped back down to kneel near the floor and gazed around at the destroyed room once again. Even before Riku had taken his blade to the machines and such, it had looked worse for wear. Still, there was no sign of anyone around yet, but Roxas could still sense them and he hated it.

With slow steps Roxas moved to one of the icy walls inside the room and studied it with narrowed eyes. Only one of the twin blades were called to his hands so he could bury the tip deep within the wall. Flames were quick to make the metal hot and ice melt as he ripped the blade through and further down the wall. A small warning to the two in hiding. "Come out; come out, wherever you are..." The words were spoken in a sing song tone of voice.

Riku kicked a piece of metal hard; the chunk flew into a computer screen across from him. He gained a look of certain satisfaction from it. There were few to no other blinking lights from the computers around. With a swift gesture the darkness around smashed out the remaining lights casting the entire room into pitch black.

"Marco." Riku called out playfully. He walked leisurely to the other side of the room to another corridor. "Polo." He grinned his teeth.

Roxas had ripped his blade away from the melted wall and called its twin as he maneuvered his way through the darkness with ease. His eyes were the only signal that made it known he was even beside Riku aside from his quiet steps. With Riku's last few words and the expression on the other's face, Roxas cocked his head to the side before a small devious smile crossed over his own face. Within seconds he was in front of Riku and crossing his blades in front of one another before he let them fall towards the corridor, filling the space with intense flames.

After the flames died down the corridor was a murky tunnel of water and slush. Riku stepped inside, walking past Roxas, his steps an audible splash in the pitch black corridor. "A human can't survive long in this ice.", Riku thought aloud. A droplet of water cascaded nearly hitting him though barely brushing his silver hair. He stopped in his steps, 'looking' around the hall before he continued down it. Oh he could feel the quickening beat of Zexion's living heart. It grew nearer with each step. The dark thought of plunging into that heart as well like he had Roxas', forcing his raw hatred onto that delicate beating heart feeling it rip everything that was Zexion was into something beyond dead, it tickled the back of Riku's mind with vile elation. It had felt so good the first time, a second time- it could only feel better.

"Marco." Riku's taunting voice echoed down the melting hall.

Once again there was nothing but silence to answer the childish game back. Only the sound of dripping water around them as it continued to melt. Roxas continued to follow, keeping his attention all around for any signs of movement. Even though Riku hadn't been answered, something still wasn't quite right, and in a second they soon found out why. Familiar paper faded into existence nearby aiming to move in on each keyblade that was out and ready. If the weapons could be stolen then that was half the worry down.

Before the keyblades could even be touched, Roxas had moved to attack. He didn't dare touch the paper with his blades and instead twirled them to send bursts of flames at each strip, causing them to burn as soon as the heat touched them. The attack hit dead on each paper that had tried to move in on Riku's weapon as well and after all the pieces were burned Roxas turned his gaze up to Riku while he let his blades rest at his sides.

Riku had to admit Roxas did prove his usefulness. He knew first hand how aggravating those papers were. "Good boy." He gave Roxas the approval the Heartless looked for. Riku's smirk returned as he raised his arm to leisurely point down the hall. "Now, sick em!" He dabbed the air with a finger to punctuate his words.

Roxas was quick to move. Large puddles of melted ice were rippled as his feet disturbed them with each step he took towards the end of the corridor. It was a lone door which caught his eyes and as he grew nearer he could feel the two that resided within the icy fortress growing closer and closer. Halfway to his target the walls around Roxas began to twist, bend and move in odd angles while the door seemed to move further away.

The illusion caused Roxas to stop for a second and take a quick look around at what was suddenly a warped hallway. His eyes narrowed in annoyance before they turned ahead once again. Instead of moving any further, Roxas threw down both blades towards the ground, allowing fire to shoot off on a path towards what the illusion made out to be a moving door. Fire was quick to hit wood and ice, destroying what was blocking their way and with it the illusion was quick to die away.

With the obstruction gone, Roxas ran towards the open room. As soon as he crossed into the area he was quick to trap in the two he could feel residing somewhere inside the darkened room. He slammed the tips of his twin blades into the floor. Fire sprang up from the ground on either side of him creating a circle that would trap the prey they wanted and began to melt the rest of the ice that was settled around. Glowing eyes looked up above the handles of the blades and narrowed to slits. "We found you." He continued in that same little sing-song voice he had used earlier.

"I don't think so.", angry words spoke over the roar of flames. A set of glowing eyes opened visible in the far side of the burning circle. "You see- this is my world, Number XIII." Vexen stepped closer, though the black fire gave no true illumination, it wasn't needed for either Heartless to see each other.

Vexen tilted his head to study the small black teen who was to be his opposer. "Interesting. How or why you've attained that form- I have to say I'm most impressed. If not fully intrigued." He straightened only to give Roxas a disapproving glare. "It's a shame I'll have to ruin such a wonderful specimen." He threw his long sleeve forward and from the walls and ceiling came jagged points of ice. Some smashed head long into the fire to smother it throwing hot steam and water from the impact. Other points flew in attempts to puncture Roxas at all angles.

Roxas pulled both blades free of the floor to move them up and block each sharp piece of ice that had been aiming for him. There were several cracks as pieces of the frozen water broke in half while water dripped down the blades and near Roxas' claws. There were moments when Roxas had to dodge to escape a few sharp pieces, slicing at them as soon as he had moved out of the way. When the attacks were over he turned his eyes back towards Vexen, confused over a few words spoken to him, but his attention was grabbed again as paper once more flew towards his blades and was successful the second time around at wrapping around them both.

Roxas growled, baring teeth, and allowed both blades to heat up before they had a chance to be sucked in. The papers burned up as quick as before and he shot his eyes around the room to find the other whom had attacked, but it still seemed as if the Human were in hiding. Roxas snapped his head back towards Vexen and shot off quick towards the other Heartless with blades ready to take his anger out on him instead. With blades crossed he swung them out as soon as he was near Vexen, aiming to take the other out in one vicious attack.

Black flame hissed and sparked as they met Vexen's summoned shield. But the force of the attack had him falling back. Ice latched around his feet to help him hold his ground. But unfortunately he was a man of science not of the battle field.

"So, a traitor even as a Heartless. How befitting of you, Number XIII." Vexen sneered behind the shield as he tried to press back. But the ice at his feet was cracking with the sheer force that Roxas had over him. "I suppose I have you to thank, Riku." Vexen strained to speak. "Providing me time and time again with a wonderful specimen to observe."

A sharp winged blade suddenly protruded next to Vexen's face, so quick it caused Vexen to take an unneeded breath. What pale hair it cut misted away into white tendrils. Way to Dusk had cut a shallow gash in the Heartless' shoulder, nothing vital or life threatening, yet. Vexen stared ahead with wide glowing eyes, unwilling to look at the blade next to his head for fear of losing it.

"... You should really learn to respect your elders, Riku," Vexen carefully spoke up as his glowing eyes narrowed. "I was a Heartless long before you ever cast your first sin." Unseen behind the shield he gave a small gesture with a single finger. A sharp icicle was quick to jut from the wall behind Riku giving him no time to avoid the underhanded attack. But the ice went straight through Riku, the teen was as solid as a shadow, and so the ice pierced Vexen deep below his shoulder.

Riku leaned much too near to Vexen as the Heartless hunched over best he could with the ice punctured deep inside, his sounds of pain echoed off the icy room walls. Riku whispered against Vexen's ear with grinning vanity, "Power bests wisdom, old man."

There was a gentle touch around Riku's middle that could have been missed had the feeling of arms not squeezed Riku's waist as tight as they could. The touch was so similar to Roxas' kind ones that had been given lately, but this one simple gesture wasn't ice cold and that made all the difference in the world. One gloved hand moved up from its hold to crawl up Riku's middle as a small noise left a familiar voice along with words. "Please, Riku..."

Roxas' attention had been snapped away by the new presence in the room and his eyes had caught sight of the body holding so tightly to what Roxas considered to be his own. Something felt just as off right now as it did in the hallway when it had begun to warp and twist. It had an irritated growl leaving Roxas as he watched the body cling to Riku, hating what he saw and wanting so badly to destroy it.

Riku 'stared' ahead. That clinging embrace, that warm body behind him, it was so very familiar. He'd felt that body hug him more than a thousand times, heard that voice speak to him in so many tones of emotion; but mostly cheerful, with a smile to match.

But who was it?

Riku knew the name. But it was buried very deep now.

Riku winced as the memory came to him like a bright flash; brown hair, blue eyes, always smiling, laughing, little secret kisses on a small island.

"... Sora." The name left Riku in a breathless whisper.

"Riku." The name was spoken again, but with a large amount of relief attached to it. The hand that had crawled up Riku's chest moved even further until fingers could grab hold of a shoulder and hold as tight as they could. "I missed you. I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Fingers tightened and Sora's voice grew small and scared as the boy's face buried deeper against Riku's back. "You left me alone again, Riku."

Roxas watched every touch and heard each word said between the two and through it all that horrible feeling was still there. Roxas gripped the handles of his blades even tighter while his narrowed eyes turned sad to see Riku just allow such a thing so easily and the foreign name leave the other's lips. It caused Roxas to try and catch Riku's attention as much he could, letting out a soft whine as Vexen was forgotten.

Riku didn't seem to hear the whine, too caught up in the memory of that warm embrace. "I... left you," the words quietly echoed from Riku's lips. "No. We had to. We both decided it was best." His free hand came to rest on Sora's on his shoulder. He could feel the warmth of the other's fingers through his glove; oh god how he missed that warmth. "You promised me. Don't you remember?" His fingers slid over Sora's tightly clinging hand and down the arm almost in awe.

"Was it really for the best?" Sora continued to speak up in the same small voice as he allowed Riku to touch him, but still continued to cling. "Was any of it for the best, Riku? Being split from you for so long, it always hurts. We don't have to do any of this. Please stop, Riku." Before Sora could continue he was ripped away from the older boy in an instant as the force of twin blades knocked him away and continued to push until they had him slammed against a nearby wall.

In the darkness, glowing eyes glared with murderous intent at Sora's form. Roxas kept both blades pushed against the other's chest while the ends criss-crossed near Sora's throat. The entire position kept the other pinned against the wall. Despite the fact Sora was staying completely limp at the moment Roxas still gave a low growl close to the boy's face.

Riku swiftly turned around to bare witness to the sudden hostile sight. Horror crossed his face. "S-Sora." A dizzying jolt went through his mind; why was this Sora so important? But he wasn't given time to sort himself as cold pain pierced his right shoulder, the arm that held Way to Dusk, the keyblade vanished as it was let go. "... Don't hurt him."

Riku was jerked back, the hood flying from his head. He was then thrown backwards from the large icicle from the floor that punctured in his shoulder. He slammed into the wall with a grunt, affectively pinned by the ice. Several more large icicles were quick to follow, stabbing into him. Black bled down the clear frozen ice, black instead of red dripping to the icy floor.

Roxas' eyes had shot wide open and turned quick to watch each attack as the ice hit Riku with such precision. In the end his eyes were caught by the dripping blood and suddenly he no longer cared about the body that he had pinned to the wall as he tore his blades away from Sora to make a quick leap across the room to reach Riku. His blades swiped at each piece of ice, being careful of the body that was pinned beneath as water melted. A pitiful noise escaped the back of Roxas' throat as he leaned in to nudge Riku's cheek with his nose.

Riku flinched, his eyes keeping shut tight under the bandana. "S-Sora... is- is Sora okay?" His fingers twitched on pinned and useless arms. He couldn't feel the pain now, numbed from the cold, from the darkness that bled out the wounds.

"You mean this?" Vexen called out as he held the limp Keyblade Master up by his hair. "No, your faithful shadow made sure of that."

Riku forced himself to open his eyes and look. But he couldn't 'see' Sora from under the bandana, not like he'd remembered. Sora had always been a silhouette of pure white, but this Sora was black amidst black.

".. Zexion."

Vexen hadn't expected Riku to catch on so soon. He gave a shrug and let go of the Keyblade Master's hair so he could fall in a painful heap. "You never fail to astound me, Riku." He raised both his clawed hands to slip his fingers together in steeple to gesture. "A perfect marriage of not only Darkness, but Light as well. But it isn't your own light. It's his." He unlinked his hands to gesture a long sleeve down to the crumpled Sora. "You aren't quite a Heartless like myself, but you're not exactly human either." He gave a short cool chuckle. "Most fascinating."

Despite words exchanged, Sora stayed right on the floor where he had been dropped. Slowly he pulled his knees up to his chest and glanced up through bangs to stare ahead at Riku with sad eyes. The same sorrowful expression had he still been a Heartless what felt like ages ago. "Riku..."

The twinge of jealousy that moved through Roxas moments before came back along with the anger at hearing Vexen speak. At the moment Riku was only worried over someone else's well being. Someone that only seemed to be putting him in danger. Roxas' eyes narrowed and he pulled away from Riku to turn around, facing Vexen. He moved forward with quick steps to cross the room, heading towards the other Heartless, and side-stepped Sora to swipe an arm out, trying to take Vexen out with a blade.

Vexen hissed as the keyblade cut his arm deep. He grasped onto the wound as he back stepped from Roxas. "And you, Number XIII. A Heartless still with possession of the keyblade." His grin was wide as he bit back a sound when he removed his hand to look at the cut made. "Not just any keyblade, but one powered by Darkness. I recognize that attack anywhere. That fire. Those key chains there are the only reason you still hold those keyblades. How clever of Number VIII." The blank look on Roxas' face at all that was said caused Vexen to give a grin of epiphany. "You don't remember, do you? Nothing more than a tool now. Your free will went with your memory. It's his Darkness that flows through your veins now." Vexen gave a quiet chuckle. "Brilliant... The less witted are so much easier to fool."

Roxas was ready to attack again, ready to push the small talk to the back of his mind, but something stopped him. There was an ache in his chest where every bit of darkness resided. Something was hindering him and causing him to hesitate. It was a horrible feeling and it caused Roxas to stumble until he was no longer standing, but instead, bent over and kneeling as tiny whispers assaulted him and caused him to whine pitifully.

 _'You're just a puppet.'_ The voice was calm in his ears, but yet it held so much cruelty with its words. _'You'll never be what he wants you to truly be. You'll never replace the real thing.'_ On the outside Roxas flinched as only he heard the words spoken to him. _'You have no real meaning to your existence now. Not like before. He's torn everything away from you and you don't even matter to him. Only Sora.'_ His eyes moved to the huddled figure nearby and in that instant he felt as if all the fight had been drained out of him. As if all the words said to him were true.

On the far wall Riku faded to a shadow, pooling his energy long enough so he could step away from the icicles pinning him to the wall. The dark around him healed his body enough so that when he solidified his wounds were gone. Still Riku held his shoulder, staggering now that he stood on his own.

Down Riku's hand slipped to his heart, though no ice had punctured him there. Heart? No, it wasn't his beating own that he felt. There was another, beating oh so quick with adrenaline. Such a tricky, tricky heart.

Riku summon Way to Dusk. In the pure dark it was easy to draw more energy than was necessary. The energy flickered with Riku's anger over Zexion illusions and lies. He swiped the keyblade forward throwing an enormous blast of dark energy to where the heart weaver of lies hid.

As the blast neared a darkened corner of the room a whirlwind of fluttering paper was soon surrounding the energy, trying to suck each bit of power up before it could hit. The try wasn't completely unsuccessful as the full force of the blast was gone, but still hit just as hard as soon as it hit its intended target. For a long while everything was still except for the bits of ice that fell to the floor after such an attack. Finally, footsteps were heard coming out of the corner as Zexion walked out, brushing off the obvious wound to his side that the rest of the blast had given him as if it were nothing.

With a simple wave of his hand the illusion that had been Sora was gone, leaving nothing but the four of them as it should have been to start. Always one to push a few buttons, Zexion gave a small smirk despite the darkness around, knowing Riku would 'see' it, and pushed a few strands of hair aside. "Ah, Riku. You seem to be fairing well enough without your other half. You've even gotten yourself a new pet." His hand dropped back down only to cross over his chest as he studied the boy carefully along with the Heartless that was still kneeling on the ground.

Zexion's words meant nothing to Riku, his attention was intently on the human, and now that he'd revealed himself, stepping out into the open, that was enough for Riku. He sprinted forward towards Zexion. Ice jutted from the ground as Vexen tried to stop Riku's onslaught, but they were cut away as quickly as they appeared. Nothing was going to stop Riku from severing a limb or two to remove that calm apathy from Zexion's cool personal.

Zexion back stepped as quickly as he could to avoid Riku's own fast steps with the deadly blade that was after him. It was harder in the dark as a Human. He had to rely on sound and memorization of where to move much more then sight. Riku had the advantage, but it didn't mean that Zexion still couldn't toy around and weaken the mind a little as he tried to avoid quick strikes. "Why are you fighting, Riku? What reason do you have to fight? You're tainted. Just as much part of the Darkness if not more; much more. Why do you try to fight against everything you think is evil when it's all a part of you?"

"Same reason you do." Riku gripped Way to Dusk above his shoulder. Unseen he narrowed his eyes while his lips smirked. "Because I can." He stretched out his free hand. All hearts had light and dark, good and evil. Funny how the shadowed silhouette of one's person was personified as the evil half. It was that, what unseen shadow that Zexion cast, that Riku took control. The dark curled to grasp Zexion's flight of foot, wrapping tightly around ankle and legs to keep him from his escape.

"Being tainted," Riku casually stepped over to Zexion since the human had no way to run now, "only means I won't regret later the hellish torture I'm going to put you through." He stepped around behind Zexion and placed a cold hand on his back between his shoulder blades. "Corrupt you." His hand slid, roaming across Zexion's back; oh the quickening of heart beat was a beautiful thing to feel. "Two creatures to torment instead of one." There; Riku's hand stopped. He could feel the guile and scheme, the darkness of Zexion's heart. He tightened his fingers, toying with the delicate balance inside. "My thanks to you for doing the same to me."

Zexion's breath caught in his throat, something that he couldn't quite place ever happening before. It was so hard to concentrate on thoughts and words with that cold chill feeding on his insides with no way to break free. He shut his eyes to try and block out everything around and stay focused. It was better to stay calm then to panic over the situation. "Thank me for helping you push yourself to something that your precious Light surely despises?" His eyes opened back up only a bit, but still all he saw was darkness. "Love and forgiveness. They're such pretty lies aren't they, Riku?"

"Lies?" Riku echoed curiously. His fingers pressed into Zexion's back, first digging into skin past clothing then deeper past skin into a far more intimate place where all hearts were kept. "Light, love, forgiveness, they all can't exist without dark, hatred and betrayal." Riku forced his fingers deeper, but never fully submerging his hand. He could control the dark in Zexion's heart far better, while letting him feel the painful intrusion of all five fingers. "As a man of science you should know these as truths."

Zexion finally allowed the pain to show on his face. There was no hiding it any longer when it was obvious how much the sudden intrusion near his heart affected him. His hands clenched at his sides as tight as they could and once again his eyes closed, causing the darkness to grow even blacker around him. "Truths can always be broken, especially if a person isn't all that willing to forgive." Despite his pain that cruel smirk twisted up on Zexion's lips. "Will your Light be so willing to forgive you after all of this? After seeing what you've resorted to now? Using his Nobody as your own little puppet."

Riku's lips tightened into a thin line. In retaliation he plunged his hand fully into Zexion, violent and cruel, using Zexion's own darkness against him to tear him from the inside out as Riku's hand forced itself deeper. "Enough about my fears," Riku whispered behind Zexion's ear. "What is it _you_ fear most?" The darkest of Zexion's heart was Riku's to delve into and he made sure Zexion felt every bit of it.

"Zexion!" Vexen took an anxious step forward as he reached out a helpless hand. There wasn't much to be done that wouldn't hurt Zexion in the process.

A keyblade was struck out to stop Vexen where he stood just in case he dared to take another step. Roxas kept the tip of the blade close to the other Heartless' chest while his eyes stayed on Vexen for only a few seconds before he turned his attention towards the scene playing out.

Zexion had bit back a scream, but through clenched teeth noises could still be heard coming from his mouth. He nearly doubled over from the vicious cold that tried to tear him apart. He couldn't catch his breath, but he still refused to give Riku any form of satisfaction of a response and kept silent despite the pull at his heart that pleaded with him to answer. He could only try his best to glance over when he heard his voice called out, but could only see the glow of eyes.

It didn't matter what Zexion didn't say Riku could hear his heart well enough, what made it scream, beg and cry out in the dark of all things. It had a pleased smile spreading across Riku's once pursed lips.

"You fear being alone," Riku near purred the words, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. He pressed himself nearer to Zexion's quivering form, resting his chin on his shoulder. "You know your weaknesses and it isn't strength. You're small and helpless, like a mouse. You can't protect yourself by yourself. That's why you liked Lexaeus so much. He was everything you weren't; big, strong." Riku leaned his lips nearer to Zexion's ear, with a hiss his fingers tightening round the human's heart. "I can _feel_ how much you long for him. His friendship. Hmm," Riku chuckled low in his throat, "his touch? You three were a team, right? Now all you have is your devoted jack-frost." Riku's free hand slipped around Zexion's middle, crawling up his front much like the faux Sora had done for Riku. The gloved fingers splayed over Zexion's chest over where his frantic heart beat. Riku glanced past Zexion to the two across from them. "You fear losing the last of you. You fear losing him." He pinned Vexen down with a sharp gaze.

"... Ienzo." The name left Vexen without thinking as he stared at Zexion, his glowing eyes wide around. There wasn't much more to be said.

"Shut up!" Even Zexion didn't know who he shouted the harsh words to, but they made it obvious that he was finally breaking down. _He_ was supposed to be the manipulator. These twisted words and cold feelings weren't supposed to happen to him. His entire body was shaking, but he either didn't notice or just couldn't stop it. Each touch that Riku pulled at his heart caused him to twitch with a new spasm of pain and he absolutely despised the feel of the boy's hand crawling up his front. This was absolute torture on his human heart and he couldn't clear his head enough to bite back at Riku with usual words to try and play at the boy's mind.

Riku drank in that wonderful trauma. There was no fight left in Zexion, too clouded by horrific pain and fear; so divine one's own terror and strife. "As an illusionist, you know best of all that there are worse things than death; like living with it." Riku touched his lips against Zexion's lips so he could whisper, but as Heartless he knew the others would hear every syllable. "You're going to helplessly watch him suffer and then die." Riku squeezed tight Zexion's heart, digging fingers deep as he continued to speak. "And you're going to live on, as a Heartless, living in a constant state of tormentous guilt and self loathing, knowing you could do nothing to save his soul."

"No, no, no, no." The one word mantra left Zexion in a desperate plea that was uncharacteristic of the illusionist. It couldn't be helped with such things said so near to him and in such a deadly voice while his heart was twisted so painfully. His eyes shot open once again, seeking out those familiar eyes in the horrid darkness to make sure everything was okay, but among them he saw another pair so close to Vexen that it made him sick and the pain in his chest grew worse as he called out the other's name in a pained whisper. "Even..."

Roxas grinned at each desperate sound and each tiny spike of fear. It was so much fun to watch Riku torture the pitiful Human that he held down. Words exchanged and sad little cries caused Roxas to turn his eyes away to look back at Vexen. His expression turned to something even more devious as he moved his other blade up to point with its twin at Vexen. Flames ignited around them both and his grin only grew.


	53. Chapter 53

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 53

The best advantage to being employed by Shinra was if you got injured then you would be aided back to one hundred percent the very next day if possible. If not that then a few days to a week tops. It was something that was needed after what had happened earlier on near the cliff side to the two Turks that were currently settled in a lobby of the building that had been dubbed Shinra's headquarters in Radiant Garden.

The little promise that had been made during a near death experience had been taken full advantage of as Reno rested quite comfortably across the couch that was in the lobby with both legs propped up and his head rested on Rude's lap, using the other man as a pillow while he, himself, ignored the fact he was on duty. Despite having his injuries looked over again and again his leg that had gotten the brunt of it still ached and the bandage on the side of his head only annoyed him.

Reno gave a quick blow to his bangs for what felt like the tenth time that day, cursing again that his goggles had been broken, before he peeked an eye open to look up at his partner. He found looking at Rude to be more interesting then watching the darkness behind his eyelids.

Rude gave a low grunt in his throat proving he wasn't exactly happy with the arrangements of the promise. Unfortunately he couldn't welch on it. Sadly, a promise was a promise; and Rude was always loyal, above all, to his word. Second to his work.

"Don't even say it," Rude spoke up as he felt Reno's gaze on him.

Those words only caused Reno to open both of his eyes completely. He stretched a little, raising his arms above his head and across Rude's lap, settling them down right above his head when he was finished. A small smirk curved up on his lips which caused him to fail at looking innocent. "Say what, yo?"

Rude crossed his arms as he kept watch on the lobby door. From body guard to pillow all in the span of one day, the last thing he needed was Reno gloating. "Whatever it is going on in your smug little mind right now."

"Oh come on Rude, don't be like that." Reno moved one of his hands up to tug on Rude's arms. Although the entire time he couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he tried not to laugh at the situation. It's what caused him to speak his next words and it was exactly what he had been thinking. "You know you like it. You don't mind it at all."

Rude gave Reno a rather disagreeing look through his shades.

Reno didn't let that bother him. He finally sat up away from Rude's lap, but didn't give his partner any peace. Instead he was quick to turn around on the couch and crawl over so he was seated where his head had been with his legs on either side of the other man. Once again Reno blew his bangs aside before he was quick to grin as he placed his hands on each side of Rude's head. "See, this isn't so bad, yo."

"No, I'm not denying that." Rude kept his arms folded as he now looked at Reno at eye level. "And I'm not denying you because that would break our deal." He turned his head aside to glance else where in the lobby. "I was hoping you'd be a little more... _subtle_." He gave a small gesture with his head at the hidden cameras.

Reno blinked his eyes and finally turned his attention away to look over to where Rude had gestured. The slight amusement never left his face and soon he was waving a hand at where one of the cameras was hidden. "Why should I?" He spoke up while he turned his eyes back on Rude and shrugged a shoulder, placing his hand back where it had been. "You said on the job, right? That means any time and any place. Cameras or not."

Rude raised his brows skeptically; Reno was nuts. "Even if it gets us fired?"

"Like that'll ever happen, yo." Reno leaned back a bit so he could have more room to move both hands down to try and undo the tie on Rude's suit, having to pull it out a bit to have better access to it. "We're some of the best the boss has and he's kept us around this long without kicking us out. There's no reason for him to just yet." Reno blinked and his hands stopped for only a second. "Previous injuries and what have you, aside."

Rude gave a long sigh as he reclined more against the couch. He uncrossed his arms letting one rest on the arm of the couch, the other at his side. It was his way of giving in for the moment. "... You're lucky you live off people's tolerance." Rude let his head thud back on the couch, more aggravated that Reno was messing with the neat appearance of his suit than anything else. "Otherwise your ass would have been kicked to the curb by now." He snorted. "You must be doing something right."

"Like ignoring work to cash in on our little deal? You better believe it, yo." Reno spoke as he finally got the annoying piece of material untied. He fiddled with it for a few seconds as he tried to figure out why Rude even bothered with such a thing before he shrugged and slipped it off and threw it to the side where it landed on the floor. Before Rude could even protest to the action Reno gave a small grin and leaned forward to press his lips to his partner's own.

In that same moment a loud buzzer rang throughout the lobby which signaled that someone wanted clearance into the building. Usually whoever was in the lobby keeping watch at the time took the job of finding out who was trying to get in.

"Like that. Ignore that." Of course Reno just didn't care at the moment whether someone was trying to get in or bomb the entire building. He had pulled himself away from Rude for only a second to speak, but was quick to press their lips together once again when he was done, ignoring the buzzer that still rang loud inside the room.

"Mmph-" Rude found it hard to glare at Reno when the other was kissing him like that. So Rude opted to grab the long pony tail of red hair to pull Reno back. "Later." The words came out breathily near Reno's and Rude dumped him off his lap onto the couch so he could stand. He scooped up his tie with a scowl since it was on the floor. Dusting it off with a scrutinizing eye, he walked over to the security desk to see who it was buzzing to get in on the monitors there.

The screens showed a very unlikely person pressing at the buzzer in a rather annoyed manner. Leon, who had never once stepped foot near Shinra's own little part of Radiant Garden, was currently the one on the monitors looking a little less then thrilled that he was spending his day trying to get inside.

Reno had opted to stay on the couch as soon as he got himself settled once again. Since his leg still ached he refused to get up just to check a few screens and decided to just lie back down, using his arms as a pillow instead. "Well, who is it? Can't we just send whoever it is away and get back to what we were doing?"

Rude flicked on the intercom to show Reno just who was buzzing to get in.

 _'Oye! Meatball! I know you're in there! You owe us one! How about being a man and opening up the d-'_

Rude flicked it off. He straightened as he gave Reno a look.

Reno groaned loudly before he turned over on his side to face the back of the couch. "I need a vacation, yo." He covered his head with his arms, hoping that would muffle the loud buzzing that he felt meant his impending doom. "Just throw something at them and make them go away. Make sure whatever it is explodes on contact."

Rude's lips quirked at that, even if Reno didn't see it. Whatever the reasoning for their opposers to be at their front door, Rude was sure the boss would want to know.

So much to Reno's displeasure Rude pressed the intercom and spoke into the small black mic there. "What is it you want?"

The buzzing finally stopped which had a relieved sigh escaping Reno on the couch. Another small groan left him as soon as he heard Leon's voice come out loud and clear on the other side of the intercom soon after.

 _'We're here to talk about what happened and what's been going on in town lately. Now let us in.'_

Rude was calm to speak back. "You're going to have to be more specific than that. Other than that there's nothing to talk about."

 _'Nothing to talk about?'_ Yuffie's grumblings was easy to hear in the background, she wasn't very quiet about her aggravation. _'We saved their sorry butts, and this is the thanks we get.'_

Reno was quick to get off the couch to head over to where Rude was standing. He rested one arm on his partner's shoulder, using him as support, while he slammed his fist down on the button to turn their side of the intercom back on. "And we saved your sorry asses too, yo! We could have just left you down there, hanging from that lovely little cliff, but we were nice enough to bring you both back here." Reno blew at his bangs again. "Biggest mistake we've ever made."

On the screen that gave feed of the front door Yuffie shoved Leon out of the way so she could stand on tippy-toes and glare as close to the camera as she could.

 _'Oh really! We could have left you for dead on that cliff side! If it wasn't for us- you'd probably be their Heartless by now!_ Yuffie huffed. 'We just want to talk with your boss, person to person. Or is big ol' Shinra Inc. too inhumane to be talking to the little people.' Yuffie gave a wide smug grin for the camera, knowing Reno was watching there on live feed. _'I just don't think you have the balls, meatball.'_

"And I think you better learn when to keep your mouth shut. Aren't ninjas supposed to be silent?" Reno continued to glare at the monitor while he removed his other arm from Rude so he could slam his hand down rather hard on the button that would unlock the doors to let the two inside the building, taking the bait that had been Yuffie's remarks.

On the other side of the screen Leon seemed only slightly surprised at how easy that had been, but shook it off. He looked a bit annoyed at Yuffie's behavior before he glanced toward to the camera shrugging a shoulder as he headed inside.

Rude gave a small sigh; Reno and Yuffie's back and forth again, something he didn't need. He was quick to knot his tie with the quick practice gesture of a man who had done it enough times to master. Appearance was half the job.

"Here." Rude slipped out a spare pair of his shades from his jacket. He unfolded them with a clack and slipped them under Reno's bangs to keep them up away from his face. It would do for now until Reno found himself a new pair of goggles, and it would stop Reno from fussing about his bangs. "At least now you look half presentable."

The great ninja Yuffie had been ready to shoot another sarcastic comment Reno's way until she set foot into the lobby. She'd only seen the Shinra building from the outside and never from close up. Now that she was inside she saw just how big and extravagant it was; and that was just the lobby. It made their own little head quarters look like a children's club house.  
But Yuffie tried not to let her awe show on the outside. Instead she clacked her tongue, almost in a disapproving fashion. "Kinda ritzy." She placed her hands on her waist as she gave a look around. "All flash and no bang, if you know what I mean."

Reno turned around to look towards the two that had entered the lobby. He leaned back against the console. The bad mood that Yuffie had put him in was only a little subdued by what Rude had done for him. It didn't stop the biting words he spoke back to the girl. "Oh there's plenty of bang. We'll be more then happy to give you some bang, but we can't guarantee you'll be walking back out of here, yo."

Before Yuffie could speak up again Leon was quick to voice his own thoughts, cutting off the back and forth that had been going on so far. "That won't be necessary." Unlike Yuffie he didn't really seem to care about the inside or the outside of the building. They were only there on business and that was it. "Where's your boss?"

"Like anyone would want your bang, meatball," Yuffie muttered under her breath.

Rude sharply cleared his throat. Enough was enough; this had to be strictly business. He looked at Leon; clearly the more sane of the two. "We need to know what you want, before you can gain clearance to see him."

"We need to talk to him about what's been going on around town lately with the Heartless." Leon was just as quick to ignore both Yuffie and Reno as well, finding it much easier. "Especially after the situation that happened earlier. The two of you must admit that it was way too close a call."

Rude crossed his arms unmoved. "The President is well aware of the situation, and well informed of the Heartless activities. Close call or not, you're going to have to do better than that to see Rufus Shinra."

"Well informed that two of his employees needed our help to get away safely from both Heartless?" Leon tried not to smirk, but it was hard to hide his own amusement. "Must be why you two have been knocked down to door duty rather then body guards."

Despite no change in Rude's expression it cut away his good humour rather quickly. He wasn't in the mood to put up with smart mouthing from the rivaling party when there was no point to it.

"Right." Rude raised a hand to pull either glove on tighter. "Reno, would you be so kind as to escort these two out." He added in a nonchalant way that meant he opted for the latter, "Proper etiquette is optional."

From the spot he had taken up on top of the console Reno grinned at the words spoken. He dropped down back on two feet and was soon walking past Rude to make his way to the two pests that they had allowed into the building. "Not a problem." He wasn't but a few steps close before a blade was pointed directly in his face and it quickly caused him to back step as best he could while he held up both his hands. "Woah! I wasn't ready, yo!" He spoke while he looked down his nose at the tip of the blade and moved a finger out to try and push it away.

Leon only rolled his eyes at Reno, but kept his sword near the Turk despite the attempts to move it away. His gaze moved back and forth between the two men as he spoke up once more. "Look, all we want to do is speak with Rufus about the two Heartless that have caused the most havoc around town. They've gotten so much stronger it seems and all of us need to do something about that. Divided we're accomplishing nothing."

"I don't know about that." Rude spoke up as he walked from the desk to stand near Reno. "We took one of the brothers out quite easily without your help."

"Yeah, and pissed them off quite royally. Now they're near unstoppable. Leon has a good point." Yuffie pointed out with a scowl at each man. "Now swallow your pride and let us talk with your boss!"

Rude gave both Yuffie and Leon an unimpressed look. It was then that his cell phone went off. Taking a cool step aside he reached in his coat pocket and retrieved it, flicking it open and putting it to his ear. Whatever was spoken to him he gave one simple agreeative sound before flicking his cell phone closed and slipping it back into his jacket.

Rude turned back to the others and gave one nod to Reno. "They've got the okay." But before anyone could say anything he quickly spoke again. "The weapons stay down here." He gave one point to the ground in firm gesture.

Leon looked back and forth between the two for another brief moment before he let out a sigh. He lowered his weapon and was soon placing it down on the ground near his feet. It was obvious he didn't like that part of the agreement, but if it meant finally getting what they wanted he wasn't going to argue and gestured for Yuffie to discard her own as well.

Reno finally relaxed since he no longer had a blade pointed at his face. He seemed a little more hesitant to just allow such a thing and was quick to voice his thoughts. "The boss is crazy. We should have just tried to kick them out." It was easier to say that out loud since Leon wasn't holding a weapon any longer.

"As if you could." Yuffie grumbled as she tossed her large shuriken to the ground making sure it embedded itself into that nice expensive tile flooring.

"All of it." Rude gave Yuffie a firm look as he gestured again to the floor.

"W-what? Oh come on!" Yuffie glared but she wasn't winning any arguments. So with a sigh she emptied her pockets, swiftly bringing out smaller shuriken flaring them out between her fingers. Those too were thrown into the floor. She got another look and Yuffie sighed and pulled the hidden bo-shuriken and throwing knives from her gloves. Next she pulled the specialty heart-shuriken from under her shirt and her back pockets, all of those were thrown down as well.

Yuffie gave a wide grin and patted her hands, sides and shirt to prove she wasn't packing anymore. That was until Rude pointed to her shoes. Yuffie's grin fell. With a grumble she pulled out the small wakizashi sword and more throwing weapons. She stood up and blinked. "Oh! Nearly forgot." She reached behind her under her shirt and pulled out a ninjato, which also got tossed onto the floor. "Sorry, concealed weapons, it's a ninja thing."

At last Yuffie raised her hands in surrender, wiggling her fingers. "Satisfied?"

Reno stared at each and every one of the weapons that were littering the floor in front of their feet. After a few seconds he looked back up and stared at Yuffie with a little more then a shocked expression on his face after what he had just seen. "What the hell? Were you carrying an entire weapons shop on you or what, yo?"

"Does it really matter?" Leon was sick of the small talk. He was starting to think stepping foot inside the other side's head quarters might have been a mistake the moment the back and forth exchanges had started. "That's all our weapons. If there are no more stipulations then are we finally cleared now?"

Rude nodded and gestured for them to follow. He and Reno escorted the two to the elevators. Stepping inside either Turk stood on either side of the two. Yuffie watched as Rude pressed the top floor button.

She practically gawked. "How many floors do you need?" Yuffie nudged Reno's side. "What exactly do you have hidden on those floors, huh? Freaky experimentations and conspirators?"

Reno swatted Yuffie away with his hand and rubbed at the side where she had nudged. He leaned against the side of the elevator while he answered, grinning a little. "Well, we could tell you. Of course then we'd just have to kill you."

"Wonderful..." Leon muttered in sarcastic response to such a thing while he took to watching the numbers.

Before Yuffie could bite back with any comments she gave a surprised squeak as her bandana was suddenly yanked off by Rude. Yuffie held her head pulling her hair down. She tried to make a grab for the bandana but Rude was holding it too high. Rude gave the bandana a look over and found hidden needles pinned neatly in a row on the underside. He tossed it for Reno to hold.

"Th-those are lock picking needles." Yuffie ran hands through her hair, feeling rather vulnerable and naked without her signature bandana. "Nothing else! Give those back!" She tried to grab it from Reno.

Reno let out an amused laugh as he held the bandana up high above his head. "Tough luck, yo." He fiddled with the piece of cloth to pull out one of the needles while he continued to keep it above his head and twirled the weapon around his fingers just to mock Yuffie. "Looks like you're not as sneaky as you thought."

"Just give it a rest, Yuffie." Leon didn't even turn his attention away to look at the two as he spoke up. "We got what we want. There's no sense in screwing everything up. Just calm down. You can get your stuff back later."

Yuffie huffed but settled down. She crossed her arms and looked ahead much like Leon did. "Jerks don't know the meaning of 'personal space'. Grabbing and taking off a girl's clothes like that. Bastards have no idea how to treat a lady." Her muttering ended quite quickly as they soon reached the floor they wanted.

The elevator doors opened up and the Turks soon escorted them to the large doors, Rufus Shinra's name elegantly engraved above the Shinra Inc. logo. Either Turk pushed open the door to let Leon and Yuffie in. The office was large and decorated with simple elegance that depicted both wealth and power. At the far end of the room was the president's desk where Rufus Shinra himself sat, turned in his chair to look out the wall that was mostly window that over looked most of Radiant Garden itself, the castle itself the star of the picturesque scenery.

Rufus didn't bother to turn and give his new visitors his attention as he spoke. "Squall Leonhart." He spoke the full name with careful pronunciation, yet toying with it at the same time. "We finally meet."

Leon's eyes narrowed at the use of his name. His attention strayed to the large window for only a second, but was back on the chair in an instant as he tried to stay calm and think of what to say. None of it was good and mostly consisted of what exactly he thought of this man and his group. He tried to keep most of it to himself, but a few biting words made it past. "Hmm, kind of hard to meet a person that lets his lackeys do all of the dirty work for him while he hides away in a nice comfy office."

"Organization, Leonhart. Order. Without order we have chaos." Rufus turned his chair so he could finally settle his icy blue eyes upon Leon. "A chaos that was still ruling this kingdom until my organization stepped in and took care of the infestation." He tilted his head as a smooth smile took the corner of his lips. "And I believe the people appreciate what my 'lackeys' have done, perhaps more so than yours." He leaned his arms on his desk so he could fold his fingers together as he held Leon in his gaze with interest. "I guess that proves what a man can do while 'hiding away in a nice comfy office'."

"What you've _done_ is only make things worse." Leon took a small step forward as he locked eyes with Rufus. "You may have gotten rid of one Heartless, but there's still plenty of chaos. People in town are still being corrupted by the remaining two and things are worse then before." He clenched a hand at his side. "Those two are nearly unstoppable now."

Rufus didn't seem at all moved by Leon's words. His next words were calm. "For your 'Reconstruction Committee' maybe." He leaned back in his chair though he kept his gaze locked with Leon. "I believe it was my company's helicopter that saved your lives and scared away the Heartless." Slight amusement for Leon's troubles played in his eyes. "The ends justify the means, Leonhart. But I doubt you're here to debate over who's better than whom."

"No, you're right; I could easily save that for later." Leon spat back and soon crossed his arms over his chest. "Still, the fact remains that those other Heartless can't be beaten. Your own people needed our help or else they would have been left for dead." Leon narrowed his eyes as he admitted something that he truly didn't want to. "And yes, your group did help us as well. That goes to show that neither of us can stand against the two of them as we are alone." Leon finally turned his eyes away. "Unless you're willing to lose a few men that is."

"So," Rufus narrowed his eyes, "let me get this straight: you're proposing an alliance."

"As painful as it is to admit," Yuffie stepped forward finally speaking up "we'd accomplish so much more working as a team than against each other." She hesitated before continuing with a determined look on her face. "With our experience and your technology, we can defeat the Heartless brothers quick and painlessly."

Rufus watched Yuffie after her speech before he glanced at Leon and out right laughed. He chuckled a moment before he leaned forward to grin. "You came here, crawling on your bellies, with your tail between your legs to beg for help."

Yuffie grit her teeth, her hands balling into tight fists at her sides. But she couldn't control her rage at having her sincerity being laughed at. She stomped right up to the president's desk and slammed her hands down on it hard so she could glare close and personal. "People are _dieing_ , Rufus! Dieing! And all you can do is laugh?!"

In a second Yuffie was yanked up by the back of her shirt and pulled back away from the desk. "Ah ah ah, watch it there, short stuff." Reno spoke up while he lifted Yuffie up a little higher to turn the girl around so she could meet him eye to eye. He had an amused look on his face while he continued to speak. "Now, is that any way to speak to the person that has taken such good care of your town, yo?" After the words left him the humour left Reno's face, but it wasn't at all because of Yuffie. His eyes narrowed and he was quick to duck down just in time to avoid the kick aimed for his head.

Leon cursed under his breath when his foot missed leaving another bruise on the Turk's head to match the last one. He dropped his foot as he watched Reno stand up and back step with Yuffie still in his grasp. His eyes narrowed and he soon turned to glare at Rufus. His voice cold. "Tell your lapdog to let her go before I make him."

Warm metal touched the back of Leon's neck, Rude had been quick to point his baton at the base of his skull. Leon could feel the current that ran through the weapon that prickled his skin, ready to release a painful if not deadly voltage if he ever so much as move.

Rufus raised his hand motioning for everyone to calm themselves. "I don't think you realize the gravity of the situation." The corner of his lips up turned a little. "You truly are naive, Leonhart" He gestured back to the pinnacle of Radiant Garden's mastery. "You have the castle and its computer at your disposal, but you have yet to use it all to its full potential, minor defense systems and reconstruction, and yet you still stay in that hovel down in town." Rufus turned his chair so he could look at the castle in the distance; its rebuild was nearing complete. "Keeping the seat warm for a dead king?" His eyes flicked to Leon.

Leon all but snarled at such words. He was slowly losing his cool and didn't seem to care about the weapon pointing at his neck. "Unlike you, we don't need fancy technology and a huge office to prove that we can fight. Everyone in town was perfectly happy with how simple everything was. Then you had to come along and turn it all into some sort of competition." His eyes narrowed further. "If you want to help the town then fine, whatever, but what's the point in aiming to be better?"

"Once again we're back to 'order', Leonhart. Radiant Garden has still been a rather unorganized jumble since the Keyblade Master helped her the second time. With no king to keep her on track she's been a victim to renegade Heartless attacks." Rufus folded his hands together. "And worst of all stunted her progress and growth as a civilization." He crossed one leg over the other as he reclined back with a sharp smile. "Harmony doesn't exist on its own. It needs a little help." Rufus unfolded one hand to shrug it out. "And I do believe the people appreciate what harmony I've offered them so far. It's only natural that Shinra takes the next step up."

"Like you care at all about the people of this town." Leon spoke in a dry tone. "You're only looking out for yourself. That much is obvious. I only feel sorry for the people that can't see it." His voice rose as his anger grew. "If you cared at all then you would take the damn deal we came to you with and be more then happy to just get rid of the problem that we have now. Save your selfish needs for later."

"Oh but I do care, Leonhart. But my care follows a longer time line. I'm thinking about tomorrow and the next day." Rufus steepled his hands again, a mock sympathetic expression crossed his face. "There will always be a 'problem'; there will always be 'rogue Heartless'. I simply want to stop these problems before they start, run Radiant Gardens with more productively than your rag tag group." He ignored the glower he received from Yuffie. "You see, there's a difference between team work and an incorporation: efficiency. And I believe the people care far more about proficient results than heart felt attempts" Rufus lightly tapped over his own heart, his solemn expression there after was broken by the devious chuckle. "Safety over assurance and security over determination. The people have already put their faith in us, Squall Leonhart, and blame you for this world's newest tragic failures. There's no stopping Shinra's evolution." Rufus grinned. "But it's amusing to watch your 'heart felt attempts'."

Yuffie yanked herself free of Reno's hold. "You manipulative bastard!" She stabbed an accusing finger in Rufus' direction, wishing she could throw something else the president's way.

Reno didn't seem all that phased that Yuffie had gotten free, but he did stay near the girl in case she tried to do something stupid. He seemed just as amused by her outburst as he had been before and shrugged a shoulder. "Nice one, yo. You're really helping yourself out a lot."

Leon didn't seem to care either way what Yuffie shouted. His own thoughts seemed to have headed in that same direction, but he kept them to himself. He only continued to try to talk as calmly as he could, which he continued to fail at. "The people will remember who has been fighting for them long before you came along. You weren't here years ago to stop the Heartless and such that ran around harming the town. They wouldn't turn their backs on people that helped them just to follow you so blindly."

"They'll remember the ones who took out the newest evil before a second coming of 'Hollow Bastion' could occur so much better." Rufus brushed a few blonde strands from his face. "They're looking to turn their backs on a horrific past and turn to a new more brilliant future. A future with a competent leader, one that won't flee when the problems become too complicated, and leave it to fester under the rule of some over shadowed corrupted follower." He gave a simple shrug. "Ansem the wise would have wanted it this way." The discussion was over and he gestured for their dismissal.

"No!" Yuffie just wouldn't have it; she wouldn't be dismissed so easily. "Ansem would never want such a cold hearted bastard like you to run things!" She stepped forward despite Reno guarding her. "You're using people's suffering to give them false hope! Just for your own gain!" She growled. "People will see through you! Like hell we'll stand by and let you do this to them!"

"Looks like you don't have much choice in the matter." Reno was quick to speak up. He moved his hand out to pull at Yuffie's shirt, yanking the girl back once again. The ninja was so much easier to handle when she didn't have any of her annoying tricks up her sleeves.

Leon glanced to the side to keep an eye on Yuffie and Reno for a split second before his eyes were moving back to Rufus. His annoyance was clear in his voice as he spoke up again, taking only a step forward. "You think you'll be able to prevent another 'Hollow Bastion' from happening? I highly doubt that if what's been going on lately is any indication. You'll try to be a better leader, but all you'll do is fail. Things aren't as easy as you make them out to be. The worlds outside are a far more dangerous place then this little office you sit in. You can talk big, but you would never be able to handle anything that goes on."

"Then I think it's fair to say: you don't know me all that well then, _Squall_."

A strong voltage seized through Leon; Rude had given him a prior warning to stepping out of line. Rude grabbed Leon by the back of his shirt while he was stunned and dragged the man out of the room while Reno did the same with Yuffie; of course the girl didn't go quietly. The Turks dragged both Yuffie and Leon back into the elevator.

Yuffie punched Reno square in the gut after they were settled and the doors closed. "How can you work for that mad man? He doesn't want to help Radiant Gardens- he wants to take it over."

Reno held his stomach while he groaned. Yuffie sure could pack a punch, that was for sure. Of course it didn't help that his body still ached when mistreated in such a way. He leaned against the wall after he let go of the girl to get a hold of himself and merely shrugged his shoulders. "He pays good." It was the only answer he gave while he glared at her.

Yuffie glared right back. " _HELLO_. Radiant Garden to meatball!" She threw out her arms to exclimate her words. "We're talking world domination here! You're willing to sell our world to some power hungry rat all for a chump change?" She snorted. "And I thought the Heartless were heartless."

"None of this is news to us." Reno shot back, finally a little annoyed with Yuffie's mouth. "The details were told to us when we took the job." He turned his eyes up to the numbers while he tapped his fingers against the wall, creating a loud rhythm inside the space. "We're paid to fight and guard the boss. So, that's what we do, yo."

Yuffie blinked rather taken aback. She considered Reno a complete idiot, but this was just blind loyalty, all at the cost of munny. Quickly she pulled Reno's jacket open so she could grab her bandana from the man's pocket. Yanking it back on she gave up on talking to Reno, it seemed a lost cause. Instead she focused on her partner, Leon, who had been silent since they were dragged into the elevator. "You okay, Leon?" She rested a hand on his arm as she looked up at him with concern.

Leon had only been halfway listening to the conversation as the shock to his system had him still feeling slightly out of it. The touch caused him to look to Yuffie and he was just barely able to catch her concerned words so he could give her a small nod. "Yeah, I'm okay. Seems we came here for just a wasted trip, though. Unless you count the less then wonderful news we heard."

"Don't worry." Yuffie lightly patted his arm. "We've still got an ace up our sleeve." She dug around in her pockets to find something useful. "Sora, remember? I'm sure he'll feel something's wrong down here and put things to right. He always does." She found the potion she was looking for and handed it to Leon. "Here."

"Thanks." Leon was quick to uncap the bottle and drink what he could in one swallow before he took it away to speak again. "I don't know. There's no telling what's going on with Sora right now. Usually he would have come to see us by now. Of course, Cloud did say he was going to try to find him. We can only hope it's sooner then later." He drank the rest of the potion after he was finished speaking.

The elevator doors opened and Yuffie smacked the Turk's hands away with a scowl, she didn't need help leaving the building. She made sure Leon was alright stepping out; even if the man didn't want it she helped him all the same. Yuffie was getting rather sick of pride.

She held the door open for Leon and gave the Turks a rather rude gesture back at them. With a sigh Yuffie left the Shinra building. "...Damnit Sora, where are you?"

The Turks stood there in the lobby alone; it seemed rather quiet now after the random turn of events.

"That Keyblade kid is going to be bad news if he gets here." Rude glanced to Reno and blinked when he saw Reno looking at him with a little too much interest. Rude frowned. "... Don't even think about it."

"Oh come on." Reno grinned as he walked over to stand in front of Rude and started to inch his fingers up his partner's chest. "You said later." His hands only stopped when they were rested on Rude's shoulders, but they didn't stay there long. One of his hands moved up to pull the shades off the other man's eyes. The entire time Reno continued to grin, and when he pulled the glasses completely off he moved them away as he spoke up again. "It's later, yo." After those words he bit down on one of the hooked ends of the shades, keeping it tight between his teeth as his hand was free to move back to where it had been.

Rude stared at Reno's mouth where his glasses were neatly held prisoner; that was pretty hot. It took him a moment to realize he wasn't wearing his shades anymore and that the direction of his gaze wasn't concealed anymore. Quickly he cleared his throat and glanced away. "A promise is a promise." Rude looked back at Reno with a smirk. "Unfortunately."

Reno only rolled his eyes at that last bit, but it was easy to tell he was happy to finally get his way. He pushed at Rude's shoulders forcing the other to walk back towards the couch they had been sitting on earlier and gave one final push that would force Rude to fall back on the cushions. Reno yanked the glasses away from his mouth and tossed them further down the couch before he gave Rude a rather cocky grin. "Let's give the cameras a show." As soon as the words left him he was quick to crawl on top of Rude, straddling his partner's waist and crushing their lips together. Work be damned.


	54. Chapter 54

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 54

In a darkened room tendrils moved about to slowly come together, forming a portal to the blackness that was becoming so very familiar. The creator of the gateway was soon to step out into the open, allowing the portal to close shut as soon as feet were planted firmly on the floor. There was no need to keep it opened any longer then necessary. If things went well enough then it wouldn't be needed to go back.

A long coat moved from side to side as a few steps were taken forward only to stop just as quick. There was no sound made or any acknowledgment from the newcomer. Behind newly darkened hair, half-lidded eyes stayed glued to the animalistic Heartless that occupied the room as well. Plans had gone horribly wrong. Riku had gotten his revenge and as punishment Zexion was back to square one with only horrible memories left to him as he stared Saïx down.

"Well, well, well." Saïx allowed himself the luxury to be the first one to speak, amusement to seeing Zexion was purred low with each word. He could taste the misery that filled every fiber of Zexion's being; a lovely mixture of guilt and trauma. Devine. "Zexion. You look unwell." He gestured to the fact that Zexion was human no more but a Heartless once again. Saïx lounged more comfortably on the obsidian lounge with its large pillows; like a king and a cat he appreciated the fine luxuries when able. His tail draped over the edge of the lounge swayed lazily with interest as he observed the new small Heartless with glowing eyes.

Zexion narrowed his eyes at how pleased Saïx seemed to be. It didn't surprise him to be honest, but it still angered him very easily. He was in no mood to be mocked after what he had been through. Every moment still played out in his head and he cringed before he looked away from Saïx. Even though the other Heartless would be able to feel his distress, it still didn't mean Zexion wanted to share his expression. "A mishap." The words were spoken rather quietly.

"I gathered." Saïx canted his head, the long dark hair at either sides of his face falling to rest on his arm. He let the silence gather between them, Saïx watched Zexion as the small Heartless simply ebbed sorrow. It wasn't hard to feel just what had Zexion's heart returning to the Darkness. "Well then?" Saïx coolly urged Zexion to speak his mind.

Zexion's entire body tensed up at Saïx's push to get him to speak. Even though he had been the one to show himself in the other Heartless' hide away, he was still hesitant to talk and even dreaded showing up. "A while back..." He started out and nearly choked on his words. There was nothing left for him to do or hold back. He had no other choice. "A while back you offered me a chance to join you."

Saïx's sleek ears perked forward at those words, the hurt in Zexion's voice having taken his attention first. Bitter sweet. His tail stilled as he spoke. "I did. A generous offer that, I believe, you rejected, Zexion." His tail began to lash again as Saïx narrowed his eyes.

Zexion gave a short nod. He wouldn't deny anything he had done in the past; there was no real point to it. His visible eye strayed over to watch Saïx's tail move. It wasn't that the action put him on edge. It was just distracting, being the only movement in the room for the time being. "We..." Zexion tightened his fists at his sides at his slip up, but quickly continued on. "I had other plans at the time. I had to." He finally locked eyes with Saïx and tried to keep his expression neutral.

Saïx saw through the stoic mask Zexion tried to keep on his face. As kin to Darkness he could have easily drank in the how and why to Zexion's visit simply by reading the pain that his heart wore so plainly on its sleeve. But it was far more enjoyable to hear it from Zexion's lips.

"Come now, Zexion," Saïx spoke lightly as he kept Zexion's gaze pinned with his own, "you can do better than this."

"I'm not going to grovel at your feet if that's what you want!" Zexion quickly snapped back at Saïx. His eyes had narrowed once again, but once he realized the quick words he had spoken he backed down instantly. He hadn't meant to lash out, having a temper would get him nowhere when dealing with Saïx, but he just couldn't help it. He wasn't in the mood to be toyed with any longer. His face returned to its emotionless mask and he looked away again while one of his hands moved up to rest under his chin.

Saïx's ears pinned back at the outburst proving he was less than impressed. "I don't think you're in any position to be arguing, _Number VI_." He stretched himself more comfortably on the pillow he laid on, though his gaze never left the little mouse that stood before him. "You rejected my offer before. Things aren't so simply anymore. You're going to have to convince me why I should even bother now."

Zexion continued to keep silent for much longer then before. He didn't want to bring up the whys or how's to his situation, but it would be the only help he had to make Saïx listen. His hand dropped, but he still refused to meet Saïx's gaze again, keeping his attention down instead as he spoke up in a strained voice. "Sora is the least of your worries any longer. Without his other half and his light by his side, Riku is beyond unstable. He's beyond any and all control." Zexion's eyes fell closed completely and he didn't seem to realize that his stoic expression had cracked. "He's finally broken and created his own minion out of XIII who feeds on Riku's darkness, but is still able to use keyblades given to him by that damn fire user."

Zexion blinked his eyes open, realizing that he had lost himself in memories. He looked back at Saïx and tried to remain calm once again, but the act was far gone. "You need to find the fail safe before you're found by the one that has so much hate for all of us. I'm willing to help with your reason and aid you in capturing what you need."

"Because you have no where else to go and no one else to turn to," Saïx stated quite plainly. He pushed himself up on arms to slink off the lounge first on all fours before taking to standing on two. "Alone, you two bit off more than you could chew. And now you pay the price for interfering with Darkness that you just couldn't handle." His tail slowed its sway as he approached the little Heartless, a cat with a new toy. "I thought you would have learned the third lifetime, VI." Saïx drew a claw across Zexion's pale cheek which he knew had seen hundreds of black tears by now. "But the Darkness just continues to draw you in." He drew back the long dark bangs that hung over Zexion's face so Saïx could force him to look up at him with both eyes. " _Ienzo_."

A hand was quick to slap away the claws that touched Zexion's face. The smaller Heartless glared hard at Saïx and didn't even blink when his hair fell back into place. He was only focused on that anger that he felt and the hurt at hearing his true name spoken by Saïx after hearing it spoken one last time in the icy hide away what felt like so long ago. "Don't you ever speak that name again. You have no right!"

Saïx gave a quick sound of amusement. He circled around Zexion slowly, looking the other Heartless over. "So this is what he's reduced you to: a sniveling shadow of what you once were." Once behind Zexion he leaned over to speak cool words near his ear. "You won't find any mercy from the Darkness... but I can offer reprieve, VI." He rested a hand on Zexion's left shoulder and tapped a claw on his chest. "From this. You'll find I'm a benevolent Master." Saïx removed his hands from Zexion as he stepped away from the other Heartless. "But there's a price."

Zexion followed Saïx with his eyes, watching the other Heartless carefully. The invasion of personal space had caused Zexion to cringe, which was a rare sight indeed. As soon as Saïx was away once again, Zexion was quick to turn so he could keep an eye on the other Heartless. He didn't want to lose track of Saïx at all. The thought of calling Saïx _Master_ sickened him, but he listened and shrugged a shoulder with little interest to the last words said. "What kind of price?"

"Utter submission." Saïx sat himself down on his lounge, his tail draping over his lap the end lazily swaying. "Servility." He gave a loose shrug. "A small price to pay for removing the guilt that tortures your heart now." He tilted his head as he watched Zexion. He narrowed his eyes with a sly sort of smile, mocking sympathy and wisdom as he continued to speak. "And to think, all could have been alive and well had either of you joined me earlier. It wouldn't have come to this."

"That boy would have sought revenge one way or another. I refuse to believe that Even's life was in any less danger just because we chose to stay on our own." Zexion couldn't stop himself from using the name of the Somebody he had known long before they were split apart into what they had become. Despite his words that nagging guilt was still there to let him know there was always something that could have been done differently. "I'm willing to fight alongside of you. Isn't that enough?"

"Given our histories." Saïx narrowed his glowing gaze. "No."

Zexion met that narrowed gaze with his own after such a blunt answer. "And how do you expect complete and utter submission will remove what I'm feeling?" Zexion gripped the edges of his coat's sleeves with the tips of his fingers as tight as he could. "All the guilt and the pain that I'm feeling. How do you expect it to remove all of that? You weren't there. You're not the one forced to feel what I feel. You didn't see it!" The last words were shouted in a pained voice.

Saïx was surprised at the wash of emotions Zexion was giving out; he was reminded more of a small child now rather than a small mouse. "I would have thought you'd known me better than that, Number VI" He brushed back his long bangs before he gestured for Zexion to come hither with a claw. "I have my ways."

Zexion hesitated at the gesture. He was still angry and with good reason. With each word spoken he felt as if he was only being mocked, but this was the only way for him to stay somewhat safe. He had no choice but to hear Saïx out no matter how much the other Heartless tried to get under his skin. So, with careful steps he made his way over to stand in front of the other.

Saïx leaned forward and took Zexion's chin in hand. "I'll let you keep both of your Somebody names for your own. But everything else will be mine. And you won't feel anymore pain, and you won't cry anymore tears." He traced Zexion's bottom lip, which spoke of worried abuse from teeth, with the claw of his thumb just barely. "All you have to do," his dark tail curled around Zexion, the pointed end lashed near his fingers, "is agree. And it will be done." Saïx leaned nearer with a small smirk on his lips; he could feel what inner demons plagued Zexion. "You'll be safe... and you won't be lonely anymore."

Zexion stood completely still with each touch given, but it was the words that nearly had him melting and giving in. They were perfect and so tempting. He wanted so badly to forget the pain that was embedded so deep inside his twisted form of a heart. All he had to do was give into the one person he had said no to and even played the worst illusion on not so long ago. It was a bit unreal that things could be so easy. "I'll...be safe...?" He echoed the words in a question while his previous hesitation to the touches given seemed to have fled his mind.

"No one will hurt you anymore," the words purred low in Saïx's throat. His fingers swept back Zexion's long bangs once more so that when he leaned nearer he could hold both of Zexion's eyes with his gaze. "You will not hurt anymore." His hand slipped down to Zexion's neck, claws slipping around pale skin as his thumb kept his thick mess of bangs held back. His next words were a whispered purr. "I'll take care of you, VI."

"Take care of me..." Zexion echoed words once again while he seemed numb to the limited space between them. Lexaeus. Vexen. They were supposed to take care of him, but both had met their end in the worst of ways and still Vexen's recent death haunted him most of all. "Why?" The question left him in a distant voice. His anger had left him long ago and instead he stood in a much more vulnerable state in front of Saïx. "Why would you want to?"

"I still believe in what this Organization can do. You once believed as deeply too." Saïx let Zexion's bangs fall so he could brush his clawed fingers through the fray of dark hair to take Zexion's cheek. "Bound together, nothing can stop any of us." He turned Zexion's head as he leaned in to speak quiet words against words against his cheek. "I'll never abandon you, VI." A small lick came to Zexion's cheek.

That one action seemed to snap Zexion out of the trance he had fallen into. His eyes widened and his gaze moved towards Saïx. He would have stepped back had the other Heartless' tail not been wrapped around him and kept him in place. "You think you can keep me safe by licking me?!" The words were shot back at Saïx as Zexion's earlier anger came back in a quick instant and he tried to turn his head away to free the grip Saïx had.

"You're misinformed." Saïx grasped Zexion's arm and yanked him off his feet onto the lounge. He rested a hand on the other's chest to keep him pinned on his back. "That was simply a perk." He chuckled low in his throat. Saïx perched over Zexion, leaning nearer. "You know what I have been capable of, but as a Heartless you'll find I'm far more ruthless. You should know far better than to doubt my abilities." He growled a purr deep in his throat as he held Zexion's wide eyed gaze. "So spare me your inner turmoil before my generosities end here."

Zexion's wide gaze narrowed at the threat, but he said nothing more. He didn't doubt that Saïx was rather strong and able to handle his own. The aftermath of Vexen's world had been proof of that after Saïx's anger. He had come to seek protection and join with the other Heartless. There was no sense in ruining that no matter what Saïx tried to do. He kept careful eyes on the other for a few more seconds and didn't dare move an inch before he finally spoke up again. "Only if I offer submission you'll give me protection?" His voice lowered once again. "I won't have to feel so alone any longer?"

"Yes." Saïx's hand crawled up Zexion's chest to take his jaw, thumb running up and down his throat. "No more loneliness. No more guilt. No more pain."

Zexion opened his mouth as if to speak again, but stopped just as quickly. He wanted that to go away; all of that. If Saïx could help him then he was willing to give up anything. He could feel claws touching him much like before and his own personal bubble invaded, but he didn't care any longer. "I want it to go away." He spoke up again as his eyes dropped away from the other Heartless' gaze. "Just make it all go away."

"Wise choice," Saïx purred the words pleased. His hand held Zexion down by his neck as his other slipped down to drag up his shirt. He dragged his claws along pale skin up to his chest. Saïx could feel Zexion's poor twisted heart, in constant turmoil though it remained unbeaten. There was only one way he knew to stop the pain and that was to remove it completely. And the root of that problem was the heart itself.

It was simple enough to call Zexion's heart from his chest. Saïx was so much stronger a Heartless than the one beneath him. He had taken worlds with ease, forming millions upon millions of Heartless with his control over the Darkness. Removing one small heart from a minor Heartless was easy. Saïx kept Zexion numb with his own darkness.

It glimmered in his hand, shining gentle illumination in the dark room. Darkness bore in and out of its crystalline skin, proof that it was lost to the dark. Saïx tightened his claws around the heart and it collapsed in a wash of light and dark. When his hand opened there was a dog collar adorn with a smaller heart. Saïx slipped the collar around Zexion's neck; proof of owner ship.

"You'll feel," Saïx murmured near Zexion's cheek, "only what I want you to feel now."

Zexion's eyes fell halfway as soon as the collar was slipped into place and those final words were spoken. True to his word, Zexion felt none of the pain he had felt earlier when he first stepped foot inside the room, but he also felt none of the hatred or hesitation either. There was only a numb feeling inside of his chest at the moment and a certain calm that came with having the other Heartless near.

"I believe you owe me," Saïx flicked his tongue at the corner of Zexion's lips, "a little more than a 'thanks'." His hand ran down Zexion's bare front, dragging a claw down his side. What emotion he let Zexion feel was a little less chaste than generosity.

A quiet sound left Zexion and he leaned into the touch as best he could. He didn't try to fight Saïx off much like he had done earlier. He only felt as if he wanted more of those touches and even lifted his own hand to hold onto the other Heartless tightly. He wanted to keep Saïx near. "Anything." The one word left his lips in a quiet voice that was so much different from any tone he had spoken with earlier.

Saïx let out an audible sound of amusement as he leaned nearer. His hand slipped down lower as he grinned a little. "And everything." Saïx let out a throaty purr as he leaned down to run his tongue with its slight sandpaper texture down Zexion's chest.

Zexion squirmed, but didn't resist. All of the turmoil that he had been facing had long been forgotten and only this simple pleasure seemed to have taken its place. His hand moved up to twist and twirl around one of the long locks that hung down Saïx's face while his entire body twisted up to feel more of the tongue that was touching his skin.

Saïx enjoyed the writhing of the smaller body below and ran his tongue further down Zexion's stomach. He lapped his tongue against pale skin he knew was new and untouched. He couldn't help grinning against pale skin when Zexion arched up needily.

That feline tongue crawled back up Zexion's chest. "I'll take _good_ care of you, VI." He took Zexion's heart on the collar between his teeth, lightly biting that personal part of the other's being as he ran his tongue along its edge.

Those few simple actions caused a sharp gasp to escape Zexion. To have that one piece of himself that was now owned by the other Heartless teased in such a way had him squirming even more. His fingers held tight to the bits of hair he had grabbed, but soon buried themselves along Saïx's back instead. There was no fight or hesitation. He was more then willing to allow Saïx do whatever he wished from this moment on.

-

The dark bar was far livelier than normal now with addition of new drinking company. Marluxia and Larxene had been summoned from the Darkness to join the rest of Saïx's assembly at the casual headquarters. There were strict orders for ceasefire between the two parties, an armistice that everyone was wary of. Given their Nobody's pasts and happenstance the bitterness and rivalry was hard to reprieve.

So, naturally, the rift was filled with hard liquor; and plenty of it.

The past, for the moment, was set aside for stiff drinks all around and what would have been more hateful remembrances were reminisced with humoured belittling.

Xigbar had been made bartender and waiter, much against his will, while all the rest had gathered around a table playing shot games; which Marluxia profusely stayed out of. Xaldin had dragged Luxord onto his lap and Larxene had taken to sending others wicked little shocks by tapping certain items before others touched them, since the alcohol in her system caused her to conduct more electricity in her system than normal. It made her laugh especially hard when she got Xigbar nearly every time when he collected the empty glasses and bottles.

It was a good way to past the time while they waited for Saïx to finally grace them with their presence. It was almost like old times save now they were with hearts and the laughter and grins were more real than with their Nobodies. They were far different people now, yet at the core, still the same.

Xigbar jumped nearly a foot in the air as his hands came in contact with another glass that Larxene had given her own personal touch. He had lost count of how many he had touched so far and was able to stop the glass in mid air before it shattered on the floor below. His one good eye turned to narrow on the only girl in the room. "Are you ever going to get tired of doing that?"

"As soon as you get tired of falling for it." Marluxia answered for the other Heartless. Even as he spoke his eyes stayed glued to the empty bottles and glasses that were littered among the table. He had been careful not to touch anything that Larxene had placed her claws on the entire time and had even taken to his own personal space a few feet away from the table in one of the chairs. He knew the other well enough to know she would play dirty if she was more then capable.

Larxene laughed as loudly as she had the first time Xigbar had fallen for it. The drinks had a far greater affect on her than any normal Heartless; she was a mean drunk. "Oh Xiggy, you really haven't changed." She waved her claws as her laughter slowed to giggles. "You're still the one eyed space cadet I remember." She grinned wickedly. "I'm guessing you've got even less booty as a Heartless than you ever did a Nobody. Speaking of booty - and pirates." Her eyes flicked to Xaldin and Luxord. "I can see Xally here is getting lucky, or should I say 'Luxy'." She clacked her fingers together. "This is new."

Luxord seemed rather unimpressed with Larxene's behavior along with her words. He shot the other Heartless a bland look out the corner of his eyes before he shrugged a shoulder. His attention turned back to the glass in front of him on the table and he made no move to leave his spot on Xaldin's lap. "You're as charming as always, Larxene."

Larxene could only smirk. She tapped one of her claws on the table but she couldn't keep her comments to herself. She gave an off handed shrug and replied oh so casually, "So what's it like doing time?"

Xaldin choked on his drink.

That time it was obvious that Xigbar had lost his hold on something fragile from behind the bar as the sound of shattering glass could be heard loud and clear throughout the room. The loud noise was only followed by a few muttered curses.

Marluxia allowed a small laugh to slip past at how easily Larxene had startled everyone with a simple question. Even Luxord seemed a bit tense. He looked back and forth between the two accused before he shook his head and turned his eyes back on the table. "This is much more amusing then silly drinking games."

Xaldin regained his composure and he managed a slight smirk. "Hmm, if anyone's sexuality should be questioned it's yours Marluxia." He gave up on his drink and rested his long sleeve across Luxord's front; the cloth provided ample cover for his hand to wander under Luxord's clothing.

Larxene glanced around. Her gaze went from Xaldin and Luxord to Xigbar. She gave the idle comment, "Humm, I thought your Nobody was doing Xaldin, Xigbar."

"Yeah, well, shit happens." Xigbar was quick to speak up on the topic and close it just as easily. At the same time he got rid of the last pieces of broken glass before he took a break for himself. He sat up on the bar counter and opened a brand new bottle to drink for his own.

"Drunk..." Luxord mumbled the word quietly to himself in response to Xigbar's actions. Although it was hard to really call the other Heartless such a thing when they all had such a high tolerance to alcohol. Although, Larxene was proving that theory a bit untrue with her loose tongue. He kept quiet after that one response though, and had only moved a bit when he felt Xaldin's hand to allow the other Heartless better access.

Larxene sighed, her patience was wearing thin now with all the waiting. She idly bit the tip of her claws and received a small sparking jolt. "Ow." She waved her hand away and pouted. Bored now of the other three, Larxene floated over to Marluxia. She gave a huff as she leaned over his shoulder and draped her long sleeves around his neck. "What's taking kitty boy so long?"

"Hmm, I'm not entirely sure myself." Marluxia's good humour dropped at the mention of Saïx and the reason they were even in the presence of the other Heartless in the first place. "Let's just hope he has a good reason for summoning us to this dingy place and then making us wait for such a long period of time." He had lifted a hand while he spoke to idly pet fingers along one of the antenna atop Larxene's head.

"Seems we've wasted our hospitality on the delicate flower." Xaldin narrowed his eyes. "It's any wonder he hasn't withered and died yet in the darkness." Though just as quickly as his displeasure came it left for amusement. "Perhaps the daisy would like some water, Xigbar. Anything stronger and I'm sure the pansy would wilt."

"Screw you, Dilan. I'm on break." Xigbar snapped out his words before he downed more of the drink he still held in his hand.

Marluxia turned narrowed eyes away from Xigbar to look back at Xaldin whom had turned his mood completely around to begin with. "At least we were out attempting to keep busy instead of sitting in a bar, wasting time doing absolutely nothing." He waved a hand at the glasses. "Besides the obvious. For such a high ranking Nobody, you certainly have lowered yourself as a Heartless, Xaldin." He finally smirked.

"Keeping busy?" Xaldin gave dry laugh. "Shopping, baking, gardening and make up aren't what I call pass times, Marluxia."

Electricity hissed through Larxene's person. "Bite your tongue before I rip it out." She sneered.

"And that's my cue." Luxord finally spoke up amidst the back and forth going on. He picked up his drink from the table and was quick to slip off of Xaldin's lap while both he and Marluxia were busy staring each other down. With quick steps he walked away from the fray to make his way over to the bar. Despite Xigbar trying his best to get drunk at least the one-eyed Heartless would be somewhat better company in a way.

"Looks like you lost yourself some time, Xally." Larxene cut off Xaldin's protest with her teasing comment. He glared at her but she just grinned her teeth. She waved her hand in front of her face. "But I'd leave too if my element was bad wind."

"Shut it, lightening bug." Xaldin glowered his warning.

"Now now, Xaldin. That's no way to speak to a lady." Marluxia perked up at Xaldin's sudden misfortune. "Larxene is just having herself a bit of fun. Aren't you, my dear?" He turned his head a bit to glance at the Heartless that was still draped across him and ran a finger along one of the girl's sleeves.

"If you call making our lives miserable, fun, then yeah. Sure." Xigbar spoke up before Larxene could get a word in. His gaze narrowed on the female Heartless once again before he shrugged a shoulder as if he hadn't spoken at all.

"Mmm, yeah, I do." Larxene gave a devious smile as she pressed closer to Marluxia. She rested her cheek against his shoulder and touched a rather innocent kiss there.

Xaldin made a low sound of disgust in his throat. "Traitors with traitors. Ugh, I've seen enough." He stood up from his chair smoothing out his kimono in one swift gesture. "If I'm going to wait needlessly, I might as well be doing something productive with my time." It was hard to tell if the pun was intentional as he pulled Luxord over with a sharp gust of wind to grasp near. Hidden underneath a long sleeve he gave Luxord's rear a squeeze. "Preferably elsewhere."

Luxord narrowed his eyes slightly at the random squeeze, but didn't seem bothered by it otherwise. "Saïx won't be very thrilled to know we ditched the welcoming party for a nice little romp away from this scene." He took a quick sip from his glass while he stayed near Xaldin, quite comfortable in the other Heartless' hold.

Xigbar scoffed at such a thing. "When is Saïx thrilled about anything?" He tilted the sudden empty bottle he held up as high as he could and used his good eye to peer inside of it. Much to his dismay there wasn't a drop left and he threw the glass aside, making sure it didn't shatter before it fell to the floor. "All he does is stay in that damned room of his."

"For good reason I assure you," Saïx's voice cut in sharply. "I've given you the luxury you've asked for and all you've become is drunkards." He stepped further into the room, an impassive expression carved onto his face. Xaldin was quick to let go of Luxord and sit himself down, gesturing for Luxord to follow suit; the less they aggravated Saïx the better. Saïx shoved Xigbar's crude person off the counter, he wasn't in the mood to deal with Xigbar's crass tongue.

Larxene watched with quiet interest, her eyes following Saïx before she noticed the small Heartless tailing him. Her antenna perked along with her surprise, especially for the young man's state. "Zexion?" She gave a short laugh. "What rock did you climb under? Oh how the mighty hath fallen." Her claws clacked together.

One visible eye narrowed at the cruel laughter. Zexion had looked over the few other Heartless that were in the room, but his attention stayed on Larxene since the woman decided not to keep her thoughts to herself. Fingers clenched inside sleeves, but Zexion said nothing to her words and was sure to keep silent as he stood behind Saïx.

"Roped in another one, have you?" Marluxia shared in Larxene's amusement easily. To see Zexion in such a state and in Saïx's hide out was not something expected, but it was something to laugh about. "Was this your big surprise, Saïx? I sure hope this wasn't the only reason we were dragged here."

Saïx gave a short amused sound. "Hardly." He gestured to Zexion. "This was a fortunate turn of events."

"Unfortunately for him," Larxene chimed in. She floated up higher behind Marluxia before all seriousness took her. "This doesn't affect our agreement, right."

Saïx gave a simple nod. "Of course not, XII." He allowed himself a moment to look his forces over before he spoke again. "I summoned you all to announce something of great importance. Thanks to the tag I put on the Keyblade Master," he gestured around his neck with a claw meaning the collar he'd placed on Sora, "the 'fail safe' has been located." He glanced at Marluxia and Larxene. "Two birds with one stone." But just as quick as a smirk crossed his lips he was serious again. "I don't need to tell you that the Keyblade Master is back to 'old ways', we all felt the change when the darkness was lifted from his heart." Saïx glanced back at Zexion for a second before looking back to the masses. "Whatever circumstances it may be, this has made his counter part, Riku, very unstable. His control over the Darkness is devastating. With this power he has acquired the help of XIII." His dark tail lashed proving his discomfort with that thought in mind. "But, fortunately, neither are near where the 'fail safe' is residing." He narrowed his eyes. "Yet." Saïx let his eyes shut a moment as his ears pinned back. "This is why we must make this retrieval as quick and precise as possible." Saïx opened his eyes to look at each other Heartless. "The less complications the better."

"And you're hoping that with all of us there will be even less chance for actual complications to arise." It wasn't a question. It was an actual statement that left Luxord while he kept his eyes on the table he sat near instead of on Saïx. "With all of us we may actually be able to get by Sora with no problems and finally take what we've been trying to get for so long." He ran a finger along the rim of his glass. "He may be the Keyblade Master, but in the end he's still just a normal teenage boy. He has his limits."

"Precisely." Saïx nodded, his long dark bangs swaying. He gestured out a hand. "Unlike our Nobodies, if we strike as a whole instead of one after the other, we'll succeed where they failed." The feline Heartless paused before he gave a short amused laugh. "Ah yes, our old colleague, Number IX, is accompanying them as well."

"Demyx?" Xaldin raised his brows. "He isn't dead yet?"

"Water boy?" Larxene waved her hand dismissively. "That coward can't follow directions on paper, let alone defend himself. His neck-" she snapped her clawed fingers hard and electricity sparked. "He's as threatening as a summer rain."

"What's the damn point in him even being alive again anyway?" Xigbar had righted himself after Saïx had pushed him off the counter and was quick to get in on the conversation. "I'm pretty sure even he knows that he was better off dead."

"We all wish to be whole for one reason or another." Marluxia was becoming bored with the entire conversation. It was obvious what they had to do. Anything else was just an obstacle in his mind. "If he gets in the way then it seems his next life has been wasted just as much as the last."

"Hmm, Puddles or not, once you get what you want," Larxene held Saïx in her gave, "we're taking what we want."

Saïx seemed to take Larxene's firm demands lightly. "No desire to be human?"

"Of course." Larxene lifted her long sleeve and smiled coyly over it. "But one thing at a time. Don't be surprised if you hear from us again." She flicked her sleeve further down her arm to bare her long. "I scratch your back, kitty-cat," her giggle was fiendish, "and all that." She clawed the air as her smirk widened.

Saïx's ears flicked back unimpressed but he didn't pursue it. "Then all the pieces are in place." A new grin spread itself across his lips as his ears lifted back up with new interest. His luminous gaze casted back to the other Heartless watching him. "And all that's left is plot."

The sky was grey, but Ikurx wished it was blue. He loved the sky when it was clear or near clear so that the sun shone down to warm his skin wherever he lay. But the sky wasn't clear, it was grey with clouds. Ikurx didn't think the tropics ever really had clouds like the ones in the sky; large and thick, blanketing what should have been cheery weather.

"... It's going to rain," Ikurx quietly aloud. He lay in a hammock strung between two palm trees not too far from the resort building they were staying in. Sora was avoiding him as if he was an omen of death and Demyx was near literally his shadow. Ikurx had never felt so torn between past and future. So he had gone outside to clear his mind, but the skies disappointed Ikurx's hopes.  
Somewhere in the back of his mind Ikurx knew nothing ever good ever came from storms.

"I've never touched the rain." The words had tumbled from Ikurx quietly.

"It's nothing special. Only water." The quiet voice came from the right of the hammock as boots treaded among sand. The one person that had been avoiding Ikurx since the confrontation in the room was the one to make his presence known on the sandy beach nearby. Sora had only come out to get a glimpse of something that made the entire trip feel like home, but morbid curiosity finally had him taking small steps closer and closer to where he saw the Nobody until he just couldn't help speaking up.

Sora rested his back against one of the palm trees that kept the hammock steady. His eyes turned up to the darkening sky and he found himself drifting off with the sudden topic. "It rarely ever rained at home and near the islands. It was either really hot or really windy." He lifted his hand up as if expecting a drop of water to hit at that very moment. "Whenever it did I'd always try to play in it and I'd drag Riku along no matter how much he complained." A soft smile spread on his face while he dropped his hand and finally turned his gaze towards Ikurx. "My mom would always fuss over us when we got home. She'd tell us we'd catch cold and then wrap us in a blanket while we watched television."

Ikurx's eyes subtly widened on his gaze up at the sky. He hadn't expected Sora of all people to answer him. There was something about the sweet nostalgia in his voice that made Ikurx realize he liked hearing Sora talk, yet at the same time it felt as if those warm words gutted him through and through.  
Ikurx pursed his lips as his mind seemed to latch onto the latter part of what Sora said.

"... I don't have a mom... to fuss over me... when I come back from the rain." Ikurx's eyes fell down to his hands when there was nothing for him in the clouds above. "Riku's mom... she gave him a heart, a home, a family, a life. Riku has given me nothing." Ikurx weakly fidgeted with his fingers, having no energy to do much else. "... I was born in a church, and I destroyed it the same day." His hands closed.

Sora found himself easily shaking his head at those words. "Actually," He turned his gaze out towards the ocean. "Riku's mom never really paid a lot of attention to him. Well, both of his parents to be honest. He would always spend a lot of time with me and my family. It was like a second home to him while his parents were busy with work and such." Sora soon lifted his hands to slowly unravel the scarf from his neck. In such hot weather it was a bit stuffy.

As soon as the piece of clothing was off Sora placed it on top of the string that held the hammock to the tree while he continued to speak. "Sometimes when we were younger he would always tell me he was jealous of my family." Without really thinking about the action, Sora's hand had lifted to finger the collar around his neck as he stared off at nothing past Ikurx. He kept silent for a few seconds before he shook his head and looked back at the other teen with a quick smile. "But, you have Cloud and Zax. You even have Demyx, right? I mean, at least they all seem to like you a lot. You even have me." His smile grew just a little.

That had Ikurx turning to finally look at Sora. "You?" But his expression fell. He could easily guess the reasons why, but he didn't voice his thoughts. "Sora," the name left Ikurx softly, the name felt so different on his tongue, "why? ... Why do you love someone so cruel? Someone who can do such horrible things to other people?"

Sora's hand fell back down to his side and with it his expression fell as well. "Riku isn't cruel." The words fell so easily from Sora, even after everything that had happened. He still found it to be the truth. Without an invitation, Sora made his way to the hammock and jumped up onto it to settle down. Once again his eyes were on the ocean as he tucked his knees under his chin. "Riku is such a kind person. It's the Darkness that's cruel, but he has to live with it and he can't help what it does to him." Sora shook his head. "I could never blame Riku for what he can't control. I still love him with all my heart."

Ikurx couldn't help but mirror the skepticism for Sora's words on his face, his mind was always worn on his sleeve. He had yet to witness any kindness from his other. Stabbing someone behind the back was far from Ikurx's definition of kind. Still, Ikurx was one to take things at face value and he couldn't find it in himself to argue with Sora's heart.

"Like... what?" Ikurx spoke far quieter, his soft voice nearly drowned by the sounds of the waves nearby. "What kind things has he done?"

"Well, when we're alone he's like a completely different person." The thought brought the smile back to Sora's face. "Before we left home he promised me that when everything was over he would take me to a school dance. Any dance I wanted at all. It gave me something to look forward to and whenever Riku and I had time to ourselves he would always remind me." Sora's smile grew a little at the memories of the few moments the two of them had shared. "Even though he was a horrible dancer he would always try, for me, and he'd always end up holding me."

Ikurx gave a weak smile for Sora before he turned his attention on the rolling waves of the water. The wind was picking up, making larger more torrid waves. They splashed up along the beach before slinking back down, only to crash back up again, repeating.

"I remind you of him, don't I?" Ikurx quietly spoke up.

Sora seemed a little startled by the question. He allowed his legs to drop over the side of the hammock while he gripped tight to it at the same time. "You do." It was best to be honest. He was always told he was a horrible liar anyway. "I just...I miss him so much that I can't help it. It's selfish of me, I know. I mean, you are different in your own way, but I still see him." He shook his head and gave a weak laugh. "I'm sorry. Even after everything that happened with Roxas I still just find the entire situation a little strange I guess."

Ikurx watched Sora a moment. The honesty he received caused him to press his lips into a thin apprehensive line. But it made sense, he was a part of Riku after all, of course he would remind Sora of him. He and Riku, they probably looked much the same. They were the same.

Impromptu Ikurx crawled over to Sora's side of the hammock, slipping into his personal bubble without warning. When Sora looked at him Ikurx touched his cheek to tilt his head up with the same gesture and kissed him very softly without a word.

Sora became tense in that one quick second. He hadn't expected a kiss of all things, but it wasn't unpleasant. It felt familiar and had his mind moving right back to the one person he missed most of all. His first instinct caught up to him just as it usually would and his eyes soon closed as he pressed back into the kiss timidly.

Warm. Sora was so much warmer, like brushing your lips against the petals of a flower under the sun. Ikurx ever so slightly stroked Sora's cheek which was just as warm, soft and pleasant to the touch. It was nostalgic, each touch, the prickle of skin and excitement that dully bubbled in his numb chest.  
Ikurx rested his other hand on Sora's chest just to feel the beautiful flutter of heart as he touched another first kiss against Sora's lips.

Sora's hand shot up in an instant to clasp around the one that had settled on his chest. It felt so surreal to hear the ocean's waves in the background as he was kissed by those lips. The quiet, little whimper he gave was muffled by lips on lips while Sora's free hand rose up to slowly wrap itself around Ikurx's neck to keep the other near.

"Shhh," Ikurx softly whispered the sound to sooth Sora's ache. He knew he could never be what Sora needed, or fill in those holes of neglect and betrayal that Riku constantly gouged from Sora's heart. At least for the small moment Ikurx could pretend that wasn't absolutely wrong and that he wasn't doing much the same betrayal to another that mattered to him.

Sora's hair was just as warm and soft against Ikurx's fingers and they clumsily brushed against his ear with inexperience before his hand fell to the side of Sora's neck. Ever so gently Ikurx kissed Sora's bottom lip, his lips brushing down to place a light lingering kiss to his chin and another to Sora's cheek, which he nuzzled very softly after.

Each affectionate gesture and small brush of lips all felt exactly the same and because of that Sora couldn't keep quiet much like he had been told. Since his mouth was suddenly free he found himself letting out a tiny noise instead as he curled even closer to Ikurx. He felt like he was home again. On the islands and near the trees being held in such a way that made everything that had happened seem like just some horrible nightmare. And much like before in the small room back at the inn he found himself clinging as tight as he could while only one name left him in a soft voice. "Riku..."

Ikurx tried to keep the sad noise from leaving his throat. Demyx's previous words entered his mind and with it the guilt for both him and Sora; _He isn't Riku_. But this time there was no Demyx to stop this and steal him away. The Heartless had left to the shadows where all Heartless seemed to go. Watching, maybe.

Ikurx swallowed the hurt that wanted to leave him in a quiet sob. He knew he didn't sound like Riku; there was no point in trying to mimic it. Speaking would break the illusion, whatever sweet little lie that Sora was seeing behind closed eyes. Ikurx placed a small kiss on that little endearing lie that wasn't meant for him, his lips tickled by Sora's lashes. He then nuzzled the side of Sora's face as he let the other cling.

Sora continued to hold on tightly with what little strength his dazed mind allowed at that moment. At some point a content sigh had left him as he nuzzled back in return for the gesture given to him. It was only after a while that he opened his eyes to the world again and noticed how wrong things were. He had fallen for his own delusions again all because of his loneliness and it only made his heart ache even more.

In a quick movement Sora pulled away from Ikurx and the unsteady move caused him to tumble off the hammock ungracefully onto his back. He let out a pathetic whine while he rolled over to rest on his side in the sand. "Owww. That hurt."

Ikurx peered over the hammock. "I'm sorry," he quietly replied in a cracked voice. He rubbed a wet eye before he slipped off the hammock to help Sora sit up. He brushed the sand from Sora's clothes and stilled to rest his hands on his shoulders. "... You probably should have kept avoiding me. I... probably wouldn't have done that. But," Ikurx held a little tighter to Sora's clothes, "now I know... it, we-... it's wrong where he and I are similar and right where we aren't the same." He let go of Sora. "He loves you... so much. So, please don't come near me, I'll probably end up doing that again." Ikurx gave a sad weak smile before he stood up.

Sora blinked wide eyes at the words and soon his expression became hurt. He was quick to stand up as well and grabbed his scarf in the process to wrap it back around him. He suddenly felt very vulnerable without it. "You don't want to?" Sora quickly blushed at his own bold words and shook his head after them. "No, I mean, that's not what I meant." He reached a hand out and grabbed hold of Ikurx's arm. "You kissed me. Do you not like the thought that you might actually care about me?" His grip tightened a little in a desperate way and he found that he had to look away from Ikurx's eyes because of how much they reminded him of Riku.

Ikurx was stunned and he faltered. He hadn't expected Sora to chase such ideas. "I..." He couldn't 'care', not like that. Oh but how wanted to. He craved to feel like everyone wanted to. He craved it so badly now in his short period of existence, like a man dieing of heat stroke and mania craved the sweet cold taste of but one drop of water. "... I don't know." Ikurx looked down at Sora's hand clasping tightly to his arm. "No, I don't mind the thought. But..." But it was Riku's thought. And there was still Demyx. Ikurx looked to Sora's face and his chest tightened; oh god how Riku loved that boy. It would be so easy to give in to him.

"But you can't." Sora was quick to finish and with the words his hand fell away. "And I guess I'm not making things very easy on you, am I? It's just..." Sora turned around and started to walk away from Ikurx with only a few steps. "I promised myself as soon as we got back home that I would never let Riku out of my sight. I would make sure we were always together. After all that happened I was afraid he would disappear again. And when we became even closer I was even more determined and made sure that he was always near me in some way."

Sora lifted both his hands up to fidget with his scarf and kept his eyes on the long piece of cloth while he spoke. "I feel like I've failed at protecting the one person that means the most to me and in a way I failed you too. Back home Riku was okay and it was even better then old times, but now he has to deal with the Darkness all over again." Sora's hands dropped the scarf to move up so palms could dig into blurry eyes. "I feel like everything has fallen apart."

Familiar arms slipped around Sora from behind but it was Ikurx that tightly held Sora, the difference was so subtle. Ikurx couldn't stand to see Sora so upset, to see tears coming to Sora's eyes crumbled away all reserve he had. He couldn't help it, not when he couldn't shed his own. Whatever there was of Riku in him only pulled Sora closer, needing him.

"You haven't failed," Ikurx quietly whispered against the side of Sora's head. "Please don't give up. I haven't given up on you, little star."

That cherished nick name that had been spoken to him what felt like ages ago only caused Sora to hold back even more tears. Despite the fact that he knew it was Ikurx holding him so close and so tight he still couldn't stop himself from turning around and burying his face in the other's chest to hide away. "Yes I have!" His words were muffled, but the way they were shouted made them easy to understand. "He told me to be brave, but I can't! I just can't do it! I'm too worried." He pulled back only a bit to stare up at the other teen with wide, teary eyes. "He gave me half his heart, Ikurx! That's why I'm not a Heartless anymore! How can I just go on so easily after something like that?!"

Ikurx's brows furrowed. He didn't know what to say to all that. He was amazed that his other had sacrificed a piece of himself to keep Sora going. Yet still he left when Sora needed him so desperately. Ikurx was left with even less answers than Sora. It caused a sadder expression to cross Ikurx's face for the small teen.

"Because now you have a piece of Riku with you." Ikurx pulled his wrist warmer down so he could gently wipe the few stray tears that fell down Sora's cheeks. "And... not just your heart." He smoothed down Sora's bangs and the hair that rested against his cheek. "You have me, too." Ikurx prayed Demyx would understand all of this; he couldn't help it. "And I'll make sure you don't fail. I'll pick you up when you fall down, put you back together when you fall apart." Ikurx was glad he didn't have a heart, as he touched Sora's cheek with his palm, it would have broken there and then if he had. "... I'll protect you, while you protect me."

Those words were enough for Sora as he gave a few wet sniffles and nodded his head quickly. He buried his face once again against Ikurx's chest to be close to the other for as long as he was allowed. He knew that the Nobody wasn't Riku, but the comfort was enough for Sora at the moment. That's all he needed and he took it no matter how greedy or selfish the action seemed.

Further up near the inn a lone figure unseen watched the drama as they leaned against the building. Of course their hidden post was quickly found and a hard tap-tap came to their shoulder.

"I know you're just looking out for him, but you know there's a fine line between 'looking out for someone' and 'stalker'." Zax thudded against the wall beside Cloud. "So, anything interesting happen?" He offered Cloud a bottle from the two he was holding; it was their vacation, might as well enjoy it and loosen up.

Cloud wasted no time in taking the bottle offered to him as he kept his eyes on the scene that had been unfolding further down the beach. "I'm not really sure to be honest, but Sora seems to be pretty upset. They've been talking for a while." He finally looked away to eye the bottle he had been given before he was quick to shrug it off and take a swallow, speaking up again after. "Besides, I'm not stalking. It's just called being curious."

"Watching two under aged boys kiss is a curiosity most people would lock you up for." Zax tried to hide his laugh by taking a long swig from his drink.

Cloud nearly spat out the bit of liquid he had in his mouth and was forced to quickly swallow it before he did. He shot Zax a glare for his teasing, but turned his attention back to the two that were still on the beach. "That's not funny." He shook his head as the annoyed expression fell from his face to a more concerned one. "I don't know. Sora just hasn't been acting like himself, that's all. Although, I guess with everything he's told us it makes sense in that strange way where we have no clue what's really going on anymore so we just go along with it anyway. Of course at the same time we now have two depressed teens on our hands instead of just one."

Zax gave a sagely nod. "Empathy is not one sad person but two. Three if you count yourself. Four if you count me as well." He took a thoughtful sip. "Mm. Well, if our boy is off and kissing the fabled Keyblade Master he must be getting up in the world. Ah, they grow up so fast." He pointed his bottle at Cloud. "Y'know, it's just one shock after another for me ever since I got back. No ones, and Organizations, and Heartless Organizations, suddenly adopting this kid who can bring people back from the dead, and then finding out that the kid is really apart of someone else, a someone else who's the Keyblade Master's little boyfriend or something. I think the biggest shock was finding out that the Keyblade Master is some kind of loony super kid. Instead of a cape it's a scarf" He downed more of his drink. "Anyway, voyeurism aside, you still have to tell Sora about what's happening in Radiant Garden." He nudged Cloud's arm. "You didn't forget, did you?"

Cloud was quick to shake his head once again. "Of course I didn't." He pointed with his bottle towards the two boys. "But can you blame me for hanging back and being a bit apprehensive about bringing such a thing up right at the moment?" He brought the bottle up to take another long drink before he turned his attention to Zax again. "Trust me, I know we need to tell Sora and get him to help us, but the kid seems to have his own problems too."

Zax made a light agreeative sound. "Such a small kid with such a big responsibility on his shoulders. He isn't a soldier like we are; men who were born and raised on fighting. We had a head start when this whole Heartless thing dropped in our laps. We had long left puberty." He gave a short sound of amusement. "Kid's got something though. S'too bad he has to be out and about here in other worlds saving all our asses instead of at home on his own world worrying about normal teenage stuff like girl-er, I mean, boyfriends and high school, and fancy sports cars- or whatever kids of today are into."

"Well, Sora has a lot of help, but in the end it always seems to fall on him." Cloud gave a thoughtful noise. "He's a good fighter when he's focused, but watching him now and without that..." Cloud waved his free hand around. " _key_ in his hand, he just seems like a normal kid with regular problems." He dropped his hand and sighed. "Would it really hurt to let him have some normalcy for a bit longer since he seems so down?"

Zax lowered his head and tapped the mouth of the bottle against his lips as he gave it some thought. He shrugged soon after. "I don't know. You always had the better sixth sense about things to come." He glanced up at the clouded sky. "But I don't have to be prophetic to see there's a storm coming."

Cloud's own eyes moved up to stare at the sky above. "Yeah, seems so." He kept quiet for a few moments as his attention was only on how dark the evening had become with the approaching storm. "Would a few more days really hurt? I don't think so. Whatever happens between the now and then we can handle." He looked away from the sky to glance back at Zax with a small smirk. "You did say this was a vacation after all."

"I did, didn't I?" Zax grinned right back at Cloud. He couldn't argue with that. "Cheers then." He reached his bottle over but when glass hit glass an explosion erupted behind them on the inn from above.

"The hell?!" Zax stared daft at the glasses. But just as quickly he grabbed Cloud by the shirt just as a massive bolt of black lightening smashed down on the area of the resort they were leaning against.

"It's been a while, gentlemen." A female voice sweetly spoke from within the smoke that hazily sat as debris fell and fluttered like rain. The smoke cleared and dead center of the massive hit hovered the lightening Heartless herself, Larxene. She gave a swift gesture of her long sleeve and the smoke ceremoniously blew aside. The screams of survivors underneath the wreckage of collapsed walls, roofing and furniture came from behind her. They pleaded for help of others who ran to save their own lives.

Larxene glanced back before tilting her head as she gave the two men a coy smile. She was quick to raise a hand to halt either of their actions before they moved or spoke. She waved a no-no finger with a tsk. Her arm fell back down. "Which do you think is worse? Death- or living eternity out as a mindless Heartless?" She gave a short laugh. "I prefer the more permanent state for others myself." Larxene raised a clawed hand to the sky and swiftly brought it down pointing it to another area of the resort where another bolt smashed down from the heavens to land explosively, with screams of the terrified.

It felt as if the explosion rocked the entire beach and Cloud made sure to keep a hold of Zax and cover both of them to shelter them from debris. The horrified screams caused him to flinch. He didn't understand the why or the how as to seeing the familiar Heartless so suddenly on the tranquil world. Everything had been so peaceful and suddenly the worst possible thing seemed to want to hit at the worst possible moment.

Further down the attacks were quick to catch the attention of Sora whom had heard the screams and the explosions. All his previous worries were pushed as far back as they could go as he pulled away from Ikurx and turned towards the inn with a wide stare that quickly narrowed when he saw the shambled state that it was becoming. "Oh no..." He could already feel it. Something wasn't right and he knew that the feeling only came when the Heartless were around. In a flash of light Oblivion was in his hand while he looked back at Ikurx with a determined expression on his face. "It's the Organization. It has to be. I need to get over there, but I'm not leaving you here alone by yourself." He grabbed the Nobody by the wrist with his other hand and was quick to drag Ikurx off towards the inn with him.

Ikurx didn't have time to argue as he was yanked off towards the fight. His eyes were wide as he watched the horrid devastation, which caused him to stumble on his footing. Rarely was he in a fully conscious state for any of the attacks. It was disturbing, how easily the Heartless could destroy and hurt so many innocent people.

"... They're after me," Ikurx barely breathed out the words. When his eyes locked onto who exactly it was causing everything his eyes grew wide around. It was just like the church; except now more people, innocent people who didn't know who or what he was, were now drawn into this.

Ikurx dug his heels into the sand and yanked Sora back so he could cover him with his own body as another bolt of lightening surged down from the clouded heavens into the resort. Little debris hit him and when the dust settled he was more shocked at what he'd done than Sora. But he was quick to grab Sora's shoulders giving him a shake to get his attention. "Sora, they're after _me_! Not this place- not the people here. People are dieing because of me!" The Nobody searched Sora's wide blue eyes.

Sora held his breath for a few seconds at what he had just been told. He knew it to all be the truth and he knew for a fact that he needed to keep everyone safe. Just like so many times before. "Everything will be okay." Sora whispered the words, whether to himself or to Ikurx, even he wasn't sure, but they were familiar words that always helped even if they were a lie. He turned his attention back around towards the destruction going on and pulled Ikurx behind him. "Stay near me. I'll protect you." The words were whispered right before Oblivion was lifted and aimed towards the inn and the Heartless perched nearby as powerful ice shot off from the keyblade towards Larxene to grab the girl's attention and off of the innocent people.

Small glittering flakes of ice fell as Larxene had swiped the attack with her claws. She gave a small shiver to shake off the excess ice that had coated her, a shiver that ran down all the way to her antenna. The ice was quick to melt as droplets before they hit the shambles on the ground below.

"Sora," Larxene addressed the Keyblade Master by name with a smile, "what a surprise. I haven't seen you since," she tapped her lips in faux thought before she gave a wide smirk, "you were one of us." She dabbed the air with a claw towards Ikurx. "And I see you've brought me a welcoming gift. No one can say you don't know how to treat a lady." She swept her large sleeve up to tap the left side of her chest with a few claws. "Unfortunately my heart is still, it'll do no good to charm it." Slowly she lowered herself down near the ground. A wide cruel grin spread quickly on her lips. "But you're quite helpful to say the least." Her toe touched the wet ground and instantly heavy voltage was conducted well through the water dispersed by Sora's ice attack. The people caught underneath the rubble, their pleading screams were quickly silenced.

A horrified expression crossed over Sora's face in that instant. His entire body felt as if it were shaking. He couldn't believe a person could be so incredibly cruel, but it seemed as if Larxene was what her namesake implied. She was truly a heartless being and the act she had just done only enraged Sora. He wasn't quick to think with a clear head. Instead he ran ahead with blade drawn to try and be rid of the Heartless.

He only moved a few feet before he was halted in his steps and Sora let out a startled noise. Vines were moving up from the ground and twining themselves around his legs only to move even further upwards. Thorns moved across clothes and broke skin none too kindly which caused Sora to grit his teeth in pain as he squirmed and struggled against the binds that were trying to trap him to the ground along with his entire body.

"Ah, I do believe you've upset him, Larxene." The words were spoken behind the female Heartless as each shadow nearby took shape and Marluxia stepped out from the portal they made. Eyes were narrowed on Sora as Marluxia twirled his scythe easily around two fingers as if it were only a light weight toy and made his way to stand by the other Heartless, watching the teen struggle in the vines. "Such wasted emotions." He easily mocked Sora before his eyes moved towards Ikurx who was still nearby.

The Nobody's wide eyes turned from Sora to Marluxia. He suddenly felt very aware of how openly vulnerable he truly was. He wasn't a fighter like Cloud and Zax, he had no element to control like Demyx, and his power over the light wasn't like Sora's. Ikurx knew he had nothing to compete against the power of these Heartless. Despite the breath that was caught in his throat, he had no pounding heart to stop him from at least trying; anything.

Ikurx dove forward to yank Sora's keyblade from his bound hand. Ikurx didn't have his keychain, it was still safe with Demyx, he had nothing else to try for. This keyblade felt so much more different in his hands, weighted from awesome responsibilities, life and death. Over whelmed Ikurx grasped it tightly and swung the blade into some of the vines that bound Sora down.

"Ikurx, no! Stop!" Sora protested to the actions that Ikurx took. He didn't want any harm coming to the other teen. "Just run away! Don't stay here!" He flinched as the vines pulled in closer, but felt a bit of relief when the ones that Oblivion made contact with were quick to fall away and let him go. Still, nearly half his body was bound and he continued to worry. "Ikurx, please."

Marluxia stopped twirling his scythe as his eyes narrowed. The weapon was gripped tightly in his hand as he watched the Nobody make such a bold move under their watch. "Think you'll actually accomplish something, do you?" With a flick of his wrist more of the deadly vines were soon making their way out of the ground in front of him. In a matter of seconds the tips of thorns were rushing forward and aiming straight for Ikurx.

Large geysers sprang up in front of Ikurx and the built up pressure from each one acted as a shield to protect the Nobody from the vines that had been moving towards him. They were stopped and caught in a vortex; held in place as the conjuror made his presence known nearby with sitar held tightly in his hands to keep the shield up and steady. The Promise given was secured and dangling near the top of the weapon as his own form of good luck.

"Demyx," Ikurx breathed out the name. He tore his gaze away; there was no time to stare in surprise. He gripped Oblivion to whack at the vines again, cutting away more of the ones that still restrained Sora. Once enough of Sora was free, at least his arms, Ikurx twirled the blade loosely so he held the staff offering Sora the handle to take and finish the job.

"Water boy?" Larxene scoffed. "Didn't we learn our lesson last time?" She taped a claw to send a volt of black electricity into the swirling water, not enough to kill; she didn't want to damage the fail safe.

Demyx was quick to let go of his control over the water before any real damage could be done. Of course such a thing would instantly cause what was left of the surging bolts and vines to continue towards their intended targets. Demyx was quick to grab hold of Ikurx and dart backwards with the Nobody in his grasp while the two elements chased after him.

Sora had gotten the last of the vines cleared away from his person after he had grabbed Oblivion back and looked just in time to see Demyx escape from deadly circumstances. He was back on his feet and swinging the keyblade out to bat away the vines and electricity as if they were nothing more then annoyances, stopping them and not even watching as they were destroyed. His narrowed gaze was only on Larxene and Marluxia as he stood in front of both Demyx and Ikurx, shielding them both from another attack for the time being.

"Demyx," Ikurx quietly spoke up as he clasped onto the Heartless' shirt, "... I'm sorry."

The Heartless seemed to tense up at the soft apology given. He didn't answer and instead pushed Ikurx away from him to stand behind his body instead. The entire time he refused to look Ikurx in the eye, but there was a determined look on his face as he kept his word to try and protect the Nobody no matter what happened.

Marluxia looked back and forth between Sora and Demyx. His eyes stayed on the water elemental as a small smirk curved up onto his lips. "Interesting turn of events I'd say. For someone that despised our dear little traitor so very much you sure have switched sides to help his Somebody in battle, IX."

"It's better then helping the two of you!" Sora was quick to defend Demyx's actions before the Heartless could speak. The grip on his keyblade tightened and he was soon holding it tightly with both hands as his eyes narrowed further on the both of them. "You have no right to hurt people like this!"

"Oh but that's where you're wrong." Larxene flew higher above all in the air. She spread out her arms with a grin in proof. "The Darkness gives us that right. You wouldn't be the key bearer if it weren't for our existence." She curled her claws to the air as a bitter expression took her. "And we wouldn't be in existence if it weren't for the light."

"The existence of darkness is no excuse for man slaughter!" Zax shouted up as he took stance near Sora, he pointed his sword he'd been off retrieving from the rubble.

"Dead men don't talk," Larxene snapped at him, receiving a glare right back.

Marluxia watched with careful eyes, but his senses were soon on high alert and his eyes narrowed. While Larxene was busy dealing with the pests that had shown themselves he was soon gripping the scythe in his hand much tighter before he spun around and held it at arms length to use as a shield. It blocked the powerful bit of energy that had been moving towards him while a scowl worked its way across his face.

Cloud cursed under his breath as his attack was so easily blocked. He had hoped to catch the Heartless off guard while his attention was diverted away, but luck just wasn't on his side. Of course now his own location had been found out as well as the fact that he had attempted an actual blow to the Heartless with his sword.

The wind began to pick up as storm above became worse. It had Larxene smiling since it would only help her element. She tsked Cloud. "You made a better puppet than an enemy." She raised a hand to throw it down in Cloud's direction and from the heavens fell a jagged bolt this time accompanied by three spears surrounded by sharp wind and another three below from the shadows.

Cloud reacted as quick as he could and broke apart the sword in his hands so it formed two twin blades. He used both as a shield for himself as he jumped back to try and avoid the bolts, but the wind made it near impossible. One of the spears caught him in the arm, slicing a long gash that he tried to ignore, but was enough distraction for him to loose a bit of balance.

"Oh no." Demyx seemed to share in Sora's disbelief from earlier as he saw the familiar attack that had combined itself with Larxene's own. They had been the first words he had spoken the entire time, but they were enough to show his fear of the situation as soon as he realized what they were in store for and his grip on his weapon tightened.

Sora recognized what went on as well, but his only concern seemed to be with Cloud who had gotten the brunt of each attack. His eyes had scanned anywhere and everywhere but he could see no one else for the moment. It seemed Larxene and Marluxia weren't the only ones ganging up on them this time, though. He still couldn't understand what prompted such an attack.

Zax's back clunked against Cloud's to save his balance, slashing away the spears that had been far too close to Cloud's back to start. "Oh sure, of course that fancy new sword of yours turns into two." Zax grinned back at Cloud despite being in the middle of battle. "Compensating?" He was quick to turn his attention back around to fend off incoming spears by sending a wave of energy with a slash of his sword.

"Not hardly." The words left Cloud just as he swung both arms out to bat away a few of the spears that were on each side of them. He could feel the sting from the fresh wound on his arm, but it didn't effect his movements. Just as he was about to make another move he caught a flash from the corner of his eyes and was quick to push back against Zax just in time to push them both out of the way as a bullet whizzed past his face.

It was another one; Sora knew it without even watching the two men fight. He could feel the presence of even more Heartless all around them. He couldn't stand this and his hands shook against the keyblade. He paid no attention to Demyx's nervous noises or the fact that it would have been a better idea for him to stay near the Heartless and Ikurx. He just wanted to get things over with. "Why?! Why won't you all just leave us alone?!" The angry question left his throat as Sora finally ran forward and gave a large leap off the sand towards Larxene. The keyblade was ready and aimed right for the female.

Larxene did her best to guard against the keyblade with her claws, but the keyblade was forged in everything she wasn't; light. With Sora's rage behind the attack it hit her hard with a burst of light and she went flying back to smash hard into the rubble of the inn, throwing up new dust and debris with the impact.

Everyone who saw remained wide eyed. Ikurx gripped tightly to Demyx's shirt as he had watched peeking from behind the water Heartless. ".. Sora," his throat felt so tight after speaking that one name. A vile sort of satisfaction settled itself inside Ikurx at seeing the lightening Heartless, who had first caused him so much pain, get hers in return. It was the first time Ikurx had ever felt the destruction taste of spite and immediately after he felt guilty for such vengeful thoughts; thoughts that were more like Riku's. He wanted no part in that.

Marluxia continued to stare at the place where Larxene had fallen. The concerned look that crossed over his features fell away while he looked over at Sora just as the boy dropped back to the ground on his feet. The hatred that made up his own entire being surfaced and was plain on his face as he stared at Sora and without a word he swung the large scythe in wide arc towards the ground. The sand beneath collapsed to make way for vicious plant life. The mutilating spikes making their way towards Sora.

Sora back stepped, but not out of fear of being skewered. He only needed the small amount of space before he was ready and began to attack the plants that were only inches away. One by one he stabbed at each and sliced away with angered cries while he was careful not to become an actual target.

Further down the wreckage, farther from the battle, three animals and a girl had been helping what innocent people they could from under the rubble of the inn. They tossed aside hunks of fallen walls. Goofy used his shield to dig the debris, while Mickey did the same with his keyblade and Donald with his wand. Together they used their strength to push away a large wooden structure beam and found a lone body of a young man underneath.

Donald quickly raised his wand in the air and little leaves and flower petals fell and dissipated on the prone bloody body. But the person didn't move. Again Donald lifted his want up and cast cure on the young man. Nothing. Donald's brows furrowed and he cast cure again and again- until Mickey put a hand on Donald's arm forcing him to lower his wand. Mickey shook his head; there was nothing they could do. Goofy frowned sadly and he took off his hat respectively.

Naminé's hands went to her mouth and she closed her eyes to turn away. When her eyes reopened it was on the battle further down the beach. Marluxia. She recognized him. Sora was fighting with such hatred and sorrow in his heart. There was no saving any of them, not when they were all in such an endless cycle of brilliant love and bleak hatred.

"No hope and no chance." The words came from above on a higher piece of rubble that was still standing on its own. One of the Heartless that weren't part of the battle that was taking place on the beach sat perched on the large piece of wood with a rather uninterested look on his face while he rolled a small dice between each finger. "All of this fighting back, the determination, it's rather pointless."

Mickey whirled around to the source of the voice and found himself instantly frustrated by how laid back the Heartless above seemed to be. It was as if he knew that he had already won by just showing himself to their small little group and that above all else put Mickey on edge even more.

"Fighting back is never pointless!" Goofy shouted right back as he glared determination at the Heartless. "Not when you believe in the right thing. And you, sir, do not believe in the right thing!"

Naminé clasped her hands nervously together as the wind whipped her hair about. "W-who are you?" She didn't recognize the Heartless; his Nobody was never at Castle Oblivion.

"Luxord..." Mickey nearly growled out the Heartless' name that was before them. He was quick to stand in front of Naminé to shield the girl with both Goofy and Donald at his sides. His stance was defensive as he gripped the keyblade tightly.

The dice was thrown up and caught in Luxord's hand where it disappeared from sight for good. The Heartless stood up and balanced himself with ease on the piece of rubble while he looked down at the four. "Your Majesty." He bowed deep and mockingly. He straightened back up so his eyes could land on Naminé. "And dear sweet, Naminé. We have never been introduced, but do believe that I know much about you."

"You're one of the Organization's Heartless," Naminé barely breathed the words out. She took an unsure step back. "But Marluxia and Larxene betrayed your old group." Her brow furrowed. "Why are you helping them now?"

"Whoever said I was helping those two?" Although the words were spoken as a question, Luxord didn't give the girl much time to answer. In front of him appeared large cards, but no longer did they hold the old symbol that showed they belonged to a Nobody. The Heartless motif was etched along the back, but was only allowed to be seen for a few quick seconds as Luxord sent the cards straight toward the girl.

Mickey was quick to react since he was still on guard in front of Naminé. With keyblade in hand he moved forward and jumped up before the cards could even reach the other three. With a quick swipe and a flash of light he was quick to force the cards away and drop back to his feet afterwards.

"Ye'can't fool us again with your silly card games, Luxord." Goofy scowled. "Fool us once shame on you, fool us twice shame on- on... um"

"Us!" Donald quacked loudly to fill Goofy in.

"Yeah- shame on us!" Goofy gave a determined nod.

"Why are you doing this?" Naminé pleaded behind the animals. "The Organization was defeated so long ago. There's just no point anymore to continue fighting."

The air around seemed to become thin after the question was asked. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the three animals that surrounded Naminé hadn't moved an inch since the slight, subtle change. It made it all the more obvious that something was indeed wrong.

Luxord jumped down from his high perch easily and onto his feet. He strolled past each of the three guardians, running a few fingers over them as if they were only statues and straight up to the girl who was still as lively as she had been a few seconds ago. "Why of course there is. Plenty of reasons actually. We all have one." He lifted a hand to point out towards the battle that still waged out on the beach. Time had only stood still around the five of them, so the fight was still quick to move ahead of them. "Every single one."

A small startled sound left Naminé's lips and she tried to back step the Heartless' approach, but her feet felt like concrete shuffling through the sand. "W-what could be so important that you'd hurt innocent people over?" She clasped her hands to her chest. Even the wind felt as if it was held in a stand still about them as it didn't flutter her hair or dress anymore. Even though she had no heart her breath still quickened. "Why? Why are _you_ fighting?"

Luxord gave a simple shrug as his hand fell back down. "Just the same as the rest of them. The chance to be whole is far greater then anything else in the worlds I suppose." His eyes lingered on the battle before they fell back down to the girl that had once been a crucial part to half of the Organization. "And why are you here helping, hmm? In the end you don't really exists."

"They're my friends. It never mattered to them whether I truly existed or not, they saw past it all. And I'm indebted to them for their kindness." Naminé then stood her ground as she found courage in the truth of her words. She ceased to step backwards and stood as determined as she could against the taller Heartless. "I don't need to hurt anyone to fulfill my reasons. I will never be alone. My friends make me whole again." Her hands tightened near her empty chest.

"Such lovely words from an empty shell," Luxord spoke back in a mocking way as he walked around the Nobody in a circle. "I do hope you realize, dear girl, that you're very alone right now. Quite unprotected. This small area you see before us is under my own control and your pitiful guards tried but failed to save you. So, I wouldn't speak so very soon."

Naminé still stared forward with determination even though the Heartless wasn't there in front of her. "... I don't want to hurt anyone anymore." Her hands lowered back down to her sides. "But if I have to, I'll fight too." Her brows furrowed more. "For my friends."

For once a sudden laugh finally left Luxord, loud enough to echo across the rubble that surrounded them. "You?" He took his place to stand in front of Naminé once more and placed a hand under his chin as if in deep thought. "I know all about the power that you process. Your precious drawings won't harm us my dear. The link that Sora had involving any of us only dealt with our Nobodies. I doubt the same link would be quite as strong with any of us. Your little trick won't work quite as well a second time."

"I rearrange memories... links in the heart that keep them together. I can even make new links, new memories... and I can shatter the chain apart. Your Heartless share the same memories as your Nobodies. You're still tied to who you were." Naminé looked up at Luxord with new assurance. "But unlike your Nobodies you Heartless do have hearts- hearts I can shatter. You will truly be lost to the dark then. An empty puppet." She shook her head as sad hesitation flickered in her eyes. "It's a last resort, but if it means saving my friends... I will."

Luxord actually seemed startled for a moment at what he had just been told. He didn't expect such a small girl to throw such threats back at him in such a manner. He couldn't help feeling a little amused after the shock actually wore off. "It's not that simple, Naminé." The Nobody's name came out as if it were a disgusting thing for him to speak. "You see there are others just waiting and watching. What you see around you is only half of what is in store. So, maybe you should think twice about trying such a trick when you have no chance at all." The cocky smirk on his face grew. "Wouldn't want to upset Sora would we?"

"Sora will understand," Naminé quietly spoke up. "These three are his friend too. Special friends in his heart that he's known far longer than me." She could remember Sora begging her to wipe his memory clean; none of it mattered to him if it meant her safety, if it meant breaking their promise. But Sora didn't remember those silly love sick lies that happened in Oblivion. It was better that he didn't. Though she was sure that Sora's opinion wouldn't have changed since then; that boy would move heaven and all worlds if it meant the safety of his friends. Naminé wanted to have that same bravery too. She would make up for Kairi's previous hatred and cowardice in Northern Crater.

Naminé gave a soft sound as she stared up at Luxord sadly. "I implore you; please don't make me do this."

The threat didn't seem to faze Luxord and he only studied the girl carefully with his eyes. He finally dropped his hand and used it to touch the girl's chin, lifting her head up to stare into her eyes with his own. "How far do you think you will get?" He started to speak quietly and allowed the girl to know she was no threat. "My dear, I can stop your weak attempt at harming any of us before you even start. So, you can try," He took his hand away and stood back up as he continued to speak, "but you'll only be a lovely little statue as well if you do."

Naminé slowly lowered her head, her eyes falling to the sand beneath her sandals. But not for reasons Luxord thought. "... I've already found your weak link," she spoke in soft guilt. "Once I break it... your entire heart will fall apart." Her eyes fell shut sadly. They were right when they had called her a manipulative witch.

The laid back demeanor that Luxord had tried to keep up cracked in an instant to such words. For a moment he thought the Nobody was only bluffing, but then found it impossible. Naminé could see inside each heart so clearly. The threat wasn't taken very lightly any longer.

With a few steps back Luxord gave the girl her space while he kept their eyes locked. With a snap the stilled time was returned to normal, but before the three animals could make heads or tails out of it Luxord disappeared. More then likely to keep a close watch on the other battles going on and give assistance elsewhere.

"W-what happened?" Goofy looked around but Luxord was gone. "Did Luxord just up and leave?" He scratched his head under his hat as he looked to everyone else for answers.

"He did," Naminé answered softly as she clutched her hands to her chest again. "I...-I scared him off. I didn't want to hurt him." She shut her eyes tight and shook her head. "I couldn't. Even if he is a Heartless... he's still a person; with hopes and dreams...-with a heart." Naminé hung her head. "I'm sorry."

A hand rested itself on Naminé's shoulder. "You don't have to apologize, Naminé," Mickey spoke up quietly to reassure the girl who seemed so upset. "But we can't just assume that he's actually backed down. Sora and the others are still fighting. We need to go to them and see if they need our help." He turned toward the other two as he dropped his hand from the girl. "Come on you two, and make sure to keep a close eye on Naminé." It only took a quick nod from Donald and Goofy before the four of them finally moved away from the rubble.

Far from over the battle had only grown in intensity. A free for all, the Heartless working together when it was seen fit.  
Xaldin raised his hand to the air, his six spears throwing themselves free from the ground from their previous attack. Zax and Cloud were quick to fend their last quick attacks before the spears flew up into the air carried by wind. The spears carried themselves around Xaldin, twirling before they gathered above him where his hand still kept raised. Xaldin gave a slight smirk of lips before he threw his hand down, all six of the spears flew down, the wind gathering tightly around them with their speeding decent as bullets rained down with them from Xigbar.

Cloud tried his best to fend off the bullets with his sword, but a few stray shots made it past him. Thankfully they hit a part of the sword that had been disconnected and used as a shield as it was lodged deep inside the sand nearby. It wasn't very handy against the spears though, and Cloud found himself helping Zax beat off each one that had been aimed at them along with the shots fired as best he could. More or less they had been forced to jump back instead of fighting them all off and were nearly skewered.

Xigbar hung upside down rather casually right next to Xaldin as he watched the two men try to make a quick escape from the attack. It was amusing in a way how they tried to dodge what was thrown at them and had a way to maneuver out of anything it seemed. "Tricky, tricky." Right after the words left him he aimed both guns towards the two humans and fired off a few more shots, manipulating the attacks so they surrounded the two as they sailed through the air.

Zax's boots skid kicking up sand as he tried to recover his stance after the previous attack for the new one. With quick thinking he snapped out a free hand to grab Cloud by the belt loops of his pants to yank him so they were back to back. Cloud didn't miss a beat and with either of them covering each other's backs they made quick work of the shots that surrounded them three-sixty.  
Bullets clashed with metal hitting as many with as quick a swing and gesture one could with an enormous broad sword. Zax couldn't help but grin after the fray when none of the shots had managed to scathe them.

Xaldin's lips frowned into a disappointed line. "Tricky, indeed." He slipped his long sleeves together. "In your words, Braig, I believe this is where we whip out the 'big guns'." He slipped one hand out and with a simple gesture each of the six black spears burst into small dark tornados before imploding into shadow portals. From these portals poured out vicious twitching Heartless. Not only his own, but the more powerful ones he'd won in their gambling back at the bar.

"Heh." Zax side stepped so he was side by side with Cloud though they faced different ways. "Just like old times, huh?"

Cloud couldn't help smirking at such words. This all really did feel pretty nostalgic. "Yeah, you could say that." His eyes scanned the Heartless that had surrounded them. It seemed as if they would jump on them at any second and that they did. There was no time for thinking and only quick reflexes as Cloud ducked down to avoid one of the Heartless that launched toward him, but drove his sword up as the creature moved through the air. He wasn't satisfied until the blade had been sliced clean through and the horrid mist had shown the Heartless' demise.

Zax narrowed his gaze a little. "Show off." With a smirk he leapt forward so he had the space to swing his large sword full circle in the herd of gathering Heartless. Energy gathered along the metal surface as the sword cut through Heartless throwing stronger ones back, when Zax threw the sword forward a blast of energy was sent flying. The blast smashed through gathered Heartless only to collide explosively into one of the portals they scurried out from. After the dark mist cleared, there was no more dark portal; all that was left was one of Xaldin's spears which promptly fell over into the sand.

Xaldin grit his teeth. "Time and Space, I suggest you stop that from ever happening again."

"You rang?" Arms were soon wrapping themselves around Xaldin from behind as Luxord made his presence known. His eyes moved towards Zax and Cloud having seen the two men easily move through the Heartless as if they were nothing, from where he had been hiding for the moment. He needed no further push from Xaldin on the command and only kept narrowed eyes on the two while he moved his hands further down a little as he manipulated the human's movements, causing them to slow, but never to stop.

Xigbar only snorted as such things were child's play, but also because of the two beside him. He didn't enjoy being ordered around and had hoped Xaldin would have forgotten their bet, but it seemed to be wishful thinking. Much like Luxord his own element was used to its full extent as he toyed with the sand under the two male's feet, twisting and pulling instead of keeping absolutely still for the two soldiers.

Xaldin out right laughed; the display down below was too amusing not to. Both Cloud and Zax were moving in slow motion while the ground below them was quickly shifting. "Good boy." He ran a few fingers over Luxord's short hair. "Boys," he quickly corrected himself as he smirked over at Xigbar.

"LUXORD!" the shout came from directly below, from the Nobody girl before. Both Donald and Goofy stood on either side of Naminé. She clutched her fists tightly with her desperation. She hadn't wanted to do this; she never wanted to have to hurt anyone. But her friend's needed her. She had no choice but to help fight. For Sora. For Kairi.

Naminé tore her gaze away and tightly closed her eyes; she didn't want to see it. It was so easy to follow each memory like a chronological link, a chain it spread from Sora to each and every person he knew and touched; from friends to enemies. From Sora's memory of the fight with Luxord's Nobody in The World That Never was, a memory that Luxord's Heartless remembered as well. There it was, sitting perfectly, the link that helped Naminé find Luxord's heart, his own chain. And with nothing more than a held breath after Naminé had closed her eyes, she found the link in Luxord's heart that kept him together and broke it; she made him forget his reason for existence. The rest of Luxord's heart shattered then after.

The hands that had been kept around Xaldin seemed to slowly loosen up while the body behind him had gone rigid. Luxord had taken a sharp unneeded breath against Xaldin's neck and kept as still as possible, but it couldn't stop what had happened. She had done it; the little witch had done it. The mist that trailed up was proof of that. His being was vanishing from existence with no reason and no will, but yet it hurt so much on the inside instead of out. Arms tightened for the fraction of a second before they followed everything that Luxord was to fade away for a second life time.

The scene had caused Xigbar to lose control over his own element and he nearly fell on his head as he dropped to the sand and no longer paid attention to what happened to the two humans they had just been torturing. Naminé; he remembered her quite well, but he never expected them to have trouble with her during this trip. He never expected any of them to fall to her.

"... Luxord," the name was a hushed breath from Xaldin's lips. His fingers trailed where Luxord's once rested, but of course there was nothing left now. Luxord's desperate embrace was gone. Luxord was gone. His heart and all they had, all of it was gone, in the matter of seconds; without a word, a whisper or a tear. Silenced. A death made insignificant.

Naminé buried her face in her hands with a choked sound akin to a sob. The gravity of what she had done had hit her hard. Painful still, as a Nobody she had no tears to cry for the horror, the murder she committed.

"...Braig," Xaldin's voice spoke up with no emotion. "Kill her." His voice lowered darkly, " _Slowly_."

Xigbar didn't need to be told twice with that tone of voice. As he moved forward with guns ready he kept in the air while the sand below piled up to become a jagged weapon that followed along. It hurried in its course to Naminé while guns were fired for bullets to follow along behind at a slower pace towards the Nobody.

Before either attack could make it to the distracted girl a wave of energy knocked the jagged sand off course, blasting it all aside. The hold that had been lost on Cloud and Zax from either of the two Heartless earlier had given them the upper hand once again since they had been freed. Of course it still left the bullets that sailed through the air under the Heartless' control. Donald was quick on it as powerful bolts rained down to connect with as many of the bullets as possible. Few still made it past despite the powerful attack.

Goofy's shield was quick to make work of that. "Naminé?" He turned to look at the girl. "What did you do?"

"I-," Naminé choked through her hands, "I- ... I killed him."

Zax wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his glove; both sweat and blood were flicked away with a quick gesture. He glanced at Cloud before looking at the girl. "Can you do it again?"

Naminé's head whipped up and she stared at Zax horrified. "W-what- No!"

Zax gave a loose apologetic shrug. "Too bad. Could have been useful."

Above Xaldin was far from pleased. He clenched his jaw tight. Incompetence was not something he could tolerate at the moment. His one lance that lay useless on the ground quickly took to the air again. Up it flew straight up into the angry clouds that Larxene now abused. Then down from the heavens came several churning tornados. Sand and debris was thrown up as they impacted with the beach, soon a sandstorm was quick to take the battle field with those large cylinders of wind.

Zax grunted as a Heartless who had been scooped up by the wind flew by him and managed to catch him by surprise with a quick scratch. "Great. Heartless _and_ a hurricane. Geez, back in my day Heartless didn't have powers over the weather."

"Get used to it." Cloud tried to use his sword as a shield against the whipping winds that moved about, but it seemed to be doing no good. The sandstorm blocked their view of almost everything going on and made any action seem useless and Cloud found himself hitting a few pieces of debris aside that had nearly tried to slam into him from the inn. "Pick an element. They can probably use it."

"Kittens, puppies, fluffy clouds and rainbows." Zax gave cover to his other team mates, cutting away what minor Heartless decided to use the winds to their advantage and attack. "Those kinds of elements- I could handle."

"Then they wouldn't be called Heartless and we wouldn't be having this problem at the moment." Cloud swung his blade around to try and swipe through the few Heartless he could see through the wind and sand and managed to be rid of them. A blaze of fire and lightening caused him to whip his head to the side just in time to see mist clearing from even more Heartless being destroyed and realized they had been aiming for him. He looked back towards Donald and Goofy, seeing the dog having just pulled back his shield from his own attack as well and felt a sudden relief for having the two watching their backs.

A brilliant flash was seen through the storm soon followed by a deafening thunder that caused most of the group to cover their ears. The devastating bolt of electricity could be seen not too far off through the sand storm; the sound of its destruction was quite audible even if it couldn't be seen. The other battle could be heard along with the anger of Sora's voice and Mickey muffled by the winds.

"Sora!" Naminé's eyes widened and she pushed herself from the protective circle to run to where she heard the boy's voice. She couldn't just stand back there useless and not help.  
Above in the torrid winds the lone spear that had caused the storm hung high biding its time; which had now paid off.

"Stupid girl," Zax growled.

But before anyone else could act it was Goofy who ran after Naminé. He had seen the spear above and wasted no time clambering after the girl. He had almost reached her when he tripped, diving onto the girl just as the spear dove to strike her. Naminé gave a startled cry as she was tackled into. She hit the ground hard, sand scraping into her skin as a heavier body fell on top of her. The spear had hit its mark, pointed blade of spear buried deep but it wasn't in Naminé's body.

"Ye-ye gotta be more careful, Naminé." The girl's eyes grew wide around as she heard Goofy's strained voice. She squirmed round on the sand to see the dog slumped on her and the dark weapon protruding into his back. Naminé suddenly couldn't find her voice but she quickly threw her arms around Goofy's neck in apology and thanks.

The sight of seeing his friend and partner in such a state easily pulled at Donald. What they all saw couldn't have just happened. The duck turned his attention immediately towards Xaldin and without any real planning he charged a quick attack, ignoring the occasional bits of sand that still flew around. He waved his wand and aimed it towards the Heartless, shooting off powerful bolts of ice one right after the next.

Xigbar was quick to move in front of Xaldin, but the ice didn't even get a chance to hit him either. His own weapons fired and bullets met with the ice exploding each on contact which only caused Xigbar to give a rather cocky smirk as he hung in the air and watch the failed attack fade away into nothing but crystals among the sand.

Zax growled and took off where he stood, kicking up sand with his quick steps. He deflected what bullets he could as he ran towards Xigbar. Anger fueled his movements as he dodged the shots fired to swing at the Heartless.

Xigbar was quick to move back, but wasn't quick enough. He was forced to move both guns up to block the attack from Zax's sword. The collision of each weapon gave off a rather loud clang along the beach with the crossed paths of both dark and light. Still, Xigbar didn't seem very worried in the least and held his own quite well as he pushed back against the sword kept so near.

Zax stared Xigbar down over the edge of his sword. "I'm going to send you bastards back to the hell you crawled out of," he growled through teeth. A few of the ragged bandages that were wrapped tightly around the buster sword began to snap and blow free with the clash of weapon pressing against weapon. Zax bared his teeth as he pressed harder against Xigbar, he dug his boots into the sand as best he could but sand didn't make for very good traction.

Unlike Zax, Xigbar was light on his feet and had no trouble with holding his own. His good eye narrowed on Zax at such words that had been spat at him and he easily scoffed, "As if." A twisted grin spread over his face and he twisted the guns in his hands a bit more towards the sky while he kept them against the sword. Rounds were fired off once again into the air, but Xigbar gave a quiet laugh as the bullets soon twisted and turned to head down towards Zax.

"Damnit, Zax!" Cloud cursed loudly as he saw where the bullets were heading. He rushed forward while he broke his sword in two once again, keeping both blades, one in each hand. He didn't have much time with how distracted Zax was and how easily that Heartless could control his own weapon. As soon as he was close enough, Cloud jumped up and swung at the bullets as he twisted each blade in his hands, forcing them to catch with the wind that still surrounded them a little. The bullets were knocked off course and slammed into the sand nearby which caused Xigbar to lose his cocky attitude.

"Heh." A grin spread on Zax's face. He relented one hand from the sword's hand to run along the flat of the buster sword, energy crackled along the metal trailing his fingers. When his palm finally flattened on the sword's side to brace the sword better electricity surged to gather throughout the large blade.

A wicked grin snapped on Zax's face. "Sucks to be you."

The energy erupted from the buster sword at ground zero between them instead of thrown as it usually was done. It threw either party back hard with the wild explosion of energy.

The explosion had been enough to be heard from across the beach where the other battle continued. For a split second Sora's attention was grabbed away as his breath hitched in his throat. He looked down away from the Heartless he had been trying to battle to see what the commotion had been with worried eyes, but he didn't get much rest. A bolt of lightening rained down on him when his attention was turned away and caught him on the arm which had him crying out before he tried to bat the attack away with Oblivion as best he could.

"Everyone you know is dieing," Larxene gave an amused giggle. She rubbed her pursed lips with the point of a sharp claw. "You can't see it but you can feel it, can't you?" Either of her long sleeved arms swept back to gesture widely to the carnage of all that had been on the once lively and wonderful tropical vacation area- wreckage, casualties, sand and storm as far as the eye could see.

"All this!" Larxene flew higher in the air. "Is your fault!" Above the thunder roared in the clouds.

"That's not true!" Sora yelled rather loudly after the Heartless. His voice traveled far since the woman was so high up. He twirled his blade at his side, ready to fend off anything Larxene had to throw at him, but a coldness stopped him dead and he was soon scowling and looking to the side just in time to see Marluxia right beside him. With quick steps he backed away, but not before swiping his blade out to try and catch the Heartless.

Marluxia used his scythe to block the attack and struck out against the keyblade, causing Sora to stumble back a little in his steps. He pulled back the scythe and moved to take another swing since the teen was unsteady, but a rather forceful blast of water pushed him back before he could even pull his weapon back. When he was free of the blast, Marluxia whipped his head around to stare with narrowed eyes at the culprit. "You're becoming quite the pest, IX."

Demyx only scowled at those words from his spot further away from the group as he continued to stand in front of Ikurx. His fingers never fell from his own weapon and kept poised and ready to attack again if Marluxia dared to take another strike at Sora.

"You're the pest, Marluxia!" Mickey spoke up as he pointed his keyblade at the Heartless. "Hurting innocent people and placing the blame on the one person who's done nothing but helped all of us- time and time again." He glared. "That isn't right."

"Goofy is dead," Larxene simply stated. That caused Mickey to look at her in shock and when his attention was turned she sent a volt of electricity to throw the mouse tumbling back. Larxene laughed as she floated down lower. "Really, you silly creatures dictated by the heart, it's really quite pathetic. You'll fall for anything."

Sora's whole body shook with each cruel word spoken and the fact he had to watch his friend harmed in such a manner. "You don't know anything. You're the pathetic ones. To find joy in other people's misery. It's just plain sick!" After the words left Sora, he ran forward and took Marluxia by surprise as he used the Heartless' scythe as leverage by jumping onto the blade so he could spring up higher to come back down swinging at Larxene with Oblivion.

She expected retaliation. Larxene was quick to lift a hand to the air, pointing one claw to the clouded sky. Just as the keyblade swung down, in seconds a clash of lightening darted down to jolt into her, the voltage conducted instantly through the keyblade's metal into Sora.

It was just like on the last beach so long ago. The same amount of voltage that had coursed through Sora, except that time he had been a Heartless. He could feel the shocking attack through the blade and straight through the tips of his fingers. His entire body shook as he stayed in the air with wide eyes for a few seconds before he cried out rather loudly and dropped like dead weight from where he had been in the air straight down to the sand. The keyblade vanished in an instant after such an attack and still his body convulsed.

"Sora!" Mickey was quick to run over to the Keyblade Master's side. "Sora, speak to me." He raised his keyblade to cast cure on Sora in hopes to ease what the vicious attack did. He placed a hand on the teen's chest, but after the twitching ceased Sora lay rather still.

Behind Demyx Ikurx began to tremble, one hand clasping tightly to the Heartless' shirt. He rested his head heavily on Demyx's shoulder blade as he shook his head denying the worst. It hurt, oh god did it hurt, like he himself had been struck by that deadly lightening. He couldn't stand there and watch Sora die. So without thinking Ikurx let go of the shirt he clung to and walked from behind Demyx, but an arm was quick to halt his steps. "M-mist-," Ikurx was so caught up he couldn't find his breath to speak, "D-Demyx, please." He clasped his hands onto Demyx's arm but the Heartless refused to move it. It only frustrated Ikurx that much more, he couldn't think straight, all he wanted was to go and help Sora. Now. "Please! He means everything!" the words left Ikurx in desperation. But as soon as they had Ikurx stilled with realization and stared up at Demyx. He suddenly wished he could take those words, and so much more that he knew the Heartless had seen, back.

The Heartless' eyes narrowed at that last desperate shout and Demyx's arm that had been holding Ikurx back suddenly went still and shook as it pulled away. He didn't even seem to realize it though, never looking at Ikurx. Instead his lips moved on their own as he repeated those words so quietly to himself after everything he had seen before. "He means everything..."

With so many distractions and the Keyblade Master down no one seemed to notice the moving shadows that crawled up behind the Nobody who continued to stare at Demyx with such a distressed gaze. With so many emotions running rampant the shadows were left twisting and moving up along Ikurx's legs, making the Nobody immobile. Before even a cry could be uttered from pale lips the body was pulled under without a sound and the twisted shadows that had been behind him morphed into the Nobody's likeness, their own blackened hair turned pale in an instant.

Warm arms slipped around Demyx's as Ikurx hugged the Heartless from behind, pressed as near as he could against his back. "Not like that," Ikurx softly spoke near Demyx's shoulder. "To everyone. The worlds." A warm cheek pressed against Demyx's shoulder blade; a subtle nuzzle against the cold. "He matters to Riku. Not _me_."

Fingers skirted across Demyx's chest, innocently splaying before clinging to the fabric of shirt. "Please understand." Ikurx's other hand slipped down to cling to the bottom hem of Demyx's shirt, fingers brushing against bare skin. "It's you," Ikurx turned his head so his lips could speak the words against Demyx's back, "that matters to me."

Demyx tensed up for all of a split second, but it was the words that caused him to nearly give in with a choked noise. "M-Me?" he stuttered nervously as the determination left him as quickly as it had come with such a confession from the Nobody and such a tight hold. His eyes stayed glued on Sora's still body that was a constant worry, but slowly his eyes moved down to look at the hands that barely touched his skin. "Ikurx..." the name left him in a whisper.

The Nobody leaned his forehead against Demyx's back so he could feel the nod. "You. So much." Ikurx's fingers softly brushed against Demyx's skin under his shirt in small timid affection. "I really like you, Demyx," he whispered against the Heartless' spine. "And I really need you."

Demyx couldn't help but let go of his weapon in a small splash of water at hearing such a thing. His eyes continued to stay glued to the hand that crept up slowly, but widened more and more. "Ikurx," he started out slowly once again, "I like you too. You know that." All the bitter anger that he had felt much earlier seemed to vanish in that instant and a small smile spread on his lips for only a second at finally gaining something that he felt he deserved.

"Turn around, please." Ikurx softly nuzzled Demyx back before he let go of the Heartless' shirt, his fingers trailing across skin as they did. "I want to do something that's long over due." He placed a small kiss at the nape of Demyx's neck.

Demyx seemed to forget about the battle that had been going on only moments ago. It was the selfish part of him that just didn't care and only hung onto the request that Ikurx spoke of him. Nothing else really mattered in his mind. Nothing at all. With careful movements he did as told and turned around slowly in the Nobody's hold and placed hands on Ikurx's arms once he was turned completely around. "Ikurx," the teen's name left him quietly once again as he laid eyes on him finally.

Ikurx smiled up at Demyx as if there weren't truly a thing to be worried about. As if Sora hadn't been hurt or no destructive battle occurred around them, Ikurx just looked up at Demyx as if he were the only being there on that world; all that mattered. Ikurx reached up to place his warm hands softly on Demyx's cheeks stroking it with his thumb idly. He pulled the Heartless down shutting his own eyes as he pressed his lips to Demyx's.

Demyx's entire body relaxed as soon as those familiar lips were on his own. Of course this time around it was so different. It was Ikurx giving the kiss instead of him pushing it on the teen in a timid act. He was quick to enjoy it as his hands tightened on Ikurx's arms and a smile broke out on his face once more as they kissed. It felt so good to be wanted by the reason he had sworn to protect. This was exactly what he had fought so hard for. To feel this feeling.

Unbeknown to Demyx the kiss began to grow colder. The warmth in Ikurx lips began to fade but Demyx didn't seem to notice the cold that had taken its place since his own lips were just as freezing. Ikurx let his lips press one last lingering kiss to Demyx's bottom lip before he leaned away. His hands trailed down Demyx's chest before falling away completely. Demyx leaned down to keep nearer and Ikurx leaned his cheek against his. "I hate you." Ikurx plunged the great dark claymore that appeared in his hands deep inside Demyx's chest. The starred end of the claymore lodged itself in flesh and Ikurx threw his unnatural strength to plunge it deeper in Demyx's chest to pierce his still heart with a dark wide grin.

Demyx's eyes snapped open at the pain that coursed through his body. It was so much worse then what had happened in the dark city. He could feel this wound was so much more deadly and the dark blood that bubbled up from his throat caused him to whimper as he stared down at Ikurx with wide and terrified eyes while his hands shook. "I-Ikurx," the name was nearly choked, but he knew it was also a lie from the feel of the weapon and the sight of it in the Nobody's hands. It hurt so badly. Why did it hurt so damn much? Small tendrils of smoke were already disconnecting from his being and it only caused him to choke again as he shut his eyes tight.

"You really are naive, Demyx," Zexion's words spoke from Ikurx's mouth. "You sicken me," he spoke with cool apathy near Demyx's cheek, "getting involved with the fail safe like that."

Further across from them two new bodies had come to watch the execution. Saïx's hand removed itself from the bound Nobody.

"DEMYX!" the real Ikurx desperately screamed in horror at what he was forced to witness. His voice broke in a strangled choking sob that felt disgustingly fake as it racked his body. He thrashed against the darkness that held him tightly until it cut off his circulation with how deep it cut into his flesh to hold him. With wide eyes he watched helplessly as it was himself that pushed the blade deeper into Demyx's chest; exactly like Riku- his Somebody- a cold unfeeling killer.

Ikurx trembled so badly in his bonds. "Demyx!" he choked on tears that didn't exist. "Please- it isn't me! I'm so sorry- I'm so sorry!" His plea was destroyed in a sob. "Please, don't go! Don't leave me!" Everything in him was shutting down, breaking down, with no heart to make any of those tortured emotions real. "I didn't mean to do any of those things before- I didn't want to hurt you! I don't want you to go!" A tortured sound left him like a small distraught child. "Don't go, Demyx!"

Demyx's eyes opened weakly at each scream he heard. They only made the entire situation worse and caused him to flinch at the pain that was inside and out. There was no stopping the inevitable and it was that thought alone that caused the black tears to gather in soulless eyes as he tried desperately to ignore the screams of the real Nobody. The mist continued to trail in broken pieces and it was worse around the wound that had been given in the place of Demyx's heart. While the mist trailed up blood splattered down to the ground and his hands finally fell away in disgust for the illusion he had believed while his hands broke apart into mist as well.

"I'm sorry," the apology was spoken softly from Demyx's own lips. All for the failure he felt over leaving Ikurx and the failure over not being able to protect the Nobody just like he promised. The glow in his eyes faded as the whispered words echoed off to be carried by nothing more then the wind. His entire being was claimed by the dark mist as it all broke away and in the place of the Heartless only the keychain with the Promise lay in the sand near black blood.


	55. Chapter 55

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 55

Ikurx stared at the keychain, _his_ keychain, the Promise, the only proof that Demyx had ever stood there save for the drops of black. But those too misted away into nothingness.

 _I'm sorry_

He had broken his promise.

 _It seems I'm as bad at keeping promises as my Someone. You keep this Promise_

 _I won't let you be a Heartless long._

 _I feel like I've failed at protecting the one person that means the most to me_

 _Do you not like the thought that you might actually care about me?_

Ikurx's throat tightened, all of it was so surreal. He was gone. His mind just couldn't comprehend, couldn't wrap around that truth. He was gone.

 _I just want you to be safe..._

 _You'll be whole soon, sometime. I promise. Then you can tell me what it's like, too._

 _I'll try my best to feel like you're part of that circle... no matter what._

 _He died on a mission._

 _... Did it hurt?_

 _I'll bring him back. I'll put you back together, Demyx._

Every smile, every laugh and kind word said- they had been so real. Every touch and every nervous kiss- they had been in sincerity. They had been everything they were told not to be. They had tried. They all had tried so damn hard.

And all of it was for nothing. All of it was a waste.

 _He fell to his knees and screamed, and Sora watched with his companions without a flicker in hard expression as nobody died._

 _He was my... my-..._

 _An endless loop of killing... I don't want any part in that._

 _Ikurx...I'm sorry_

 _I'm yours?_

 _You're my reason for existing._

 _Shine little star._

 _I'm sorry._

 _I'll make sure you don't fail. I'll pick you up when you fall down, put you back together when you fall apart.. I'll protect you, while you protect me._

 _You know I can't feel. Anything we have will just be empty... I can't return anything you feel._

 _What good would my forgiveness fix? It won't help anyone. It won't save anyone._

 _You don't have to hide and you don't have to run because I'll protect you as best I can. I won't let anything happen to you and I won't put you in any danger that you don't need to be in._

Liar. They were all such liars. There had been no point in ever trying. No point in existence. There was no more point in existence.

 _If I had existed sooner, maybe none of this would have had to happen_

 _You all think you're so much better then us, but you can stab us just as deep with words as we do you with our hands._

 _I could lie to you, if that would make you happy. I could say I loved you too, if that would make you smile again_

 _Sometimes inside, it just goes blank. And- there's nothing. Nothing at all inside my chest. Like someones hollowed out what's inside my rib cage_

 _It's a scary feeling._

 _You'll still be part of the band. Just like I promised._

 _I'll be here as long as you want me to be... So you won't have to feel alone._

Tears never fell and desecrated all that mattered to the Nobody since they never would. The silence was deafening, Ikurx could hear nothing, see nothing. Then it hit him, hard, the realization that made it so final:

Demyx was dead.

It was over.

A tortured scream ripped from Ikurx throat, and maybe for a moment he truly felt something real then and there. But since he had no heart to break, Ikurx broke instead.

The scream went unnoticed by those that didn't care. To the remaining Heartless Ikurx was still only the 'fail safe' and the battle had been won. There were no true obstacles left to care about and Ikurx's tortured feelings held no real merit at that moment. Even Zexion had let go of the illusion after all was said and done and continued to stare at the spot where Demyx had vanished with nothing more then disgust as he ignored the pitiful scream.

Only one soul seemed to actually be effected deeply by the tortured sound and it was that person that had lay near deathly still on the sandy beach until that very moment. Hands still shook from electricity that had moved through them much earlier, but slowly Sora managed to sit up on weak knees while his head kept bowed low. His chest hurt so badly. His heart hurt; no it was pounding.

Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.

He felt weak and so numb. Sora had never felt so incredibly numb all over. His fingers dug deeply into the sand below, but he didn't even seem to realize it. He didn't even seem to notice Mickey was still right next to him, watching him and everything else, with worried eyes. All he could hear was that scream. It kept echoing and his heart kept beating so fast. It wouldn't stop. "Riku," the name left him in barely a whisper that would never be heard by anyone.

"Sora?" Mickey placed a hand on the teen's shoulder as he leaned forward to try and look at his face. He thought he'd heard something, no, he felt something. Something was terribly wrong, growing far worse by the second. "Sora, what's wrong?"

"Heh, I'll tell you what's wrong. You've lost." Larxene smiled cruelly. "We have what we want." She glanced over to Marluxia and a far darker knowing smile crossed her face. "And _we_ have what we _need_." Sora. And in just the pitiful state they desired to do any cruel thing they desired.

Marluxia shared in the girl's amusement. The deal was done and Sora seemed to be in too much of a shambled state to do much of anything. "Indeed we do." With slow steps he walked over towards both the teenager and the so called 'King' while he kept his weapon at ready for anything the mouse would try. As soon as he was close he leaned near the small form that was so hunched over and gave a smug grin. "There are no victories for you this time."

The words seemed to move through Sora and still he didn't even feel the hand that had touched him seconds before. Those cruel words they just made the pounding in his chest worse along with that scream that just wouldn't stop moving around in his head. His fingers twitched and his eyes blinked and that's when it all came crashing down.

Marluxia didn't even have time to think or move. Oblivion had already been summoned too soon and was piercing it's way straight through the Heartless' chest. Sora's hand didn't even shake nor did the teen make a sound. His eyes only stayed glued on Larxene who was settled on a point beyond Marluxia's shoulder. The attack didn't stop though, it was with one vicious twist of the blade that everything snapped completely and the entirety of Sora changed.

The teen's usual cheerful clothing changed in an instant as darkness moved across half of his body to capture it in black, but the other half was spared by the light and kept white and pure. A neutral ground to a torn heart that lay deep inside. The barbed heart on his shirt that had been worn so casually was suddenly branded on the twisted clothing in other areas aside from his chest.

The last to go was Sora's scarf which swished away and darkened to complete blackness until it resembled a familiar blindfold that had only been worn by one other person. Yet it moved to tie itself around Sora's own eyes, and still the boy kept his gaze on the girl while his blade was buried deep.

Larxene's eyes were wide around and everything in her demeanor changed drastically. The cocky smile was wiped clean in exchange for utter shock. She seemed frozen a moment and fear crossed her expression, in her glowing eyes. Down she fell from where she hovered in the air to land heavily on her feet. She took a single step forward but quickly stopped herself with Sora still 'staring' at her.

"M-Marly?" Larxene's voice was tentative and worried for once in her entire existence. "Marluxia?" It couldn't be over like this; so soon and swiftly.

Mickey was quick to back away. He had never seen anything like this before. He took a few more steps back, just to keep safe of what ever was going to happen; and whatever it was it felt big. He trusted Sora, with his life and all the worlds; but this felt far bigger than just Sora himself.

Marluxia seemed to panic when he heard Larxene's voice, despite the pain he felt in his own being. Anyone in their right mind could see that something in Sora had changed. This wasn't the same person they had been fighting just moments ago. "Go, Larxene!" It was the quickest warning he could give among every shot of pain he felt at that moment. He tried to warn the girl again, but there was another sharp slice. Another stab of pain and it finally had darkness settling upon him as his weapon vanished.

A second keyblade had been summoned, Oathkeeper, and that along with Oblivion had also found it's way pierced through Marluxia for even daring to give the other Heartless a head start. Sora had turned his head to watch Marluxia from behind his blinded eyes as the Heartless twitched while the darkness took his dying body away. Still, he twisted both blades harshly until there was nothing surrounding them and there was no sign of the Heartless left.

Larxene jerked backwards, the cruel twist of blades had startled cold fear throughout her. Sora had completely destroyed all that was the powerful Marluxia with not but one hit of his blades, but two keyblades; like that traitor. This wasn't the Sora they all knew, the Keyblade Master they were all familiar with. The light hearted teenager that spouted endless speeches about friendship and caring. This was violence with no remorse, revenge and cold apathy; this was the Darkness work.

She let out a small squeak of surprise as she stumbled back onto the sand, so unused to the primitive mechanics of walking. "M- Ma.. Marly." Her claws dug in the sand to try and drag her backwards as she tried to wrap her mind around the blatant fact that Marluxia was no more. Larxene gaped at Sora, she couldn't understand how any of this was happening.

Sora's attention immediately snapped towards Larxene at the sound of her voice. For a few seconds he only stared until he finally made a move and gathered himself up off his knees. He lifted himself up to his feet and the movement was more of a slow glide then anything strenuous. Both blades that had been used to kill the Heartless just seconds ago were still gripped tightly in his hands, but soon they weren't alone.

The small chain that had been laying on the sand feet away since Demyx's death started to shimmer until it vanished from sight. It wasn't lost for long, for as soon as it disappeared the chain emerged as a full blade and hovering behind Sora right beside him, but it wasn't the only one. Opposite Ikurx's own keyblade Way to Dusk floated alongside as well and with each blade Sora took careful steps towards Larxene with no real emotion on his face.

Larxene had never known the feeling that crept in her now; the primal fear of being prey. Her Somebody never felt such fear as it split in two, nor her Nobody as she staggered back from Sora defeated and dieing. This was far worse, far more intense.

Quickly she threw her hand into the air to gather all she could from the storm above to summon down an enormous bolt of lighting onto whatever Sora had become with a throw down of her hand. Way to Dusk moved up from behind Sora to create a dark shield above the teen's head that seemed to grow as it absorbed the attack that Larxene tried to throw, but all in vain. The keyblade kept where it was to keep the large shield in place until the attack was complete and the blade released the shield to settle back where it hand been behind Sora whom frowned at what had just happened and twirled the blades he held at his sides.

"S-Sora." Mickey shook his head in astonishment. That was Riku's keyblade! That was Riku's dark shield! But whose other keyblade was that hovering near Sora's other shoulder? The mouse continued to keep his distance. This was truly amazing! Sora, by some means, looked as if he controlled the Darkness; but not just any Darkness, Riku's.

Larxene's mouth hung open, wide open in shock. She was quick to clamber back up, throwing herself back into the air. There was no point in fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. Their revenge ended as quickly as it had begun, and Larxene lost far more and gained nothing. It hurt, it hurt far deeper than any physical wound that ever dug into her flesh.

"... This isn't the end," Larxene threatened low before she then flew off, following Marluxia's last words to escape.

Sora only watched, but made no move to follow. He didn't need to chase after the fleeing Heartless when there were so many others still around. She hadn't been the only one to cause so much harm. With only a slight turn Sora's attention was suddenly on the one that had done the horrid deed which had broken everything apart to begin with. Dark energy gathered at the tip of Way to Dusk while magic gathered around Oblivion and Oathkeeper just the same. With only a slight movement a combined attack of all three headed toward Zexion of Dark, Fire and Lightening that had been released from each keyblade.

The claymore that had been used to drive within Demyx was suddenly used to block the vicious attack as Zexion raised it up so each bit of magic and Darkness slammed into the heavy weapon. His own hands shook, but not from the force, from the fear of seeing that familiar keyblade and the dark energy that had been released from it. Without even waiting for the attack to be finished Zexion slipped within the shadows that the clouds above permitted and it caused the claymore to drop and Sora's attacks to stray in a wild aim.

It was further along where Saïx had settled himself earlier with the fail safe that Zexion re-emerged right next to the other Heartless. His own visible eye was wide at what had just happened. They hadn't expected this at all and he looked up to Saïx as if the feline Heartless would know what to do.

Saïx's eyes gave a slow blink as he watched Sora's wrath, the explosion of all three powers were massive as they collided with the sand. His ears folded back as his hair bristled, a low growl rumbled in his throat. Now Sora's 'gaze' was upon him with Zexion's.

"The fail safe is just a lifeless Nobody without his keyblade," the words were hard with angered disappointment. Zexion's gaze tore from Saïx at the feline Heartless' words to the angelic blade that kept by Sora's side mirroring Way to Dusk. "It'll do no good to fight the Keyblade Master like this." The claymore disappeared to reappear with black light in Saïx's hand. He grabbed Ikurx by the collar and ripped him free of the dark coils that held his lifeless form up. The edge of blade was pressed close to Ikurx's throat in threat as he held Sora's 'gaze' with his own glowing eyes.

Saïx's actions only seemed to make matters worse as Sora's lips pressed into a thin line at what he witnessed from beneath the piece of cloth. Their stand still felt like an eternity, but soon the careful movements that Sora had been taking seemed to vanish all because of the threat that Saïx put on the Nobody's life.

The angelic keyblade that had only been floating nearby Sora for the time being so far suddenly came to life. The blade seemed to glow for only a second, but the magic it gave off became obvious as a field blinked in and out around Ikurx to shield the Nobody despite Saïx's grip. It was after Sora seemed sure that the field was set that he allowed Way to Dusk to shoot off dark energy at the claymore in Saïx's hand to try and unarm the Heartless. Of course Sora didn't even wait for the attack to hit, he was already moving towards them with both Oblivion and Oathkeeper drawn, intending to do severe damage to the Heartless that had threatened Ikurx.

Saïx roared his pain when he tried to block one of the keyblades with his hand since his claymore had been shot away. The Oblivion mangled his hand but Saïx was quick to block the next attack from the other keyblade with Ikurx himself. Oathkeeper scraped across the shield that protected the Nobody but the underhanded move didn't hinder or detour Sora. Saïx had no choice but to toss Ikurx's limp body at Sora to retrieve his claymore. With the large sword in hand he swung at Sora while the Keyblade Master was distracted catching the Nobody.

The large claymore hit the same darkened shield that Larxene's attack had been absorbed by much earlier as Way to Dusk had once again moved out to protect while Sora held Ikurx just as protectively in his arms. From under the cloudy shield Sora turned his head up so his attention was on Saïx and even though his eyes couldn't be seen it was easy to tell that he was not pleased. With Ikurx held close in one arm and the shield holding Saïx at bay, Sora used his only free arm to swing Oathkeeper up with force towards Saïx's middle. Saïx had no time to cover his middle, the keyblade cut fierce and deep. He clutched the wound as black poured from it, misting into nothingness. He lept back, staggering to keep standing. That darkness, he recognized it, that ferocity and coldness.

Saïx doubled over with a grunt, baring his teeth. He gave a short laugh, his tail lashing despite. "You've forgotten your place, Keyblade Master. I'll have to remind you." Claws loosened their hold on his claymore and soon the sword dissipated into darkness. Claws splayed and soon curled in towards palm, at the same time the collar that had been forgotten around Sora's neck began to tighten, contracting as Saïx began to slowly close his hand.

Sora visibly flinched at the pain that tried to choke around his throat and for a second his hold on Ikurx was lost. The Nobody slipped from his grasp to fall to the sand at his feet. His body was still for that instant and his attention moved to Ikurx. It was then that the numb feeling came over him again and took hold of his chest at seeing the Nobody in such a state. The pain in his throat was suddenly ignored and Sora's head snapped up as he 'looked' at Saïx.

Keyblades were held tightly while Way to Dusk twirled beside Sora, ready to strike on it's own. Without real warning Sora side-stepped Ikurx to launch himself towards Saïx with both Oblivion and Oathkeeper swinging at ready to try and strike the Heartless down just as easily as he had done Marluxia.

Before any damage could be done Zexion had grabbed Saïx by the shoulder and pulled the Heartless back as quick as he could from swinging blades. He kept a tight hold on Saïx and his gaze was still as wide as it had been much earlier. "This is bad," he spoke up quietly, "we can't win right now, Saïx."

Saïx couldn't deny the truth in those words. If they stayed there any longer they'd lose more than they already had. Nothing seemed to faze the Keyblade Master. Still that didn't stop Saïx from clenching his fist tightly to cause the collar around Sora's neck to constrict completely. He continued to back up to avoid any new hits. "We need to leave. All of us."

Zexion only gave a quick nod of his head. He continued to keep a tight hold on Saïx as he stepped back among shadows and until a portal came to life behind them. They would leave and the other's that were left on the beach would be alerted of the retreat as soon as their presence was gone. It was that simple. From what had been felt earlier only Xaldin and Xigbar would follow. With that thought in mind Zexion kept a narrowed gaze on Sora as he pulled Saïx into the portal with him.

Despite the choking grasp along his neck, Sora took one last swing at the spot where the two Heartless had just vanished, but it was in vain. The portal had closed up and there was nothing left of the two. It left Sora standing where his feet had landed him with the same numbing feeling, but suddenly he could feel his breath leaving him. Before it could get any worse the angelic blade began to glow much like before and the glow emitted onto the darkened collar. The collar was not broken, but the pain was lessened and after the quick fix was given Sora became still as he 'stared' at the sand beneath his feet.

"Sora!" Mickey's voice called after the teen, and soon the mouse was quick to run up to the boy.

Further away the winds began to stop their vicious churning, sand and dust falling like rain across the shambled battle field that spread across the beach. The rest of the Heartless had retreated, giving up on their battle when Saïx disappeared. Their malcontent and anger for their loss was easily felt when all finally fell to silence.

Mickey's face was etched with concern as the falling dust soon settled on him. He turned his sad gaze on what had befallen the once beautiful and lively Costa del Sol; now a destroyed coastal wasteland.

"Sora?" Mickey looked up at Sora and he raised a hand to touch his dear friend's arm in worry.

"Watch him," the words were quick and almost too quiet to hear. Sora's command had obviously been about the Nobody that still sat in a heap on the sand nearby, but his own attention had been drawn to the area where the worst of the wind had stopped. There had been others, not just themselves, that had aided in the battle. In the back of his mind he knew that he had to see if everything was alright despite how numb he still felt.

Sora pulled free from Mickey's touch and soon he was moving away from where the battle had been. His feet led him down the beach and he ignored the worst of the damages among everything else. His only concern seemed to be reaching further down where the other battle had taken place.

The other group was no better. With the Heartless gone they rested on the sand, exhausted and beat, letting the dusty cloud around them fall and dirty them. Donald was the only one moving around, limping on webbed feet to cast cure as best he could with what energy he had left. Naminé hadn't left Goofy's side, her hands were caked with blood from trying to stop the flow of his wound, sand caked the drying crimson. Little clear trails of dust were washed away down her face from what tears she had managed to shed.

Zax and Cloud sat leaning against each other, the leaning weight of the other the only thing keeping them sitting propped up. Neither looked well, both were cut up, shot up rather severely. Zax was laughing tiredly about something to lighten the mood as he held his burnt and bloody middle.

"S-..." Naminé stared at Sora as if she were seeing something phantasmal. "S-Sora?" Her blue eyes grew glossy at seeing the teen despite his duel appearance. She was both happy to see him and over whelmed.

At the boy's name Cloud's own eyes moved over as his attention was pulled away from Zax. He expected to see the teen possibly tired and maybe a little less beaten up then they were, but he didn't expect to see what his eyes landed on. It had his mind shutting down from the pain he felt for a few quick seconds. "Sora?"

Sora didn't answer or acknowledge any of the times his name had been spoken. His full attention had landed on the body near Naminé and had kept there for a few moments. With slow steps he made his way over and fell to his knees next to the girl despite the blades he still held as well as the ones floating near. A strangled noise left the back of his throat and more quiet words finally left him, "I'm sorry."

"S'alright," the small strained words came from Goofy. His eyes slid half open to look over to where Sora had fallen beside him as well. "M'not a gonner yet." He raised a weak hand, his glove a little dirty from his own blood, to rest it on Sora's that clutched Oathkeeper tightly. "Yer not'ta blame, Sora. Ye did yer best." Goofy did his best to give Sora a cheerful smile. "Ye always do yer best. So don't be sad an' don't be sorry."

Those words only seemed to make Sora feel worse if the expression on the teen's face was any indication by what wasn't hidden from the black cloth. From far away Sora could still hear Donald trying his best to cure what he could, but some injuries were just too much for a simple cure it seemed. Another choked sound left Sora that just couldn't be helped and soon his head bowed low.

The angelic blade that had aided him twice so far spun slowly by his side before it lifted up high above his head. The keyblade began to emit a soft light that was nothing like the glow it had given for the simple shield and such it had helped with in battle. The soft light gave a sudden flash and with it rained down the normal green petals in a shower that were typical of a cure, but they continued and dropped down on each of the wounded. The petals touched scars and injuries that were worst of all and even Donald stopped in his actions as he was healed.

The blade stayed high in the air until it seemed satisfied with its job and as soon as the light it gave off finally dimmed that's when the energy was finally drained. A soft sound left Sora's lips that was everything weak before the darkness that had seeped into his clothing vanished in the blink of an eye. It was as if his attire had never changed and the cloth over his eyes swished away to return to his neck, nestled comfortably while all four blades vanished in mist and bright light. Sora didn't notice anything. He felt too weak and in a second he was falling over at the same time the precious star charm fell with a thud into the sand.

"Naminé, catch him!" Cloud was quick to shout since the girl was closer. Everything that had happened was just too unreal. Sora had just healed them in a way Donald could not, but there was no way to think on it clearly as the teen seemed to have fallen weak.

With a small sound Naminé grasped onto Sora, pulling him over to fall against her instead of on the sand. She wrapped her arms around Sora's weak form and hugged him tightly.

"S-Sora?" Naminé wiped her bloody hand on her dress before she touched the boy's cheek and smoothed down the soft spiky hair. "A-are you okay?" the worry in her voice shook. "What just happened?"

Goofy pushed himself up from the sandy ground, finding that he now had the energy to do it. He blinked; no pain? He reached back and patted where the spear wound hand been; there was nothing but a bloody hole in his clothing there now. No broken skin or torn flesh. It was completely healed. "Sora just saved us all." Goofy gave a wide thankful smile.

"Huh," Zax hummed as he patted his unburned stomach and now unmarred arms. "Whaddya know." He turned to look at Cloud up and down, patting him over as well; no wounds at all. "That crazy kid really did just save our skins." He gave Cloud's cheeks a friendly pat as he grinned wide.

Sora had only stirred a bit when Naminé touched him, but it didn't take long for him to come to and open his eyes. He felt so weak and he barely registered the fact that Naminé had asked him a question. "N-Naminé?" He tried to look around, but it was a useless action. "W-What happened?" He repeated the question that his mind had cleared up for him and answered it as well, "I don't know."

Cloud swatted Zax's hands away no matter how much he really didn't mind the action after being scared over previous injuries. It was the simple fact Sora's stuttered response confused him that he was forced to do so. "What do you mean you don't know? You just fixed everything, Sora."

"As fixed as things can get," Naminé quietly added. She couldn't help but touch Sora's forehead and cheek feeling for a fever like that would explain everything. She needed to keep herself busy and that was with dotting and fussing over Sora. "Whatever happened, it looks like it took a lot out of you."

But before Sora could answer Goofy launched himself to hug Sora as well as Naminé in a warm group hug. After all that had happened, it was something they all needed. "You saved us, pal! You dun good!"

Sora managed a weak laugh at the sudden hug and was somehow able to wrap an arm around Goofy to return the friendly embrace. "Thanks." Still, it didn't help him feel any better and in a second panic rose within him when he saw a certain few missing from the group and the star chain lying almost buried in the ground. "Mickey and Ikurx," Sora spoke the two names in a shaky voice.

"They weren't with you when you came over here, Sora," Donald finally spoke up after watching the scene. He had sat himself down in the sand nearby for some rest finally and decided to be of some help for the distressed teen. "They both must still be higher up on the beach."

That was enough for Sora and he was quick to struggle away from Goofy and Naminé, but with a lot of effort on his own part. "I have to make sure they're okay," his voice was still panicked as he spoke while he reached over to grab the chain buried in the sand.

"I'm sure they're fine. But be careful, pal." Goofy then crawled over to Donald to give the duck a nudge before he gestured to Sora. Donald was quick to cast cure on Sora as he stumbled up to stand and go. It wouldn't solve all of Sora's ailments, but it was a helpful start.

"Wait, Sora! I'll come with you." Naminé scrambled up to her feet, just in time to catch Sora when he stumbled on weak legs. She gave him a small smile as she helped him stand straighter, slipping Sora's arm over her shoulders so the teen could lean against her like a crutch. "This is the least I can do," Naminé quietly added.

"Thanks, Naminé." Sora smiled at the girl as they walked further up the beach. His eyes then fell down to the sand so he made sure not to stumble. Despite the cure Donald had given him and Naminé's help he still felt like he would fall over at any given moment. Thankfully the walk to where the biggest battle had been wasn't a long one and as soon as they got there Sora turned his eyes back up to scan the area. It didn't take long for them to land on two figures and with Naminé's help he made his way over with hope in his chest that the two were alright. "Mickey! Ikurx!"

"Naminé! Sora!" Mickey hoped around to see the Keyblade Master returned. He was quick to hop up and give Sora a hug, thankful to see that he was back to his senses and that Naminé was alright too. "You gave me quite the scare." He gave a small nervous laugh. Though the Nobody hadn't moved at all on the sand last Sora had left him. Mickey noted that Sora's gaze had fallen on Ikurx and his smile faltered. "He isn't hurt." His round ears drooped. "He's... well, at least on the outside." Mickey tapped his own chest in gesture. "He's broken up in here. Even though he has no heart to break."

Sora's face fell at such information as he continued to stare at Ikurx. He was on his knees again in the sand so he could be face to face with the Nobody and tried his best to force a smile onto his lips. "Ikurx?" He tried speaking the name quietly even though he knew it would do no good. "I-I'm sorry about what happened and about everything." He didn't care if Ikurx was listening or not it felt good to speak, but he hoped the other teen could hear him in some way. "But everything will be okay now, you'll see. We can make everything right." He grabbed the Nobody's hand and within it he pressed the chain into Ikurx's palm, closing fingers around it.

 _Take good care of Demyx._

 _He needs a somebody like you._

Ikurx's fingers gave a small twitch and unconsciously closed a little tighter around the charm that was placed in his palm. He didn't do much else, save for staring with dull and unseeing through heavily lidded eyes.

Sora's smile became sad at the silence and tightening fingers. He leaned forward so his forehead touched Ikurx's own and with the small contact he let out only a breath near the Nobody's face along with another apology, "I'm so sorry." Afterwards he pulled back again, taking his own hand back with him and struggled to stand back up.

"... I don't forgive you," the words were barely spoken from the Nobody.

"W-What?" The startled question left Sora as he almost fell back down. He just barely made it back to his feet, but not without watching Ikurx with wide eyes as if he heard the other incorrectly. "You don't..."

"Or myself," Ikurx barely continued in a voice devoid of life, "... for killing him."

"But he," Sora began, but stopped himself before he even tried to go any further. He wasn't even sure what he had been about to say to be quite honest. Instead he shook his head quickly and tried to think of something else, but still the words came out just as weak, "You didn't do anything to hurt him, Ikurx."

"... I kissed you. I wanted to see if you could make me feel what he felt." Ikurx turned his face towards the sand as his voice petered, he crumpled more into himself. "... I knew he was there... All he ever wanted was to be needed. But needing me won't make me feel anything." He squeezed his eyes tight. "...Nor loving me." His ragged breath kicked up dust. "A fake me made him happier than I ever did... And all that we had was summed up in two words: 'I'm sorry'." The hand that held the charm dug into the sand, digging nails deep, not caring for the keychain or how hurtful the sand was under his nails. A pathetic breath left him, no tears, no energy to put behind living life.

Mickey rubbed his eyes and then turned to Naminé. He was quick to usher the girl Nobody away to give Sora and Ikurx their privacy. They didn't need to listen to this. Some things were better left between Sora and Riku, be it whatever part.

Sora didn't even seem to notice Mickey and Naminé's departure since his gaze stayed on Ikurx the entire time. The Nobody seemed to care so much for Demyx even without really being able to care in such a real sense. Part of Sora knew that he should feel jealous and betrayed, but to see Ikurx so hurt he really couldn't find it in himself to feel such things. "He still protected you despite all of that," Sora spoke up quietly once again, "Even if he did see anything he still protected you and cared about you a lot, Ikurx. That was never hard to see. He kept you safe from his own kind."

Ikurx raised up to sit, like a limp jointed-doll pulled up by a string. His head lolled to the side with what little energy he gave to keep it up. A hand raised to wipe the sand from his cheek but it only spread the mess to his hair.

"... You only did it because of who I am," the words left Ikurx without looking at Sora. It was hard to tell if it was meant to be malicious since there was no energy in the Nobody's words to give it bite or sadness. "Who I'm apart of."

Sora quickly shook his head and dropped to his knees once more in a second. "That's not true!" He lifted his hands to place them on Ikurx's shoulders as gently as he could, but it didn't help that his own body was still shaking with how weak he still felt. "I protected you because you're my friend, Ikurx. It doesn't matter who you are or who you're apart of. I wasn't going to let them take you just like Demyx wouldn't have either."

After such bold words Sora dropped his hands and his eyes once more locked onto the Nobody's own that held the charm so tightly. His fingers clasped around Ikurx's hand as softly as they could and his voice became sincere with the words he spoke, "He's not gone forever. You've brought back the lives of people that matter most to others. For once be selfish, yet not, all at the same time."

Ikurx looked down at their hands surrounding the keychain. His brows furrowed cracking the emotionlessness that had taken his face and being. Sora's small suggestion was enough to send him crumbling, weakly falling forward until his head rested on Sora's shoulder.

"I'll always be Riku to you," Ikurx's throat tightened and he swallowed hard to weakly finish, "... but to him- to him I was just 'Ikurx'." He shook his head against Sora's shoulder as he clutched the keychain tighter. The shaky dry sobs left him, just when he thought he had nothing left inside.

"I know," Sora spoke softly while his arms moved to circle around Ikurx in a loose hug to try and sooth the Nobody. "I'm sorry for it and for everything." He seemed to be apologizing a lot lately, but he just couldn't help it, and in a way he felt like this was all his fault. All because of his own loneliness.

Ikurx lifted his head to look at Sora's face. He ended up resting his head against his, too worn away to keep it up himself. "Please stop apologizing... it hurts," his voice cracked a little. Ikurx shut his eyes a moment, trying to gather the pieces of who he was, what was left. "You forgave Riku for Kairi... So I forgive you for Demyx ... If I had been with Riku... I know he wouldn't have hurt everyone so much. He can't exist without me." Ikurx lowered his head and blinked to stare down at his hands causing a few tears to fall onto his collected hands. "... and I shouldn't exist. What I do isn't right. More people will die for the few I bring back. ... It isn't fair." Ikurx let out a trembling breath. "So I'll give up being Ikurx and become Riku again, after I finish my promise to Demyx, if you ask me to."

Sora didn't know how to answer that at the moment in such a dire situation. His heart felt heavy as he swallowed hard and kept Ikurx near for the time being. He opened his mouth, but no real answer would leave him. Instead he found himself only nodding his head. It wasn't a real straight answer, but it was all he could give. Things felt like too much of a mess at the moment to do such a thing.

"... I'm sorry, Demyx," Ikurx quietly spoke up before he slipped away from Sora. It took all his strength to push himself up on legs that didn't want to work properly. Slowly he parted his hands to look at the keychain that rested between them. "... I don't know anything about his Somebody." He gave an actual startled blink. "Oh. He told me his eyes were a mix between blue and green." He gave a soft sound. "... That's no real help." Ikurx folded his hands over the charm again.

Sora shook his head while he wiped at eyes that had teared up long ago. "I don't know much either." He pulled his knees up to rest his head on while he tried to help Ikurx out as best he could from where he still sat. "Just try to think of things that made him happy or things that made him feel complete. He talked to you a lot, right?" Sora didn't wait for a response before he continued to speak, "Think of the things he told you that always meant the most."

"He... -he said I was his reason." Ikurx's hands began to shake and the chain on the charm softly jingled. "I was his reason for being whole again. Not because of my gift.. but because of who I was. Just me. H-he said I treated him like a person." He closed his eyes and tried to remember the small bit of time they had together. "... He played the very first song I heard... the first time I had ever heard music." That day on that very beach he stood upon came to him; _It'll be something I'll always remember, for as long as I exist... and longer_. "A happy memory just for me, and me alone," Ikurx quietly whispered. The inky ocean that lapped against the pale beach, he could remember how it sounded with the delicate sounds of sitar strings as Demyx's fingers gracefully danced over them.

Ikurx could feel the charm in his hands grow warm to the touch and he let it float up from his hands. As it raised higher he opened his eyes and soon the world was washed with light. For once it felt like plunging into a cool ocean of illumination.

The fall felt endless. Cold yet it wasn't numb. It was a calming cool; like the touch of the water on his bare feet or Demyx's himself.

But soon the soothing light faded to black as Ikurx's feet touched onto the darkened stained glass mural that was Demyx intimately. Ikurx couldn't help but fall to his knees, crumbling onto the dull stain glass.

"... Demyx," Ikurx weakly choked. His hand smoothed over the dead colours. "D-Demyx." He rested his head down and shook with a new dry sob.

 _I'm sorry_

"... I forgive you," Ikurx barely whispered against the glass. He shut his eyes and a small warm tear fell slowly down his cheek to plip onto the glass.

The mural took life again, the colours glowing to brilliance, each little musical note on the stain glass giving a very soft song as they lit up. From the center Demyx's crystalline heart came forth. Ikurx was quick to crawl over to it, kneeling before it. He was awed; Demyx's heart, alive, and soon to be beating warmly in his chest. Everything that was Demyx was in that fragile glowing form. Ever so gently he touched it, running fingers over the curve.

"See." Ikurx gave a very small smile. "I kept my promise." He leaned forward and touched his lips to the heart. Ikurx then wrapped his arms around the crystalline heart and all the world was washed in white again.

Sora blinked his eyes after the flash of light that had lit up the part of the beach they were on faded away. He was about to open his mouth to question Ikurx, but what he saw stopped him instantly and his eyes shot wide open. It was no longer only Ikurx in the same spot where the Nobody had been moments ago, but someone else was with him. "I-Ikurx?"

Long arms were encircling the Nobody in a tight embrace that seemed overly protective. Shaggy, yet styled hair that was no longer darkened rested atop the person's head which had been settled down on top of Ikurx's own as they clung so tight. Between the two of them the pounding of a heart beat rapidly at the joy of having a wish come true.

"I missed you," the words were spoken softly and Demyx couldn't stop how shaky his voice became, "Ikurx, I missed you." Eyes finally opened and no longer were they soulless depths, but the same vivid color that Ikurx had spoken of much earlier. "Thank you so much." He buried his face in the Nobody's hair and couldn't stop from smiling.

Ikurx weakly clung to Demyx, his energy gave out but the other held him tight enough to keep him up right. Ikurx could hear Demyx's voice but it took him a moment to process what he said, too over whelmed by the warmth of touch and the thunder of heart underneath his cheek.  
All of it just meant to so much.

A small pitiful whimper escaped Ikurx and he only clung tighter, as if something new terrible and cruel would come and destroy what was now complete, and Demyx would mist away like had before. Ikurx buried his face against Demyx's chest, so warm yet still the same. Somewhere inbetween he whispered 'I missed you too', a mantra of 'don't go, don't ever go' ended up leaving his lips before he could stop it. That same desperation he had felt when he was tied and forced to watch Demyx's end came back, and soon Ikurx couldn't stop shaking as it all came flooding back again.

"Hey, hey," Demyx spoke the words inbetween weak laughter all because of Ikurx's sudden clinging and his repeated words. He pulled his arms away, but never completely, only enough so he could pull back and look down at the Nobody with a small smile on his own face. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, see." He smiled a little more while he lifted a hand to brush fingers over Ikurx's cheek to try and help the boy calm down. "Everything is okay now."

Ikurx blinked a few times as he looked up at Demyx's face. It startled him to see no pale skin or glowing eyes but warm coloured skin and brown hair where there had been black. "Oh," the startled sound of realization left him as all his woes were put on hold for what he had suddenly been captivated with. "You're right," his voice was still shaky, cracked from exhaustion, "they are a mix between blue and green. More blue than green." He gave a wet sniff as he unconsciously smiled at seeing Demyx's real eyes first hand.

Demyx blinked at such a sudden change in topic, but it wasn't long before it had him laughing much louder then before. He couldn't help the smile that broke out on his face as well at the incredibly giddy feeling that had built up within him and before he knew it he had pressed his lips against Ikurx's own to show the teen just how thankful he was. Not to mention how happy as well.

Sora's teary eyes widened at such a bold act as he continued to watch with not a sound. Of course that one kiss nearly had him wanting to say something, maybe give a noise at least, but in the end he didn't. The most he did was sniffle from the previous tears that had built up and gave a sad smile before he dropped his eyes to the sand.

Ikurx's arms slipped around Demyx's neck, clinging tight. He was too overjoyed, his mind too clouded on elation to care why or where or anything else to worry as he stood up on his toes to clumsily press back in the kiss. Demyx's lips were so much warmer, felt so much softer and more pleasant to the touch now. Ikurx couldn't help pressing another curiously, more nuzzling his lips against the other's, ruining it with a small laughing smile. He felt so dazed but the closest thing to happy for once; all the trauma and pain, all forgotten there and then for the moment. Demyx was okay, everything was okay.

Demyx didn't seem to care that the kiss was ruined. Just the fact that Ikurx had attempted to kiss him at all caused him to smile as well and his arms were soon wrapping themselves around Ikurx in a tight hold to keep the teen as near as he could. He pulled away from the touch of lips to press one more soft kiss to Ikurx's cheek before he nuzzled the other's neck and spoke softly, "I'm glad you're okay."

"You too," Ikurx softly breathed. He couldn't help the small giddy giggle at the ticklish touch to his neck. He shied away a little but turned his head to nuzzle Demyx's. "Very glad. Very happy." Fingers ran through Demyx's hair that fell down the back of his head. "I'm happy I could make you a Somebody." Ikurx hugged Demyx as tight as his weak arms could.

"Sora?" Mickey came to stand directly below Sora's gaze on the sand. "Don't worry, Riku will be back soon." He seemed to pluck the lonely thoughts straight from Sora's head. "He'll come back with Roxas, and everything will be right again." He gave Sora a reassuring smile as he patted his arm.

Sora had nearly jumped, startled at the touch and words. He finally looked up to stare at Mickey after having been looking at the ground for quite some time and tried his best to smile. "Y-Yeah, I know." His hand moved to place itself on Mickey's shoulder as he struggled to stand up on his own weak legs and even then he couldn't keep himself from staring at Demyx and Ikurx. The mention of his own Nobody had brought back so many memories of everything he had gone through lately, but he kept them to himself. "I just have to be patient. That's all," they were the only quiet words he spoke instead as he glanced away and back down to Mickey.

The mouse nodded. "Have faith in Riku-" Mickey was drastically cut off as fire explosively erupted behind them in what was left of the Inn. Black fire churned high, spreading rapidly across any surface it managed to touch, burning it away to cinders. Across the sand it spread, circling and cutting off Sora from Mickey and everyone else with raging black flame. Mickey had to leap back to avoid being burned alive. He watched in horror as Sora was the soul victim of this new attack. He shouted Sora's name but it was drowned out by the fury of the fire.

"Where is he?!" a vehement voice screamed. The fire themselves twisted and burst into a frenzy at the furious words.

Sora had tried to escape, but he had no energy in him any longer and the fire had trapped him easy enough. He could feel the heat radiating from it despite it's darkened color and some of it even licked at his clothes, singeing them in an instant which caused Sora to cry out in pain. He scurried away and almost fell over as he stared with wide eyes over at the place the attack had come from as his entire body shook and he tried to keep his arms up to shield his face from the heat. That attack and the voice. He knew it all too well from previous encounters, but it couldn't be.

"A-Axel?!" The name wasn't spoken from Sora's lips over the raging fire, but Demyx's own instead. He grabbed Ikurx as quick as he could and back-stepped away from the fierce flames while he stared with wide eyes. He didn't understand what was going on. Of course Ikurx's power would have alerted the fire user, but Axel had gone off with Roxas. Why did he seem so enraged?

From the dark fire stepped the Heartless Axel, flames licking across his lithe form as he walked into the clearing where Sora was huddled. He grabbed the scarf and collar of the boy's shirt and slammed him hard back onto the sand, keeping him pinned hard with his wrist at Sora's throat. A dark chakram slammed down beside Sora's head into the sand, missing his head by mere millimeters.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Axel shouted again right in Sora's face, his glowing eyes boring hatefully down at the affronted teen.

Sora felt like the wind had been knocked out of him by how hard he had been slammed down, but he didn't even have time to think about it with the fiery weapon so close to his head. A noise left the back of his throat in fear, but he didn't even seem to realize it. He couldn't defend himself. He had no energy left to call Oblivion. "W-Who? W-Where's who?" he stuttered out hopelessly while wide eyes turned to meet Axel's glowing ones, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

The naivety of that answer didn't sit well with the Heartless. He lifted Sora by the scarf and collar and slammed his head back against the sand again to knock some sense into him. "Who do you think?!" Axel shouted right back at Sora. "THE ONLY ONE I CARE ABOUT! Where the hell is _Roxas_?!"

Sora didn't have time to acknowledge the pain running through his skull. It was the loud words spoken out to him that caused his eyes to widen even further. "R-Roxas?" he stuttered the name quietly despite how loudly Axel had spoken it. Roxas was missing? If that was the case then that meant Riku found him, but then how come Riku hadn't come back yet? Maybe something had happened. Maybe someone found them first. "I don't... I don't know." And he honestly didn't at that moment.

Axel gave a dangerously low growl in his throat. Soon the pointed blade of another chakram was pointed at the side of Sora's throat. Axel gripped the weapon tight, pressing the edge of the point closer against the skin of Sora's neck. "I suggest you do- before I kill you and everyone else on this goddamn worthless planet."

Sora tried to sink into the sand at the threat and opened his mouth to shout the same words again, but before he could even say a thing the eruption of flames that had kept everyone at bay started to sizzle and give out as blasts of water rose up from under to put the deadly flames out. The steam it caused rose around and misted into the air, but the attack didn't stop. Another rush of water shot forward toward the Heartless that kept Sora hostage. Something that would slow him down and keep him from harming the teen.

From his spot further down Demyx watched the attacks he had just commanded with narrowed eyes, but his gaze was kept steady on Axel while he kept Ikurx behind him. His mind was in a confused state as to just what was going on and he planned to get answers no matter what. He was in control right now. Especially on land that was made of mostly his element. "What the hell is wrong with you, Axel?! What's going on?! You're not making any sense! Stop acting so hot headed and tell us what happened!"

Axel coughed and sputtered; oh how he loathed water. And being doused in the offending liquid did little to cool his temper at all. He stepped up from Sora with either chakram in hand and his entirety burst into flames to vaporize the water that covered him. The fire trailed down his person to the chakram as his fury then fell on Demyx.

"Well, if it isn't mister bubbles with all his wishes come true." Axel narrowed his glowing eyes to angry slits. He stepped towards Demyx through the puddles of wet sand, the water hissing into steam as he walked. "I suggest you put your water where your mouth is," the fire churned round on the chakram as Axel lazily twirled the weapons around on his fingers, "before I cram it for you."

For once Demyx didn't seem scared of such threats. Possibly because of the simple fact that he knew he had the upper hand. His own eyes narrowed a bit more while he watched Axel step towards him and his hands stayed poised at his sides ready to call up more of the liquid if need be. "You can't and you won't," the words were spoken in an even tone and he seemed to keep a steady watch on Axel before he continued, "What's your problem, Axel?"

The Heartless gave a dry chuckle at Demyx's new bravery. "You think that just because you're human it means you have the upper hand." Axel's grip tightened on the chakram and the fire intensified with a roar along the weapon, trailing and licking up his arms. "Sorry, Demy, but I think you'll find that humans burn the best of all."

"Mister Axel," Ikurx stumbled forward from behind Demyx to stand in front of him, "stop thi-" But he was slapped aside hard enough to go falling and skidding in the sand. He didn't get up after.

"You're no hero." Axel scoffed. "So don't even try."

There was a blast of water that hit the Heartless dead on and put out the flames that had crawled up the weapons in which Axel had held so tightly. Demyx ignored the steam his own attack caused when combined with Axel's element. His mind was in too much of a rage at what had just transpired and in an instant he was on top of the Heartless as geysers shot up from the ground around the both of them and kept there. At the same time water dripped from Demyx's hands while he kept them pinned to the dangerous weapons in Axel's hands.

"You can do whatever the hell you want to me, Axel, but don't touch him! He didn't do anything to you to deserve it!" the words were shouted in anger down to the person that used to be his reason for existence. Demyx's eyes narrowed to mere slits while he continued, "I may be Human now, but that doesn't mean I still can't fight."

Steam rose where water splashed on Axel's person. The water slicked down his spiky hair onto the sand. The weight of being pinned only fueled Axel's anger, that Demyx of all people would try to hinder him.

"You underestimate me and grossly overestimate yourself," Axel hissed. Darkness took over his entirety and soon he slipped away into his shadow leaving Demyx alone on the wet sand.

From the shadows beneath Demyx fire erupted, escorted by Axel's dark chakram, shooting straight up between the geysers that surrounded him. The intense fire hissed when it touched the water and spread hot steam throughout.

Demyx flinched back from the attack and cursed rather loudly over the fact that Axel had been able to escape. The Heartless was still able to use the shadows at his command whereas Demyx was at a disadvantage in that area. Still Demyx wasted no time in spreading his arms out as best his could among the steam to command the water that formed near his hands and what was left nearby. The liquid gathered and rushed out at once to try and clear the steam as well as the remaining fire that lingered. All the while Demyx looked around with cautious eyes to try and find Axel while his voice spoke up to the Heartless wherever he was, "What happened to you? Why won't you just tell us what's wrong? We can't help you if you don't explain things!"

In the cover of lingering steam, a shadow easily slipped behind Demyx. The broad side of a chakram smashed against the back of his skull.

"Roxas is gone! GONE!" Axel screamed back at Demyx. "Something's happened to him- I felt it!" He kicked Demyx's in the ribs while he was down. "There's only two people I know who would go out of their way to get Roxas back." His rage turned back to Sora again. "YOU LIED TO US!" The chakram from the earlier attack gathered round him before flying straight for Sora, each bursting into flame.

Sora stared with wide, frightened eyes at the burning weapons that were headed straight for him. He didn't have a choice. He needed to fight back, but he knew he didn't have the strength for that. At most he concentrated the energy he had left to summon Oblivion and the blade flickered in and out of existence before it solidified in his hand just as the spinning weapons made contact with the keyblade.

Sora could feel the heat radiating off each of the wheels and it caused his cheeks to flush and his breath to become heavier. He paid none of it any mind though and batted the weapons away with a weak swing of the blade, locking eyes with Axel afterwards. The Heartless' angered shout caused his own voice to sound weak to his own ears as he questioned the words, "I never lied about anything!"

"THEN WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!" Axel growled back. "And where's that bastard Riku?!"

"Roxas isn't here!" Demyx spoke up before Sora could as he finally managed to get a hold of himself and stand up straight again. One of his hands held his side where he had been kicked, but other then that he kept his eyes on the Heartless while he continued to speak, "Why would he be here at all? You're the one that's been with him all the time and you even left with him. Why in the hell would he be here with us?" He shook his head to try and clear it of the headache that Axel's weapon had caused. "Riku isn't here either, so what the hell, Axel?"

Sora visibly flinched at Demyx's explanation. Of course the former Heartless wouldn't know anything. It had all happened way before they had come to the beach to find Ikurx. Still, it was true that Roxas was nowhere to be found with them and Sora had no idea what was going on. He refused to answer Axel's question as to where Riku was. Demyx had done that for him and Sora was afraid to elaborate.

Axel dug his fingers into his hair clutching it in his frustrations. He squeezed his eyes tightly but there was no moving past the furious anguish that wracked his heart. No answers, always dead ends. It wasn't right, it wasn't suppose to happen like this. Nothing was suppose to hurt them now!

"Something happened to him- I don't know what! He's gone! Everything was a mess when I got back-" he sneered, "I could smell _his_ Darkness. Cold and rank." Axel dragged his fingers from his hair down his face, clawing down the pointed tattoos under his eyes as he stared at Sora through heavily lidded eyes through his dark fingers. "You're not telling me something, Sora. I can taste the lies in your heart. _Both_ your hearts there."

Sora nearly lost Oblivion as his mind tried to wrap around what Axel had just told him. "R-Riku," The name left him in a worried tone while his other hand shot up to clench tightly near his chest where their joined hearts lay. Sora remembered the moment he had felt something so strong and the pain it had caused, but he had tried to shrug it off as nothing. What if something had happened to Riku and to Roxas even? In that moment he felt sympathy for both his Nobody and Axel, especially after the moment he had witnessed between Demyx and Ikurx.

"H-He left to f-find him," Sora started out quietly in a stuttered breath, "Riku, he went to find Roxas to bring him back. W-We thought that was best. To show Roxas that we needed him." Sora shook his head from side to side as quick as he could. "It doesn't make any sense though. Nothing you're saying makes any sense. Riku didn't go to hurt Roxas. He wouldn't hurt Roxas any longer!" Sora's entire body shook and he finally lifted his head again to stare at Axel with wide eyes.

"Why would you do that?" Axel spoke with hurt shock. "Why would you try to do that after you let us go freely to live our own lives." He walked over nearer to Sora to stare right back at him with wide glowing eyes. "Why would you do that to us?!" Axel's voice broke as it raised. "We were happy!"

Sora couldn't stand to keep eye contact and had to look away. "Me and Riku were happy too," he started out slowly and just as afraid as before, "But Roxas has a part of me and I couldn't live on without it. Things just aren't the same."

Axel swayed on his feet, the words felt like a blade cutting him deep in his chest. It had all been lies. Appropriate lies that had suited them when all had been lost. He bowed his head as his hand fell over his heart. Everything he and Roxas had seemed destined to be snatched back as soon as they felt safe and happy.

"You lying bastard!" Axel shouted as he back handed Sora across the face. It gave little satisfaction, not when he wanted to do far worse. "You're far more heartless than I am!"

"S-stop!" Naminé clambered over to Sora's side. "It's my fault Riku found Roxas! I- I knew. I told him where he was." She looked up at Axel with guilty sorrow on her face. "It's my fault Roxas is gone- not Sora's!"

Sora held his stinging cheek in obvious pain, but he didn't pay attention to it for very long. Naminé's words moved about in his head and it was at that moment that something clicked. The drawing she had given to Riku before the other teen left. Riku had told her it helped and at that moment Sora suddenly knew why. "Naminé, no, don't," Sora pleaded with the girl and even tugged on her arm to try and get her to shush. He didn't want her in the middle of this and quickly turned a narrowed gaze back on Axel. No matter how badly he felt for the Heartless he still didn't want Naminé hurt.

"Fair enough." Axel snapped his fingers and one of the fallen chakram that Sora batted away went flying towards the Nobody girl. But a gold keyblade batted the weapon away. Mickey lept in front of Axel to guard Naminé and Sora behind him.

"Enough, Axel! You have no idea what Sora has just been through!" Mickey glared right up at Axel with his keyblade drawn.

"You seem to think I care, King squeaky. I don't care who it is I have to maim or cripple, or what world I have to desecrate with the Darkness to get Roxas back." The other chakram returned to him, hovering in the air behind him. "Death isn't something I'm afraid of- whether it's you or me. But it's the only thing that's going to help any of us."

"Roxas doesn't even exist!" the words seemed to echo so very loudly after Sora had shouted them in frustration and anger. Words that so far only Riku had been the one to spout in anger here and there. There seemed to be dead silence after they were spoken, but Sora didn't let it detour him even though his body shook once again. "Roxas is just a part of me. He's just a piece of me that went missing. That's all," his voice started to shake and he was too afraid to look up at Axel, "There's nothing to fight over!"

Across the way Ikurx flinched at Sora's words. He found no comfort in Demyx's embrace since the new human had knelt down to see if he was alright. He wanted to cover his ears and squeeze his eyes shut to what was said, but they kept ringing inside his skull drowning out all good sense. It was true.

Ikurx pushed himself away from Demyx and staggered back up to stand. "Sora's right," he finally broke the silence with his words.

Axel turned with a jerk to stare at the Nobody. "NO!" he screamed. "No it's NOT 'right'! It's not true!" He back stepped and glared hard and hatefully at Sora. "He _does_ exist! He has a heart- a _real_ heart! I've felt it," he choked on his own words. This wasn't fair. Why could no one ever understand! No one could ever see what he saw and felt. "He gets hungry, he bleeds, laughs, he cries, and he fucking _loves_!" Axel offered his palms to the air in desperation. "He even has a name, a different personality than Sora! What more do you need to _exist_?!"

"But that heart that you claim he has was never his own! If Riku never gave me half of his heart then I'd still be a Heartless right now because of what Roxas took from me!" after the words were shouted Sora found himself choking on tears. He had never felt so spiteful or vicious before in his life and he instantly regretted his words, because he knew they had an impact on Ikurx as well. He never meant for such a thing to happen. "He stole it from me. He stole half my heart and I want it back. This is the only way!" Sora started to crumble and could no longer keep up the hateful words any longer. His head bowed and tears fell into the sand.

All of Sora's companions stared at him, wide eyed and shocked at the confession of having half of Riku's heart. Suddenly what had happened with Sora before, the drive mode he went into, it all made sense to Mickey.

Axel just stood there, appalled and shocked that such hypocritical words would now come out of Sora's mouth when he had practically given his blessing for them to leave back at that dark broken city. It made his chest feel hollowed out and whatever emotion he felt was nothing but constant ache and hurt.

"Heh." The corner of the Heartless' lips tweaked upward and soon Axel was giving Sora an unnaturally amused look. "Well then... if I kill you, he'll be the real deal, now won't he." He caught one of the chakrams in his hand to twirl idly on one finger.

Sora didn't even flinch at the threat. He kept his head bowed and only one gloved hand rose up to wipe at his eyes that couldn't really be seen. When he finally spoke up it was in a broken voice that no longer held a frustrated edge to it, "If you kill me then you don't know _what_ will happen to Roxas."

The chakram was tossed spinning up in the air before Axel caught it again, swinging it back and forth on two fingers. "Heh... Riku is a bit of a crazy fuck, isn't he." The chakram was spun around while the others behind him disappeared to take their place with the other tattoos along his arms. "With you gone there's nothing left to anchor that crazy bastard. His darkness is out of control." Axel was quick to catch the chakram tight in his hand. Riku knew where they were hiding now. There was no going back to that peaceful life of mundane town life. There were no more dreams to keep, everything was gone. There was nothing to go back to. That was fine. A life without Roxas was a life he wasn't willing to live anyway. It made hating so much easier when you had nothing else; it made dieing easier too.

"What do you propose then?" the question coolly left Axel as he looked down at the shambled boy.

"I'm not proposing anything. If you want to keep searching for Roxas then go ahead, but it's for a lost cause." Sora wasn't beating around the bush at this point. He was too broken down to really care. "I've told you everything I know and everything I care to tell you. Riku went to search for him, but he didn't go to harm Roxas. Something had to of gone wrong because I refuse to believe that any of this is his fault. Darkness or not." He finally lifted his head and blue met Axel's own intense glowing eyes once again. "This place is just a dead end for you."

Axel didn't say anything for a long moment, just holding Sora's gaze, looking at blue eyes that were so much the same as the ones he'd fallen for. But they weren't the same. Roxas believed in so much more than what was laying on the surface.

"... That's the first true thing that's come out of your mouth since I've been here." Axel turned from Sora, the chakram in his hand disappeared into dark fire returning to his arm. He glanced at Ikurx. Though he knew now wasn't the time to be following hopes and dreams anymore. That time had passed. He needed the Darkness now, if he was going to get back his Roxas.  
It wouldn't be hard to follow the trail of dark destruction to find Riku.

"It doesn't matter who," Axel didn't bother turning as he spoke the words to Sora, "I'll kill anyone who tries to stop me." With those last words he disappeared into the Darkness once again.


	56. Chapter 56

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 56

The scream echoed within the halls of the Twilight Town school deep and loud. Everyone heard it. It sounded like the last dieing scream of someone violently murdered. All lessons stopped and all students, half awake or day dreaming, soon stared with wide eyes towards the direction they all heard it.

Hayner could feel his heart and breath stop, and somewhere he couldn't help but feel he knew the voice. Soon all of the students in his class were scrambling towards the doors to find out just what or who had given such a mournful death cry. Hayner couldn't help but follow the mob mentality and pushed his way to and through the door to stand in the halls.

There, of course, was nothing to be seen in the empty halls but other students from other classes peeking out for a look see. Soon there was chatter between friends and other teacher's looked at each other for reasons at what was going on.

Hayner's eyes darted along the crowd, but he couldn't find Roxas. He was quick to leave his class mates to head for Roxas' class. Being a typical teenager he couldn't help but want to find his best friend to talk about the strange scream. That and some deep fear clung inside him; for some reason he needed to know Roxas was alright.

He found Roxas' class, the students were standing outside just like the rest, so it should have been easy to spot Roxas. But Hayner couldn't see his friend. He looked around and through the crowd. There was no Roxas. But there was also no new kid either. Fear spiked harder in Hayner's gut. He turned and headed in a different direction, but it wasn't towards Olette and Pence's classes he headed to. He didn't know why he did it, why he went, his mind suddenly decided it would be a good idea to hunt down Seifer's class and his legs seemed to agree. Hayner took to running down the hall, everyone was out of class he doubted this was a time to be bothered with school rules.

Panic had taken Hayner by the time he found Seifer, or rather crashed into him in the halls. Of course Rai and Fuu were with him, they were the Disciplinary Committee after all, the town's peace was their job. And this was the biggest disturbance the school had ever known.

"SHOCK," Fuu announced her surprise at seeing Hayner literally run into Seifer.

"Woah!" Hands had placed themselves on Hayner's shoulders as Seifer tried to steady the shorter teen despite nearly taking a tumble himself at the force of the collision. "Hey, slow down, lamer." He pushed Hayner back a few inches so that the other wasn't buried against him for the time being. "You do know that the commotion is that way, right?" He lifted a hand to point in the opposite direction as he kept narrowed eyes down on Hayner, but still a deep concern was there as well that was hidden to his two friends.

"He's afraid, y'know." Rai laughed.

"COWARD," Fuu agreed with a smirk.

Hayner stuttered on his words before he glared at Seifer's friends. "Shut up!" He ran a hand through his hair as he looked up at Seifer, bouncing on his feet as he tried not to panic there and then. "Roxas is gone. I can't find him. That damn new student is gone too. They're both gone!" He scowled at Seifer before he had time to speak back. "And don't say that he's probably in the can- because it's more serious than that!"

"Why should Seifer care? That's your problem, y'know," Rai spoke up for Seifer again over Hayner's panicked explanation.

Seifer shot a glare over to his two friends and it seemed to work for at least a few seconds. "Shut up," he echoed Hayner's own words before he looked back to the other teen standing in front of him. He tried to make sense of what he had been told, coming up with anything that would calm Hayner down for the time being amidst the chaos going on around them. "What's it matter if the new kid is gone? Besides, even if both of them are missing maybe it's just because Roxas was told to show the new kid around. It's probably hard to spot him right now with everything that's going on if that's the case."

Hayner blinked. Quickly he shook his head. "You don't understand!" He stood on his toes so he could grab Seifer by the shoulders and give him a shake. "Roxas and him know each other! They don't get along! Like uhh- you and me!" Currently lies, but it was the best example Hayner could come up with in the heat of things. "Roxas would sooner take a baseball bat to that pretty boy's face than go near him. He was that freaked out over this new guy in our other class."

"POINTLESS," Fuu waved Hayner's ramblings off.

Seifer ignored Fuu. He was too interested in what Hayner had told him at the moment. He hadn't seen the new kid yet, so he was going based on what Hayner told him between worried words. "He hates him that much, huh?" he questioned what Hayner said in a quiet voice and finally let out a sigh. "Listen, let's just look around some more, alright? I'll help you search for shorty that way we'll have a better chance at finding him." Seifer didn't acknowledge the shocked looks that his two friends were giving him. Either that or he just didn't care. "He might even be outside avoiding this whole mess."

"We should go check out that scream." Hayner didn't wait for Seifer to speak before he grabbed his arm and pulled him down the hall. "Yeah we should definitely go see what it was. Maybe Roxas did too." He pulled harder as he tried to hurry his pace. "Damnit- hurry up! There's probably already a crowd there!"

"Alright, alright! Geez, you're yanking my arm off!" Seifer tried to shout back at Hayner as he was pulled through the hallway. There were many students trying to crowd around which made it difficult to keep up with the other, but Hayner's persistence to yank him along made it somewhat easier. Of course Hayner had been right in thinking the crowd would be worse where the scream had been heard. The pile of students nearby were the thickest and it seemed as if it would probably take even a bulldozer to get through them all. There were worried murmurs as to what had happened and even rumors already flying around over what it could have been.

"I don't see Roxas anywhere." Hayner frowned. Of course he couldn't see much of anything with the crowd so thick. Though Roxas wasn't that hard to miss with his blond pointy hair and pouty face. Though Roxas was short but usually he abstained from crowds; he usually got trampled.

Hayner squeezed through the crowd, dragging Seifer with him, Fuu and Rai tailing behind them. It took some shoving but they finally made it to the open gym door. When they were finally able to have a look inside all their eyes went wide around.

"Holy _shit_." Hayner wasn't one to have a foul mouth but the sight of the gym just hit him hard. "It's a total war zone."

Seifer seemed to share Hayner's thoughts as he stared at the beat up gym. It was as if a hurricane had come up and hit only the one area of the entire school and nothing else. The score board that usually hung up high was missing from it's usual spot and even one of the basketball hoops were gone as well. Some of the wood in the floor seemed to have been broken apart and even a few of the bleachers had taken a beating. The one thing that caught Seifer's eye the most were spots of dark red on the wooden floor and it had his wide eyes narrowing. "What the hell?"

"W-what happened here?" Hayner took a few steps into the gym before he was ushered to step back by a teacher watching the door. He grumbled as he was forced to step back along with the rest of the students over flowing from the door as they were told to 'keep behind the threshold'.

"SQUISHED!" Fuu scowled. "MOVE." She pushed Rai away from her to gain some room.

Hayner tried not to blush as he was inadvertently forced to be pressed against Seifer. He crossed his arms and did his best to keep his attention on other things; like the utter destruction of their gym.

"How could this happen without any of us hearing?" Hayner shook his head. "I mean, all anyone ever heard was a blood curdling scream." Worry took him again.

Seifer's hands had rose to place themselves on top of Hayner's shoulders once again as soon as the other boy had pressed close. It was instinctive by now, but he didn't seem to care himself and only glared at the students that pushed against him. It was rather annoying and they backed away somewhat. "I have no idea," he spoke up again while he looked back to the gym, "It would make sense that we heard the scream, but everything else is a bit of a mystery." His eyes darted around and much like Hayner he still didn't see Roxas around. It caused him to let out a quiet sigh.

"Oh man," Hayner quietly muttered under his breath. He looked back up at Seifer. "You're apart of the so called 'Disciplinary Committee', how're you going to 'discipline' this?" He gestured out into the gym. "It sounded like someone was killed in here- looks that way too. But there's nothing here to tie any of it together." Hayner blinked as he did a double take looking inside the gym. "Uhhh, where's the score board?"

"How the hell should I know? Maybe whoever did this took it with them." It was very far fetched, but Seifer needed something like that to get his mind off of what they were looking at. He retracted a hand to run it through his hair. "I may be part of the committee, but that doesn't mean I want to deal with stuff like this. This is just way beyond weird." He blinked his eyes in a sudden realization and quickly turned Hayner around so that the other boy was looking at him. "Hey, did you check with Pence and Olette to see if they've seen Roxas before you literally ran into me?"

Hayner gave a few blinks. That was a brilliant idea! "Yes!- I mean no! No I haven't. But I am now!" He squirmed from Seifer back into the crowd. He inadvertently shoved aside Rai and Fuu not even seeing them as he ran off to go find his other two friends.

Fuu took the chance to squeeze herself through to stand by Seifer as she gave him a rather skeptical look. "CRAZY." Whether she meant Seifer, Hayner or the whole situation it was hard to tell; frankly she thought it all was.

"Yeah, this is screwy, y'know." Rai had pushed some of the smaller students aside to move behind Seifer after Hayner had pushed past him. He seemed to agree with Fuu on her vague response and kept his eyes on the other teen.

Seifer only shrugged to both his friends as he kept his eyes on Hayner's retreating form. "Whatever." It was the only answer he gave to either of them while he pushed his way through the crowd of students. He'd give Hayner time to talk to his friends, but he still planned on staying nearby just in case the other teen needed to seek him out again.

It took longer to find Pence and Olette than it did to find Seifer. The two were far from the crowds of curious students, keeping away from the crowd that would have trampled them. They stood by one of the exits talking about what was going on. Hayner nearly ran by them in his hurry. He stumbled hard as he stopped himself in his tracks and turned sharply to stand by the two.

"Have you two seen Roxas?" The words quickly tumbled out of Hayner before he could stop to make them less panicked.

Olette had actually jumped, startled to have suddenly seen Hayner so quickly and almost out of nowhere it seemed. She actually had to take time to process the question before worried eyes were looking to Pence for a moment then back at her other friend. "Roxas? No, we haven't." She titled her head to the side as a worried look came over her face at Hayner's distressed state. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Damnit!" Hayner ran a hand through his hair as he paced a few steps in front of his friends. "I- I dunno. I can't find him anywhere. Him and that weird new kid that he knew. They're both gone! And- he's not with his class. He's not up by the gym. Seifer hasn't seen him." He paused in his ramblings to look at both his friends with wide eyes as he splayed out his hands. "You guys should see the gym- it's totaled! All smashed up! The bleachers, the floor. The score board was completely ripped from the wall- and it's missing!" Hayner waved his hands. "And there's _blood_!"

Pence gawked at his friend. "B-blood?"

"Yeah! _BLOOD_! All over the floor of the gym! I didn't see anyone hurt. It's completely deserted." Hayner began to pace again. "I don't think anyone knows what the hell is going on. And then- _POOF_!" He splayed gave a 'poof' gesture. "Roxas is missing- again." He stopped to look at both Pence and Olette with worry creasing his brow. "But this time, this time something feels really off, guys."

Olette had raised a hand to her mouth during her shock and stared at her friends with wide eyes that moved back and forth between them both. It was all so much to take in and there was a feeling of dread that seemed to come with every piece of information Hayner had given to them. "Y-You don't think," she started out slowly while she moved her hand away and quickly corrected herself, "I mean, Roxas is okay, right? Maybe he just left school during the commotion. You both know he didn't even want to be here today to begin with," there was hope in her voice.

Hayner opened his mouth and then closed it. It was a definite possibility; he sure hoped Olette was right. "M-maybe." He stared at Olette as he thought it over. "We talked before we went to our last class. There was this new kid that came in to the previous class we both have. I can't remember his name. Tall guy. Silver hair. Something not quite right about him. Roxas knew him from the city. _Really_ didn't like him. We're talking worse than him and Seifer bad. And this new kid was egging him on in class, I swear it looked like Roxas would take a swing at him right there and then if he didn't snap the desk from how tight he was clutching onto it."

"And you say both this new kid and Roxas are missing?" Pence was quick to ask.

Hayner nodded. "I didn't see either. That was really weird." He looked from one friend to other before he spoke again. "... You - you don't think that scream sounded like Roxas' do you?"

The worried expression on Olette's face became worse at such a question and her hands started to shake which she instantly clutched into her skirt. "I-I don't know." She quickly shook her head from side to side and afterwards narrowed worried eyes on Hayner as she tried to speak to the boy in a stern voice, but it only came out shaky, "Hayner, don't even ask such a question. It's just horrible to think such a thing."

Hayner was taken aback but obeyed Olette's words. It was horrible to think. He didn't want to think that anything had happened to his best friend. Especially when their friendship had just been mended. He had expected himself to be furious if Roxas was to ever leave again, but this felt completely different. All Hayner could feel was anxiety and worry.

"Don't worry, Olette," Pence was quick to speak up. "I'm sure it wasn't Roxas. It didn't sound like Roxas at all." He waved a hand towards the door. "He's probably slipped off to blow off some steam over that new kid. Or maybe they're off having a one on one. Even still, Roxas can take care of himself." He rested a hand on Olette's shoulder. "He's the Struggle champ, remember? Nothing can beat our Roxas."

"... It sounded so familiar," Hayner murmured to himself. He snapped back to the conversation when his friends looked at him. "The scream. Even if it wasn't Roxas... it sounded familiar."

"Hmmm. Well... Twilight Town is a pretty small town. Everyone knows everyone else." Pence gave a small shrug. "It would make sense that anyone would screaming in the school would sound familiar," he weakly answered.

"M... maybe." Hayner glanced down at the floor before glancing outside through the window on the doors they stood next to.

"I-If he's not in school then he must have slipped off somewhere, just like Pence said," Olette still couldn't stop the frightened tone in her voice despite Pence's try at calming her down. She was just as worried over their friend, but she was trying her best to come up with a solution. "When everything has settled down we can all go look for him. He obviously isn't in school, so he's got to be outside somewhere, maybe at the Sandlot or something. We could even try his house." They were all guesses, but they were all she had. "Who knows, he might have just gone home, especially if he was as upset as you said, Hayner."

Hayner gave a small nod. "Still... it seems a little strange that he'd just up and leave without saying anything to any of us."

"It's Roxas, you know how he can be. Sometimes he just slips off without thinking and forgets to tell us anything. He's been under a lot of pressure with coming back." Pence gave a small apologetic smile. "And, well, sorry Hayner but your fight with him really did a number on him. Olette's right, he's probably back in town wandering somewhere to cool down. He could be at the usual spot or even the clock tower."

Hayner gave a frustrated growl. "I can't just sit here and think up excuses- I need to go look for him and find him _now_." He looked down the hall. "Classes are practically canceled because of this whole mess anyway. I don't think anyone would care if I left to go find him." He gave his friend a helpless look in hopes they would forgive his impatience. "I'll feel a hell of a lot better once I find him and know he's alright. Then I'll pound him in the ground for giving me such a goddamn scare." He slammed his fist into his palm.

Olette gave a relieved sigh at having at least some bit of normalcy even if it did involve some mention of violence between the two. "Yes, because that will make the entire situation so much better." She shook her head and finally relaxed her grip on her uniform. "Just try to go at least a little easy on him when you find him. He hasn't been in the best of moods lately since this weekend. I don't think he needs a fight to make it worse." She gave a weak smile, but soon bit her lip as the worry took hold of her again. "But, maybe we should come with you to help look."

Hayner nodded, that definitely sounded like a good idea. "Yeah, okay. But we'll probably cover more ground if we split up." He pointed at his friends. "You guys check in town, the sandlot and Roxas' house, I'll drag Seifer in on this and we'll check the clock tower and the other side of town." Hayner groaned. "I hope that idiot hasn't gotten himself lost in the tunnels again."

Olette gave another small smile and a nod of her head. "Alright then. We'll come and get you two if we manage to find him." She turned to Pence and grabbed the boy's wrist as she walked closer to the exit door. "C'mon, let's get going. We can come back for our things some other time. There's no way we'll be able to make it through the crowd to do it at this point," with those words she pushed the door open and yanked Pence outside to start on their half of the search.

Hayner gave a last minute wave before he turned quickly to head down the halls to find Seifer again. Of course he wasn't expecting Seifer to be so close by, just around the corner and once again he found himself running into Seifer- literally, again.

Hayner blinked rather dazed but didn't wait for his mind to clear before he grabbed Seifer's arm again to yank him down the hall. "Olette and Pence don't know where Roxas is. We're splitting up to go look for him. And you're unfortunately on my team."

Fuu glowered as she hurried after. All this buddy-buddyness with Hayner was getting on her nerves. She liked Roxas about as much as she liked Hayner. "WHY?"

Rai wasn't far behind and equally as annoyed to know that Seifer was being dragged around by their rival. "Yeah, what's the big deal?"

Seifer narrowed his eyes, but the annoyance wasn't directed at Hayner. It was directed towards his friends. They were starting to get on his nerves quickly and long before today they had been asking questions as to why he had been sneaking off to speak with Hayner during lunches. It was finally getting on Seifer's last nerve and he used the commotion around them as his advantage to set something straight.

With all of his strength, Seifer yanked Hayner back towards him before the other boy could pull him any farther. As soon as he was close, Seifer nearly slammed Hayner against the nearest locker and didn't even give the other teen a time to curse at him before he crushed their lips together right in front of his friends and maybe even a few students that were closest and wanted to see what the noise had been.

It was quick but still very heated and when Seifer pulled back he gave Hayner a rather cocky smirk before he turned to narrow his eyes on his friends in annoyance before he spoke, "That's why. Now shut up." He turned back around without waiting for a response from either Rai or Fuu and was the one to pull Hayner along instead down the hall.

Hayner stumbled over his own feet wondering if what the hell just happened really did. He was sure he was babbling a few incoherent words, a few starts and stops of sentences, as his face grew hot and red quite fast.

Rai and Fuu were left behind, standing, staring, shocked.

Fuu clapped her hands over her eyes. "TRAUMATIZED!"

Rai nodded in slack jawed agreement. "I think I just felt my brain shatter, y'know."

The door to the school slammed open as Seifer made his way outside after pushing past the few crowds that had been remaining. He still held onto Hayner with one hand and made sure that the other stumbled out before the door closed completely. "So, where are we supposed to be looking anyway?" He turned around intent on getting answers from Hayner, but when he noticed that the other teen still seemed a bit out of it he nearly broke down laughing and let go of his wrist. "Hey, are you okay?" He reached out and poked Hayner in the forehead with a finger before he continued, "Heh, something the matter?"

Hayner's head lolled to the side with the poke. "Uh- hmm. Muh.. huh. Erm." He rubbed the spot Seifer poked a minute too late, as if just realizing it happened. "W-what?" He rubbed his face realizing it was so hot. "D-did y-?" He dragged a hand through his hair unsurely. "O-oh man." Hayner glanced aside, rather surprised to find that they were outside now. "No way." What had just happened felt so unreal. It couldn't have happened. It must have been a flash of imaginative insanity. No way would Seifer have done _that_ in front of his posse. "Y-yeah," he affirmed his own internal thoughts.

Seifer was enjoying Hayner's rambling moment despite the entire reason they had left to be outside. It was just a nice moment of amusement away from the serious situation going on and he found himself snapping his fingers in front of Hayner's face to try and get the other to finally focus. "No way, what?" He couldn't keep the smirk off his face no matter how hard he tried.

"Th-that you just..." Hayner blinked a few times and he felt his face grow hotter as he looked up at Seifer. "...did that," his last few words petered out. He stared at Seifer's rather pleased and amused grin. Hayner seemed to gather a little more focus back. "You did." His unsure frown came out more as a pout. "Didn't you."

The smug expression instantly left Seifer's face because of the frown on Hayner's own. He blinked a few times before his eyes narrowed a little and he shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, I did." He rolled his eyes. "Geez, don't look so disappointed. They were getting on my nerves and I was planning to tell them eventually. I just took a more direct approach. That's all."

"I think you broke their brain along with mine." Hayner groaned as he slumped forward as he walked. He decided that burying his red face in his hands was ideal but he would have preferred a small hole to crawl into and die. "My world is over. Rai and Fuu know- and now anyone else in the school who saw _that_."

Hayner groaned louder and fumbled in his pockets to pull out Seifer's beanie from his pocket. He quickly pulled it completely over his head before he gave another longer embarrassed groan.

"Ya know, those worries you have don't work quite as well if you say them and then yank that hat over your head. It's like a complete contradiction." Seifer left it at that while he walked in step beside Hayner after catching up to the other. "Where are we going anyway? You yanked me away and never told me just where exactly we're supposed to be searching."

"I'm not contradicting- I'm embarrassed." Hayner completely skipped over Seifer's question about the search. "People don't normally throw me up against the locker and kiss me like _that_. Just doesn't happen." He quickly yanked up the hat so he could glare at Seifer from under it. "And don't you dare get any funny ideas, Seifer." Hayner looked back in front of himself so he wouldn't walk into any buildings or street light poles. He couldn't help but touch his lips, he could feel his heart beating so fast. Not that he would admit that now, after thinking about it, he really enjoyed that spontaneous kiss; despite where and who saw.

"M. We're checking out the clock tower and the other side of town," Hayner quickly added, finally answering Seifer's question.

"Alright, makes sense. We're bound to find him somewhere around here since all of us are looking." Seifer reached up and tugged his tie loose as well as a few buttons. There was no sense in keeping the damning material so tight if they were off school grounds. Once he was done he let his arm fall to drape around Hayner's shoulders as if it were second nature by now. "We might as well check the tower first since you all go there the most."

"Yeah," Hayner sighed the word. There was no arguing Seifer's arm across his shoulders. It wasn't like there was anyone around to see. Everyone was at the school wondering what was going on. "And it's somewhere we go when we want some place alone to think... Roxas found me there the first time he came back and I was angry at him."

Hayner pulled off the beanie, his head was just too hot with all the blushing and the hat just didn't help. So instead he reached up and pulled it on Seifer's head. It had been a while since he'd seen Seifer with his trade mark hat. "There." Hayner then noticed the familiar necklace around Seifer's neck. "Wow. You're actually still wearing it." He gave the small 'x' on the necklace a gentle flick.

It felt odd to Seifer to be wearing the hat he had given up to Hayner once again, but before he could pay too much attention to it his eyes had moved down once the other had toyed with the necklace. "Oh, yeah. Why wouldn't I?" he asked the question as if the object should have obviously been there. "I've been wearing it since you gave it to me actually." He shrugged a shoulder and looked back ahead once again to pay attention to where he was walking.

Hayner's brows raised, actually surprised to hear it. "Really? Even around Rai and Fuu? They didn't notice you had my necklace?" He paused. "Well, wait, they weren't always the brightest." He scoffed. "And if they didn't realize then- well they damn well realize it now."

"They just thought I stole it off of you for laughs just to get to you. You know, the usual." That smug smirk finally came back to Seifer's face after hearing what Hayner said and he couldn't help laughing a little before he spoke up again, "Serves them right for always getting on my back about you, though. At least now they won't ask questions all the time. Besides," he leaned over and nearly nuzzled Hayner's cheek before he continued speaking next to the other boy's ear, "you enjoyed it."

Hayner found his usual arguments died in his throat. How could he argue or talk back when Seifer went and spoke things like that. Like always Seifer just had a way of putting him in a spot that managed to squeeze the honesty out of him. "...maybe." He could feel his ears grow hot along with his cheeks.

Seifer easily laughed again, but it wasn't at all mocking over Hayner's misfortune. It was only short and quiet and as soon as the sound left him he leaned over to press a quick kiss to Hayner's lips, but only managed to hit the corner of the other's mouth. Seifer didn't care much and was satisfied with just that as he stood up straight once more to keep his eye on where they were headed again.

Hayner shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to act nonchalant over the whole ordeal. It didn't bug him as much as it would have. There wasn't much left to argue or get disgruntled over. So Hayner's mind fell back on the whole reason they were searching in the first place.

"... Think Roxas is okay?" Hayner kicked a lone rock after the question left him.

"He's more then likely fine," Seifer was quick to answer to try and sooth Hayner's worries more then anything else. "This is all probably just one huge coincidence and he's probably just off somewhere killing time to be away from that kid you told me he can't stand." Seifer waved his free hand around a bit while he continued to think more on it, "This isn't a huge town, we'll all find him sooner or later and if anything he's bound to be by Sunset Hill or even at the beach."

Hayner blinked. "Seems kinda far off to be off blowing steam." He frowned and reached up to loosen his tie just to keep himself preoccupied. "Just, humour me for a minute okay, Seifer. What if... what if we can't find him?" He looked up at Seifer. "What if he's gone again? He didn't leave any phone number or anything to call him." Hayner growled. "I'm buying that damn guy a cell phone!" He yanked at as his tie which decided it was going to be difficult. "Then grafting it to the side of his head."

Seifer only rolled his eyes and turned to stop Hayner from walking. As soon as the other teen was facing him he moved both his hands down and batted Hayner's away so he could deal with the tie himself. "Listen, if he left again, and I'm seriously stressing the word 'if' here, but if he left again he more then likely had some reason to do it. So, don't go getting all pissy like you did last time, okay?" Once the tie was loose Seifer only dropped his hands a bit to sneak inside Hayner's shirt and brush along skin. "You remember what happened last time. Besides, you did tell me that he's been moping around lately because of that weirdo he hangs with, right? _If_ he left then maybe it was to catch up with him."

As quick as Hayner's anger came it left. Seifer, once again, had a good point. So Hayner let his head fall in defeat as he gave a small nod. "... You're probably right." Still, Hayner couldn't help but feel that it wasn't just that simple, that there was more to all of what was going on that what they thought. That it was beyond all of them, part of whatever it was that Roxas would never tell any of them. And that really scared him, not that he would ever say it.

Seifer took his hands back and forced both himself and Hayner to turn back towards the path so they could keep walking. His arm wrapped itself around Hayner's shoulders again, but every few seconds he rubbed Hayner's arm in a bit of comfort. "I know you're worried and you have a right to be after what we saw, so I'm not going to tell you to stop this time around, but try not to think of the worst. You never know, we might even run into that new kid you talked about and we can try and get some answers out of him. Maybe he's seen Roxas."

"... Maybe beat that pretty face of his in," Hayner muttered and he began to crack each of his knuckles into his other hand's palm.

Seifer raised a brow at that. "Pretty, huh?" he couldn't help the mocking tone and had glanced side ways at Hayner after the words. He didn't give the other time to respond before he shrugged as if the idea wasn't really a big deal. "Yeah, that could work too."

"He won't be so pretty once I get a hold of him." Hayner gave a few mock punches to the air. "Pow." He gave a mock punch to Seifer's face, his fist only nudging the other's cheek. "Right in the face. Then maybe- Pow!" His other fist gave a mock punch to Seifer's side. "Right in the gut."

Seifer grabbed Hayner's hand and kept it in his own as he tried not to grin. "You think so, huh?" He lifted his free hand to reach over and ruffle Hayner's hair, pushing down on the other's head at the same time and laughing a little. "Tough words for someone so small don't you think, lamer?"

Hayner grunted. "Hey- I totally beat your ass in the Struggle games a few times." He smoothed down his hair with a free hand. "So what's that say about you, 'chicken wuss'." He laughed some. "Pow!" He mocked an upper cut to Seifer's jaw.

Seifer caught Hayner's other hand much like he had before and continued to grin, especially since he had the other boy trapped in a way. "I call that going easy on you, that's all." He pulled Hayner's arms away only a bit so he could lean down and press a kiss to the other teen's mouth that he soon just couldn't pull away from. For all the kisses they shared Hayner always seemed to taste like the addictive ice cream that the boy and his friends loved to eat no matter how many times they locked lips. It was odd in a sense because before all this had started Seifer had never enjoyed that damn flavor at all, but now he couldn't get enough it seemed.

Hayner had to be the one to pull away from the kiss with a smirking laugh. "You jerk. We're spose to be looking for Roxas, not making a scene in public." He gave a wry grin as Seifer didn't seem to listen, so Hayner yanked down the beanie over his face to stop him. "Denied." He quickly pulled from Seifer's grip to jog on up ahead.

Seifer had to take the time to pull the hat back up, but by the time he did Hayner had gotten a good ways away from him already down the path. He quickly jogged after the other teen and wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Hayner from behind and kept them there no matter how much the other boy would fuss while they walked the rest of the way to the tower which soon came into sight.

With just a few more steps they stopped soon enough and Seifer kept his arms around Hayner's neck as he craned his own up to try and see up above the station. The bright sunlight made it difficult to spot anyone so high up and he squinted his eyes. "I can't really tell if he's up there or not." He couldn't help laughing at a thought that soon came to him which he spoke out loud, "We could always throw a rock or something up there. If it hits him we'll know."

It was horrible but Hayner burst out laughing. He clapped his hand over his mouth as he tried to stifle the out burst. "Jerk." He elbowed Seifer hard in the side. But he still couldn't stop laughing at the comical mental image. "Be more serious."

Hayner pulled himself again from Seifer's arms to walk a few more steps to get a better view. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "ROXAS?!" He paused and listened. Nothing. "Hey! Roxas! You up there?!" More nothing. Still Hayner wasn't satisfied until he went up there and saw that it was deserted. He then headed up.

Seifer followed, both of them heading up the spiral stairs of the inside tower that were among gears and other mechanics that kept the clock running. It was a long way up considering how high the tower actually was and Seifer was more then pleased when they finally came to the door that led to the top. He had only been up on the tower once or twice unlike Hayner and his friends who seemed to make it a second home. Of course one look around made it seem quite deserted for the moment.

But that didn't stop Hayner from stepping out and looking around. "Roxas?" He took a few steps until his foot clinked against something. "Ro- um." He bent down to pick up what his foot hit, turning around in his hand. "A liquor bottle?" And there were quite a few others littered near the walls along with snack bags and popsicle sticks. Hayner wasn't quite sure what exactly to think of what he saw.

"Geez," Seifer started to speak while he picked up one of the empty bags and shook it around, "Someone had a party up here." He crumbled up the bag with a rather loud noise and tossed it over his shoulder with no real care. He took careful steps over a few bottles before he was standing near Hayner. "Must have been interesting getting drunk on top of a tall tower," he couldn't help joking.

"M... real smart," Hayner muttered under his breath. He was pretty angry that someone had the gal to mess up a rather special place for him and his friends. Though he couldn't think of anyone who would do something so extravagant. Everyone in town was so mundane, even the rowdiest of people weren't this out of hand.

"This just adds to the weird things that have been happening." Hayner turned to face Seifer with a serious expression. "The new kid that Roxas knew from the city, the scream, the wrecked gym and now this." Hayner gave an exasperated sigh. "Maybe some friends of that guy came down from the city and trashed this place. Maybe the gym too." It was the only thing Hayner could come up with.

"It seems like the only possible explanation." Seifer moved around and plopped down on the edge of the tower for the time being. "They might have done it to mess with Roxas. He knew the guy and they didn't get along. What better way to mess with Roxas then to trash a few places in town, right?"

"Assholes." Hayner kicked an empty bag aside. "We should find these bastards and beat some good sense into them." He looked at the bottle he held before glaring at it. Looking over the edge he let go of the bottle, feeling a destructive satisfaction when it shattered loudly against the stone walkway below.

Seifer had leaned over to watch the glass shatter and glanced up at Hayner after. "It's kind of hard to do that when we don't really know who these people are and the only one we do know of has vanished. Maybe he just came into town for a day or so to mess with Roxas?" It was merely a thought since nothing else could be explained at the moment. "They must have had some messed up past to cause all this."

"He had a school uniform and everything. It seems kinda pointless to register into a private school just to stalk Roxas down for one day just to mess with him.. Unless he came to live here in Twilight Town just to mess with him." Hayner felt his cheeks grow hot again. "... Maybe he's an ex-boyfriend or something... That new guy sure was touchy feely with Roxas in class." He looked back down at the bottles by his feet. He gave one a nudge so it would roll along and fall off the ledge, its end soon met with a loud shatter below. "... I wish Roxas had told me what was going on. It's like- there's a whole different side of Roxas I didn't even know about."

Seifer grabbed Hayner's arm and yanked the other teen down to sit next to him on the ledge, but was careful to make sure he didn't fall at the same time. "The kid was probably just trying to mess with Roxas, that's all. Besides, even if Roxas was hiding something from you it would probably be with good reason. He would never do it out of spite or on purpose. There are probably just some things he can't talk about." Seifer's attention moved back down below. "Hell, you planned on keeping us a secret until Roxas found us, so that proves that there are some things you two don't always tell each other."

"Oh you would use that against me," Hayner grumbled and soon slumped against Seifer's side. "But this is different. What we were doing in secret didn't blow up the gym." He gave an amused scoff. "You're not that good." Hayner stared down at the pieces of glass down below, the sun caught the fragments and shone against the jagged edges. "Still, Roxas and I never kept anything from us before. We told each other everything, no matter how bad. ... That's what best friends do, y'know." Hayner weakly shrugged. "It just.. really sucks, to think he feels he can't confide in me about any of this."

"A torn up gym and a trashed tower. With those two things put together I'm sure he thought he had pretty good reasons as to why he shouldn't tell you whatever it is he didn't tell you." Seifer lifted a hand to run a few fingers through Hayner's hair. "Some people just have a lot of skeletons in their closets. Not to mention you acted pretty hostile over the fact he had a new 'friend' lately. That probably didn't help matters."

"Nope. Still not convinced. I may be difficult sometimes but I'm still his friend. He should know he can tell me about anything, gym, tower, or otherwise." Hayner reached over to tug Seifer's head near him so he could give him a quick kiss. "C'mon, _buttercup_ , we still have to search the other side of town." He patted Seifer's cheek with a smirk before he moved to scoot from the edge of the ledge and stand up.

Seifer actually blushed at the spontaneous nick name that Hayner had spoken, but hid it well while he stood up. "You're hilarious," the words were spoken with much sarcasm. Seifer pulled the hat off his head and placed it back on Hayner, making sure to push it down over the other's eyes just a little. After the action he gave a small smirk as he made his way back to the door that led down.

Once they made their way down from the tower they hoped on a train for the other side of town. The train staff gave them strange looks to see students out of school so soon, but they didn't question it.  
Hayner flopped himself down on the seat, turning to look out the window as he waited for the train to get going.

"Should have gotten Rai and Fuu to look for Roxas too. Might have found Roxas sooner." Hayner gave a short sound of amusement. "Course, I think they're more brain damaged than normal now to do much of anything."

"They'll live." Seifer had rested back on what was left of the seat, laying himself out and as per usual he used Hayner's lap as a pillow. "At least I don't have to deal with them asking questions any longer. You're lucky your friends are so willing to just accept things and leave it at that. The people I hang around like to make my life difficult from time to time."

Hayner looked down at Seifer. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for having mindless people as followers." He traced a finger down Seifer's scar, which was becoming habitual when he had the chance to. "Anyway, I think my friends are kinda afraid to talk to me about the you me thing. Like I'll explode or something if they bring it up." His fingers moved from Seifer's scar to mess with his hair. "Which is fine with me."

"Hmm, kind of makes you think doesn't it?" Seifer spoke up in a bit of a drowsy voice. He couldn't help it since Hayner's simple touches were causing the effect. "I mean, everyone is going all nuts and freaking out over us because we were rivals and such compared to what we're doing now. But what if it had never been that way? If we had never spent our entire time trying to get on each other's nerves and all, then maybe it wouldn't shock them as much, ya think?"

Hayner quirked his head at that. He hadn't expected such deep thoughts like that from anyone like Seifer. "Uh.. bwah? Uh- hm." He gave a quick laugh. "That's- that's rather provocative thinking right there. I didn't think you were capable of thinking so deep." He gave a thoughtful sound. "I dunno. I never gave it much thought. I guess I always thought things were the way they were because that's how it was meant to be. That your and my group were meant to hate each other and we were always spose to be rivals. Didn't think there was much else to it than that. That it would always be that way... Well.. until we all grew up and got office jobs. Heh, but even then we'd still have rivaling cubicles."

"Well, I can't say much. I thought along the same line. It's just recently that things have been changing." Seifer toyed with the ends of his own shirt a bit to keep himself occupied as he left the topic at that. He peeked one eye open to look up at Hayner and kept his gaze on the other teen for a few moments before he nudged the other in the stomach as lightly as he could with his shoulder. "Hey, I'll help you figure this whole mess out as best I can, okay? It's pretty confusing right now, but I'm sure that at some point the pieces will fall into place, especially once we find Roxas."

Hayner was startled at the sincerity but soon he gave a nod. "Yeah, thanks," he quickly spoke the words. He gave a brief appreciative smile before he looked out the window. "I hope you're right."

"Am I ever wrong?" Seifer smirked as he joked and nudged Hayner one last time. He closed his eyes once again and decided to at least get some rest in during the remainder of the trip since he was so comfortable. Hayner could just wake him up once they got there. It made no difference to him.

Seifer was wrong. They never did find Roxas.


	57. Chapter 57

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 57

Riku clutched his chest. He grasped his coat tightly, digging gloved fingers into skin. It hurt, oh god did it hurt. His heart felt as if it were being drained from the inside, collapsing in on itself inside his chest. His breath became labored, quick and ragged. Riku choked on his own breath, he couldn't get enough air inside his lungs.

Down he fell on his knees on the black ground before falling to crumple completely upon it with a small cry. Riku clawed at the ground, dug his nails deep, cracking nails underneath gloves with each time he racked his nails down.

Then as quickly as the unbearable pain came it went, taking with it all that was Riku's strength and will. It left him laying there, the Darkness seeping cold into his bones and flesh in some sick way of soothing him. Sweat trickled down Riku's forehead down his brows to be absorbed into the cloth of the blindfold.

"S- S..."

What?

"So..."

Who?

"Sora."

That was no one.

Sora. Was that a name? Whatever it was, that word, it didn't sound familiar at all. Riku didn't know why that name followed after such a terrible pain. His mind it must have been playing tricks on him. The pain must have done it, twisted his mind for a moment. He just needed to rest a moment. Think. But everything was so unclear, fuzzy now.

"Riku," the name was spoken softly next to the fallen boy amidst the darkness that surrounded him. Within seconds after the voice had spoken clawed fingers reached out to try and touch Riku's face, but seemed very hesitant before they made contact with skin. Another hand joined the other in order to lift Riku's head up so that glowing yellow eyes were staring straight into the blindfold and it was Roxas whom cocked his head to the side in a show of concern. "What happened?"

"S-Sora," the name tumbled from Riku. He couldn't stop it. "Who's Sora?" He suddenly needed to know. Why did that name seem to mean something? Oh but those claws felt so pleasantly cool against his flushed cheeks. Riku felt so hot despite the darkness churning in his chest, round his heart. The heat seemed to circle inside his skull and pound in his head making it so hard to think clearly.

Riku blinked behind the blindfold as he gave a weak sound. "Are..-are you _Sora_?"

Roxas nearly jumped, easily startled at the way Riku was suddenly acting. "Sora?" He knew the name from their time on that icy planet. The illusion that had clung so near and dear to Riku and the jealousy that Roxas had felt because of it. "I'm Roxas." He felt like he needed to correct Riku for getting them mixed up so easily and instantly flinched for correcting the person that had created him. "I-I'm sorry."

"Oh," the word left Riku softly. Riku shut his eyes a moment. _Sora._ Who was Sora? Riku opened his eyes again and looked up at the Heartless. "Right." He raised a weak hand to touch Roxas' cheek. "Roxas." He softly stroked the Heartless' black cheek. "What if... I named you 'Sora' instead?" Riku slipped his hand through Roxas' hair to the back of his head so he could pull it down closer to him.

Roxas didn't fight against Riku and instead was pulled down without any resistance at all. He had even nuzzled against the hand near his cheek until Riku had spoken up with such a question which caused him to blink several times. "Named me... Sora?" He titled his head much like before, but he was more curious and couldn't help questioning the sudden need to do such a thing despite his better judgment to just go along with it. "You don't like my name, Riku?"

"I want you to have a name I give you." Riku softly ran his fingers over the soft black hair down the back of his neck before lifting up to pet down again. "And... I like the name 'Sora'." His hand moved to rest again at Roxas' cheek. "And I like you."

Roxas seemed perfectly content with such a response and soon his eyes slipped closed as he enjoyed the touches given to him. It all had him crumbling and giving into whatever Riku wanted of him and he soon agreed to the simple change. "Alright, Riku. I'll be Sora for you." He opened his eyes back up only a few inches and gave a small timid smile. "I'll be your Sora."

That had an actual smile spreading just a little across Riku's lips. "Sora." For some reason he felt relief, as if a heavy weight had been removed from his chest. He had Sora. He had Sora back. And that was all he ever wanted, ever needed. "I missed you, Sora." Riku smiled a little more as he brushed his fingers affectionately across Roxas' cheek. "I missed you so- so much. But I always thought about you. Everyday. Every second." Riku gave a soft content sound. "... I love you, Sora."

Roxas felt so confused for most of the words spoken. None of them made sense to him. He had been by Riku's side for a while now. Ever since he had woken up. So why did Riku have a reason to miss him? He nearly let out the small confused whine he felt the need to give, but kept it in. "I love you too, Riku." It was the one thing he knew for certain he could repeat and nothing else seemed to matter after it was said.

Riku smiled more, contented. Everything was perfect now. He pulled Roxas down so he could place a soft kiss on his lips, ever so softly stroking the Heartless' cheek after. "You have no idea how much you mean to me," he spoke in a hushed tone against Roxas' lips. "More than any life ever made. I couldn't bear it if you thought of anyone else but me." He kissed Roxas again, slow and affectionate, possessive. "... I'd kill them. I'd kill anyone else you gave your smiles to." Riku softly thumbed Roxas' cheek. "Because you're mine, Sora, and no one else's."

Roxas was overwhelmed by the sudden affection given to him in just a short amount of time. Riku's words didn't seem to bother him quite so much and soon enough that familiar little purr made it's way up from the back of his throat. "I wouldn't." He shook his head from side to side to deny any claims made. "I'd never look at anyone else but you, Riku. I'm yours. I don't want to belong to anyone else and I don't want to think of anyone else." He leaned in a little more to nuzzle Riku's cheek with his own.

Riku slipped his arm around Roxas' shoulders to hug him near as best he could. It felt so good to hear that from Roxas; Sora in his mind. It kept that small fear inside at bay. He wasn't going to be alone, and his everything needed him just as much as he needed him.

Roxas slipped his own arms around what he could of Riku and kept close. Something had been troubling the other and he was just glad that he could help in some kind of way. He must have done something right for how tightly Riku suddenly held him and the kisses given seconds ago. "Are you okay now?" He couldn't help asking just to be sure. The worry still tugged at him for this person that mattered most. "Is everything better, Riku?"

"Yes." Riku's hand slipped down Roxas' back, falling to the bare small of the Heartless' back. "Everything is much better now." Fingers smoothed against dark bare skin, dragging nails under gloves along Roxas' spine. Riku adored that sweet purr that rumbled in Roxas' throat. With his other hand he cuddled Roxas nearer, nuzzling a cheek at the Heartless' neck just to be close to that warm sound.

Another little perk of a smile made it's way across Roxas' lips to know that everything was indeed okay. To have Riku tell him such a thing was all he needed and he kept close to the other each time Riku ran hands along his skin and enjoyed the touches even more when Riku's lips were so near to his neck. He felt like he had done everything right and more to deserve such attention and couldn't help lifting his own hands to cling to Riku's back. Hesitant to touch the other before he did so.

Riku touched a kiss to the side of Roxas' neck, softly nibbling the skin before he pressed a few more. He managed to push himself up and push Roxas down on the ground. "Our home is almost finished." He pulled down the zipper of Roxas' shirt, pleased only when he had it open and he could touch his lips to black skin. "And soon everything will be okay," Riku murmured against Roxas' chest.

"Our home," Roxas echoed the words but was cut off when a soft moan escaped his lips. He squirmed a little underneath Riku at the tickling sensations that lips caused on his cool skin, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. He even let a small whine slip past, wanting more of the feeling, but not at all demanding it as he continued to cling.

Riku tugged his hood on as he slipped lower down Roxas' body. He touched kisses down dangerously low before he let his head rest against Roxas' stomach. "We won't have to ever leave here. Never." He nuzzled his cheek against Roxas' bare stomach and touched a kiss on his belly button with a small smile. "It'll be just you and me, Sora." Riku sat up a little so he could look at Roxas' face. "The way it should have always been." He drew just a few fingers up Roxas' bare front, drawing them even slower down. "... I won't ever let you go again, Sora."

"Let me go?" Roxas had been enjoying every kiss and touch that Riku gave him until those words had been spoken. Among the pleasurable feelings he couldn't help the confusion that clouded his mind as well and he was soon blinking his eyes up at Riku in a dazed way. "You let me go once?" It was an innocent question since there were few things Roxas didn't understand lately.

"Nothing to worry about anymore." Riku crawled back up Roxas' body, slinking near. "Things are better now." He kissed Roxas to assure him. "All better." Either of his hands ran along Roxas' chest slipping to his shoulders where he pushed off the Heartless' shirt and jacket. Riku touched a kiss to one bare shoulder and he stopped as something on a far, far, far away, like magnificent beacon of light, went off. It was on a distant world and whatever it was, despite not seeing it, Riku felt it; a heart coming back to the world of light.

"... Sora," Riku quietly whispered to himself.

Roxas gave a rather impatient noise when Riku suddenly halted in his actions. It worried Roxas in a way that the other was acting so odd, but if Riku said everything was okay then he wouldn't question it any further. Still, he felt curious as to why the other had stopped and leaned up to playfully nip at Riku's bottom lip just to gain his attention again before he answered to the new name he had been given, "What is it, Riku?"

It took Riku a moment to come back into focus. So many things were swimming in his mind. It was getting harder and harder to think straight. So much was happening so fast; so many things he couldn't understand or explain.

"I'm not sure." Riku looked at Roxas. His hands ran through Roxas' hair and hugged the Heartless' head gently against his chest for the moment. "But it's going to be alright." Whether the words were spoken to sooth Roxas or himself, Riku wasn't so sure. Since Roxas was partially sitting up Riku took the opportunity to push his clothing all the way off. Riku sat back on his knees pulling Roxas close as he ran his hands down the Heartless' bare back. "Someone has killed more of the Organization's Heartless." Riku ghosted his lips across Roxas' bare shoulder, playing some soft kisses at the crook of his neck. "Three died. Only two stayed dead," he murmured against skin. "One is back as a human." He took his aggravation out with a hard nip against Roxas' skin.

Roxas gave a sudden yelp at the quick bite and his claws were quick to dig into Riku's cloak in retaliation as he kept near. He had paid careful attention to what had been said and from previous encounters with certain Heartless Roxas was quick to understand what all Riku had spoken of. "Riku," he started to speak with that soft purr, "who is the someone that did it?" After the question was asked he nuzzled his face against the other's chest despite the rough treatment given to him seconds ago.

Riku had to pause to give it some careful thought. But no names or faces came to him. It couldn't have been anyone important if he couldn't remember. "Who ever it is, it doesn't matter. If they get in our way... they won't live long." He gave a small apologetic kiss to the spot he'd bitten, trailing up to Roxas' ear which soon was the victim of soft affection.

Roxas was soon squirming again at such a sudden change and a small smile curved on his lips. He managed to turn his head away and break free while he pulled both of his hands up to place them both on Riku's face beneath the hood. Without a second thought like all the other times before he moved in closer while he leaned up and pressed his lips to Riku's own, letting a content noise escape him as he did.

Riku grinned just a little in the kiss. He let out his own pleased sound as he kissed back. Placing a hand on Roxas' cheek to keep his lips near Riku gave a slow lick to the Heartless' lips before he deepened the kiss. Something felt different. It wasn't that Roxas' mouth was cold, or the eager sounds he made as their tongues met each other. Riku couldn't remember doing something like this often with 'Sora'. Sora was innocent with his affections. But that's because Sora was so naive. Darkness preyed on innocence.

Riku broke the kiss and looked at Roxas' soft dark face. He leaned over Roxas' shoulder so he could nip the finger of his glove and pull it off with his teeth. With his hand now bare he ran it over the Heartless' cool back, running it over shoulder blades before it traveled down Roxas' spine pulling the shirt and jacket, that hung from the crooks of Roxas' elbows, further down. "... I should probably find out what happened." Even though Riku's interest in it had long past that.

Roxas had shivered at the sudden contact that Riku had given with no real boundaries between them. It was different and Roxas at once knew that he enjoyed it, but it was cut short with Riku's statement. "You mean what happened to the other Heartless?" It was more then obvious, but Roxas was only curious. "Does that mean-?" He stopped himself from continuing on and only seemed to pout instead. He had enjoyed their bit of time with sweet little affections in this darkened place, but if Riku wanted to find things out he knew that they would be forced to end it.

Riku nodded. His bare hand ran back up Roxas' spine. "Time for the cloaked schemer to come home." He hugged Roxas nearer touching all he could. He could feel Roxas' disappointment to end their intimate moment, and Riku felt a little disappointment too. Still, in his mind he didn't feel he had to stop anything he wanted to do just for the sake of appearances. He rather liked Roxas disheveled, without the barrier of shirts for the moment.

Riku touched a few more kisses on Roxas' neck. "Come." He captured up Roxas' lips a moment before he withdrew from the Heartless, drifting up like a shadow to stand. Riku still felt light headed and weak from the previous unbearable pain, so he walked with careful steps. He lead Roxas to the tall obsidian throne he'd created on this perfect world of his. Dark mist was summoned to create darkened steps for them to ascend and like a righteous king Riku sat himself on the magnificent chair.

A wide malevolent grin spread across Riku's lips as he ran either of his hands down the arms of the throne. It pleased him considerably. The Darkness assured him that this was right, that this was where he belonged, ruler and king of his own world created.

Shadows curled around Riku's bare hand and soon formed a new glove. With that same hand Riku patted his lap giving permission to Roxas like a pet for him to climb up.

That same mischievous little grin that had shown itself on Roxas' face during their time on the icy world made it's way on the Heartless' lips once again at the silent invitation. Roxas didn't need much more then that and soon enough he stepped forward to settle himself quite comfortably across Riku. He was quick to nuzzle the other's throat with his nose while he ran claws down Riku's chest gently, at least for the moment.

"Good boy." Riku placed a quick kiss on Roxas' forehead. One of his hands slipped down lazily run up and down Roxas' bare spine. Without word and without action he called summon to his second Heartless created, it was nothing more than a matter of will and thought. It had Riku giving a quiet chuckle. "Remember, Sora, to at least pretend to play nice... for the moment."

A small pout was more then obvious on Roxas' features because of such a restriction. He didn't want to play nice with the other Heartless, but he wouldn't argue against the order given. It was only the last few words that caused him to nod until he felt a new presence around them that caused him to let out a quiet growl. His head whipped around to stare ahead of the throne that they were seated on and everything about Roxas became defensive until he saw just who it was.

Tendrils of black misted away leaving only a Heartless in their wake. A visible eye widened at the sight that was suddenly ahead and for a moment Zexion found himself at a bit of a loss. He recovered quickly and only glanced away from the two as he tried to keep his voice even, "What is it you need, Riku?"

An amused sound left Riku. "Always to the point, Zexion." He pet his hand over Roxas' head to calm the Heartless on his lap. He adored the fear that came when Zexion was in his presence. But something seemed off about Zexion's heartless. Riku expected more from him than that simple fear, something more complex. And then he saw the collar around Zexion's neck with the simple heart adorn it. And all of Riku's good humour seemed to fade away. He gestured for Zexion to near with the come hither of a finger.

Zexion stayed right where he was for a few seconds. He didn't want to go near Riku, especially not with Roxas perched so comfortably on the other's lap and staring at him with so much venom in his glowing eyes. Still, he knew he had no choice and soon took careful steps towards the chair in which Riku sat, making sure to walk close enough to keep Riku satisfied.

"What?" Of course Zexion knew exactly what, but he decided to play dumb for the time being.

Roxas slunk off Riku to perch on the arm of the chair as Riku leaned forward nearer to Zexion. He reached out a hand to brush the back of his fingers against Zexion's cheek, enjoying completely when the Heartless flinched at the touch. Silver hair fell further onto Riku's face and over the dark blind fold as he tilted his head to 'look' Zexion over more carefully. But his voice destroyed any hope that Riku over looked anything, "Spare your stupidity." Riku's knuckles drew across Zexion's cheek next, soon followed by the back of his hand. "You found yourself a new friend. A new replacement." Riku let his hand fall and took the heart pendant of the collar between his fingers. "And so soon," he marveled as he ran a thumb over the small crystal heart. "I do wonder what Vexen would think of you if he knew you were paying for your protection with your most intimate parts." Riku's glove fingers closed around the heart. "Would he be angry? Ashamed? Or... jealous?" He tightened his grip and just as easily removed the seal Saix had placed to keep Zexion from feeling those horrific emotions. Riku smiled through the fray of silver hair. "... If he knew just who you enjoyed getting violated by."

From the arm of the chair Roxas grinned rather viciously, but soon laughed outright at Zexion's misfortune. The sound echoed in the darkness that surrounded them made only to mock the other Heartless in a cruel way.

The swarm of emotions that came rushing back in had caused Zexion to nearly stumble on his feet. They were all so painful and he had hoped to be rid of them once and for all with the help given to him. It had been a shaky promise, but it was there none the less. Of course he should have known that Riku wouldn't allow it and hearing Roxas' laughter along with his own tortured thoughts did nothing to help his fragile mind. "Shut up." He wasn't sure himself who he spoke the command to, Riku or the Heartless perched at his side, but he knew he wanted them both to just stop. Despite Riku's twisted hold on him Zexion felt himself moving forward intent on harming Riku in any way he could for his words.

Before Zexion could even lay a finger on Riku there was a rush of flames and a blade was nearly pierced against the skin of the Heartless neck. Roxas still sat perched on the throne, but with one blade held out and kept near Zexion in a rather threatening way as all the laughter had died from his throat and he glared hard at the other.

"Careful now," Riku quietly laughed. He let go of the collar and tapped Zexion's chin with his knuckle. "You may be feigning ownership, but for now you're on lease to Saix. You're my property." Riku half grinned as he used his pinky finger to come back Zexion's long bangs so he could meet both of the Heartless' wide eyes with his gaze. "Remember that." He then let the hair fall back into place. "But I think you enjoy your role a little _too_ much. Being a puppet requires a hand up your backside," Riku gave a short 'heh', "among other things. And I do believe those weren't screams of complaints in Saix's room, where they."

Riku leaned back on his throne, dusting his hands off on each other as if touching Zexion was touching all things rank and foul. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Zexion stepped back in an instant once he was let go and Roxas had moved his blade away as well. He kept narrowed eyes on each of them before he turned his gaze away again. He refused to give Riku the satisfaction of an answer despite how right the boy was with such vulgar words. His hands fisted at his sides while he tried his best to just change the subject. "What reason do you have for pulling me away so soon?"

Riku ran his fingers down Roxas' bare back again. "Something big just happened. And I want to know exactly what."

Zexion gave a quick nod to the words. After the entire situation that had gone down he should have known that Riku would sense most if not all of what happened. Of course Zexion would be the messenger once everything had settled down again. "Saix formulated a plan to go after the fail safe because his location was more certain then ever." He finally lifted his head to stare across at the two. "It was supposed to be an easy fight. Saix had a lot of help, but things spiraled out of control."

Riku paused in his lazy pets across Roxas' skin. "Just who did he have help from? What exactly happened?" He had a feeling he already knew, but the details were darkened in his mind, hazy. The shadows wouldn't let him know the real truth. But Riku knew it had something to do with that unbearable pain he had felt, and that light.

Zexion kept quiet for a few moments, but was quick to turn his eyes away again. He didn't want to look at Riku when he started to explain. "Most of the other members of our old group. Marluxia, Larxene, Xaldin, Xigbar and Luxord. They were all in on it for one purpose or reason. Luxord was lost in the middle of the battle, but there was nothing that could be done about it. We still had a chance at retrieving the fail safe and that part of the plan was up to me. I snuck up behind Demyx and retrieved the Nobody while taking his form at the same time. It gave me a chance to kill Demyx and get rid of him all in one go." His face hardened for an instant as he began to remember the events afterwards.

"Saix believed he had everything under control, but just as we all thought we had won that's when something seemed to have snapped within Sora." Zexion's fingers twitched at the memory and he seemed to flinch visibly as well. "He changed and it was hard to feel the usual light that was always present within his heart. He took out Marluxia and was bound to take out the rest of us had we not retreated. I-I'm not sure what happened after the rest of us fled."

Roxas had immediately perked up during the entire speech. There was that name again spoken so casually, but this time it had been spoken by Zexion. Why was the Heartless speaking a name that Riku had chosen for him just seconds ago? The confusion was obvious on his face and he turned wide eyes towards Riku after all was silent.

Riku leaned back in his seat, sliding his gloved fingers in a folded steeple on his lap. _Sora_. He bowed his head a moment, the hood shadowing his pale face from either of his Heartless. _... Sora._ Who is Sora? Sora was perched right beside him on the arm of the throne. _Sora, my light._ But the Sora beside him wasn't light at all. Was... there another Sora?

"... Sounds like your list of casualties are growing, Zexion." Riku crossed one leg over the other as hes reclined state became more casual. "Vexen, Luxord, Marluxia. And, I believe, Lexaeus was murdered long before." He paused a moment before speaking again. "Demyx didn't stay dead long. That's quite some incompetence."

"Like you actually care." The sarcastic remark earned Zexion a rather mean growl from Roxas, but he paid the other Heartless no mind. "I'm sure you're quite pleased that the dead are gone. It's just more of us out of your way. Whether Demyx is alive once more or not is just a small little mishap." Zexion blinked both his eyes as he seemed to remember one detail left out and it was that which had a small little smirk coming to his lips despite all the cruel remarks shot at him and the horrid feelings inside of him. "Although, he is quite taken with your Nobody I must say."

Unseen Riku narrowed his eyes from under the blind fold. "... Pardon?"

"You heard me," Zexion's voice became low and quiet in the darkened area. It wasn't news that he wished to speak any louder. "Demyx has fallen for your Nobody. He fell for my illusion while I was posing as Ikurx and let's just say that the tricks I played on him were rather intimate ones." He shrugged a shoulder while he kept careful watch on Riku. "Your Nobody even screamed for that bastard while he died."

Riku pressed his palms together. "Seems you'll be 'intimate' with just about anyone these days, doesn't it, Zexion." Though his mind mulled over the information given to him. He could remember the way his Nobody clung to the Heartless when he had stabbed Demyx from behind. The Darkness played the memory like a faded grainy picture in his mind; deadly motivation.

Riku reached over and skritched his fingers along Roxas' jaw as if the Heartless was some sort of feline. "I'd say this whole ordeal is one of your biggest defeats. Heh, minus the one your group had as Nobodies." He toyed with a lock of Roxas' dark hair that rested at his cheeks. "So, what is your 'wise' and 'conquering' leader doing now?" Riku smirked wryly.

Zexion kept his eyes on the two for a while before he answered. The way Riku continued to speak on such a high throne while he paid such close attention to Roxas, the latter of whom had begun to purr only seconds ago, made him realize how last resort yanking Riku's Nobody away from Riku truly was. Riku had become beyond unstable, but there really was no word for it any longer. "Regrouping I suppose. He was injured by Sora as well, but nothing a quick fix won't cure. Sora is still bound by the collar Saix left on him, so, Saix still plans to use it to follow the fail safe I assume. It's all up in the air for now after losing a couple of people."

Riku paused in his affections to the purring Heartless at his side. "He isn't missing your absence?"

"I wasn't pulled away during any important matters. He was injured and thus he didn't want anyone around him for the time being. The other's were too busy moping around to give a care to my whereabouts as well." Zexion narrowed his eyes on Riku as his tone became a little serious. "Although, I'd advise you to be a bit more careful when you do summon me. There's no telling what will happen here soon, considering the situation that just went on previous." A shaky hand went up to touch the place that the collar lay around his neck while his eyes narrowed further on a master that he loathed. "Of course he may suspect something if he realizes you've broken the seal he put in place."

Riku shrugged as Zexion's inner turmoil meant nothing of any real substance. "I'll fix it before you leave." He rested a hand atop Roxas. "In the mean time I want more information about just exactly what happened. The details about when this 'Sora' snapped." Riku gave a sharp snap with his free hand.

Zexion hid the flinch he gave behind darkened hair at Riku's sudden action. "Well, it was surely different. The boy seemed to go numb to the outside world, but that wasn't all that changed about him. He suddenly harnessed the power of both light and dark all at once, but in more of a neutral ground instead of one taking place over the other." Zexion glanced back and forth between the two, hesitant to go on. "His power over the keyblade changed drastically as well. Instead of one, or even two much like Roxas, he was able to wield four. Oblivion was obvious, but also Oathkeeper and two more. He took control of the keyblade that belongs to your Nobody and your own keyblade as well, Riku."

Roxas had become interested during Zexion's information since it involved this person named Sora. Of course when the keyblades were mentioned his curiosity peeked and the talk of more then one, much like he was able to wield, caused him to give a small noise. He suddenly seemed to ignore the touches given to him by Riku.

"Way to Dusk," Riku murmured to himself. The pain from before made sense now. This 'Sora' had used his energy to take control of the Darkness as well as the Light. But how? Some how this Sora had some warped control over him. A control that could become dangerous if it wasn't snuffed out as soon as possible.

Riku bowed his head, his face shadowed completely. "I want you to keep me informed to where this 'Sora' resides. If he leaves to another world-" Riku added in a dark quiet tone, "I want to know."

Zexion narrowed his eyes at Riku's words. In a way they didn't make sense, but at the same time Zexion could feel how twisted and warped Riku's mind had become. The Darkness seemed to have pushed every thought aside that it felt mattered less and less. "Fine," the word was spoken softly. He wouldn't question anything. If Riku and the damned Keyblade Master soon became the end of each other then he had no reason to argue against it.

Riku gestured for Zexion to near once more. "As soon as anything else new arises, I want you to return to me and report." Riku looked over to Roxas and reached over to run his knuckle under the Heartless' jaw, skritching lazily. "Do you wish to play a little with our toy, Sora?"

Roxas nuzzled against Riku's hand lazily while a wicked grin spread across his face. "Yes, Riku." His eyes turned towards Zexion and in a quick leap he jumped off the arm of the throne. He landed on his feet without any real effort and re-summoned not one blade, but both, to his sides as he stalked the other Heartless, grinning even more as Zexion backed away from him. He only found that part rather humorous.

Zexion stared straight into glowing eyes as he tried to keep away from the other Heartless. He hated the way Roxas seemed to slink over to him and the entire situation was outright insane in his mind. Not only that, but Riku's new pet name for what used to be the former Nobody had a few things clicking into place. "What's the meaning of this?!" He jumped back quickly when Roxas took a swing at him, flinching at the heat caused by flames.

"I thought it was obvious enough, Zexion." Riku leaned forward on his throne. Beneath the hood only his grinning lips could be seen. "You're paying for your stupidities. If it weren't for you and your now long lost companion, Vexen, we wouldn't be in this delightful mess." He gave an easy shrug. "It's only fair you pay- with interest." Riku lifted his head to grin his teeth. "Don't hold back, Sora."

Zexion stumbled in his steps at the mention of the one he had lost and what had caused this mess to begin with. It was the perfect opportunity Roxas needed and Zexion let out a noise as one of the heated blades left a nasty gash along his arm. Keyblades were twirled after the damage had been done and Roxas gave a mean laugh as he watched blood drip between fingers. He didn't dare allow Zexion any time to rest and moved once more. Before the other Heartless had a chance to blink one of the blades was driven deep within Zexion's hand that kept close to the wound. The pained cry that ripped through the area after the attack only spurred Roxas on and he moved it deeper, twisting it a bit as he looked up at Zexion with narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry, Zexion," Riku spoke after the last echo of Zexion's pain echoed the darkness around them, "I'll heal you up nice and good before I send you back to Saix." He waved off that bit of worry with a few fingers. "So your secret will be well kept safe. And you can happily continue your role as Saix's friend between the sheets." Riku gave a brief laugh. "So we can have as much fun as possible here until then." He twirled a finger with wicked amusement. "Perhaps we'll make you scream as long and shrilly as your 'Even' did."

"Bastard," Zexion hissed through clenched teeth. Roxas still had the blade driven deep within his hand, but in one quick pull he yanked himself free despite the pain it caused him and the blood he lost with the action. He tried his best to blend into the darkness that surrounded them while sheets of paper began to encircle the other Heartless to entrap him for a moment so Zexion could regain some control about himself.

Roxas stood up straight and watched as each of the papers twisted and turned around him in a simple tornado. With a flick of his wrist he freed his own blade of the darkened blood and lifted both up above his head. His hands moved and twirled the twin blades, igniting flames from all sides and burning up the attack which had entrapped him for the time being. As the burnt papers rained down he turned a vicious stare back on where Zexion had retreated.

"Now, now. Let's play fair." Riku waved a hand and misted tendrils of shadows wrapped around Zexion's feet, curling up and around to keep him there much like they had in the ice world. "Your paper thin attempts are pathetic, Zexion. Really, it's no wonder you failed so miserably and landed yourself in this situation." He gave a small sigh as he pushed himself up to stand from his throne, misted steps appearing as he descended. "It's almost _boring_."

Zexion had struggled against the sudden bonds, but Riku's influence over the dark kept him right where he was. "Fair? Ha! This is far from fair," he spat the words back. His eyes narrowed as he kept still. There was no use trying to get away and his injuries faulted him anyway. "You sick your little puppet on me while you have me do your dirty work at the same time. None of this is considered fair you vengeful little bastard."

Those words didn't sit well with Roxas. The smaller Heartless made a quick leap forward to jump up and smack the edge of a keyblade across Zexion's face. The attack left a visible mark on the side that wasn't hidden by darkened hair, which bled down instantly while Roxas landed on his feet only to growl loudly. A warning in case Zexion opened his mouth again.

"As a Heartless you can't argue against what is fair." Riku stepped to Zexion's side, circling round. "For everything you've done in all three, no, four life times, it's hypocritical of you to even attempt to argue what is 'fair'." He stepped in front of Zexion. "Then again," he leaned nearer to Zexion, "you can't exactly argue with what I deem 'fair'." Riku leaned near only to slip his tongue out to run across the wound Roxas had made, licking away a few drops of black. "So shut up and suffer," Riku whispered near Zexion's cheek before he stepped away, leaving him to Roxas' fun.


	58. Chapter 58

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 58

At Coasta del Sol, the aftermath of a battle long since passed still remained despite the previous clean up efforts and the inn that suffered the brunt of the damage was completely beyond repair. It was there, near the ocean, the dead were laid to rest and buried. There were very few that had escaped with their lives, but even so when cures were given out to the civilians, it seemed as if some wounds would leave lasting scars.

It had been decided that it just wouldn't be worth it to travel from the world after such a tiring time. Everyone had been through so much. Ikurx was wobbly after having used his power and Sora especially, felt far too weak to find a safer location. Besides, the Heartless wouldn't dare strike the same place twice after they had lost their own battle.

A separate inn that resided further down the beach would adequately serve as a replacement for the small group to sleep in. After all, it was only one night. Each free room was then taken up in a heartbeat, bodies needing rest while minds were heavy with thoughts of what had happened. Sora took a room with his usual two companions and after much tossing and turning, accompanied by a 'go to sleep, Sora' courtesy of Donald, the teen finally found sleep at an early hour of the night while he hugged the blankets tight around him.

Out of the shadows a shield misted around Sora's side of the chamber, silently knitting together to form a private little area cut off from the rest of the inhabitants. As quickly as the dark barrier manifested it disappeared, still there but unseen.

From the corner, a cloaked figure emerged and stepped toward the bed. So this was the alleged 'Sora'. The small unknowing form in the bed didn't seem so terrifying and powerful. This young boy was hardly impressive. For everything that Riku had been told and the pain he had felt when Sora had taken his power to use as his own, he expected the other to be much older, taller and with a greater build.

Riku leaned down to examine Sora's face more closely. It wasn't a very restful sleep it seemed. He then reached over, tugging the scarf down. Indeed, the collar was there that Saïx had placed on him. It was the right 'Sora'. How disappointing.

Bending nearer to the boy's face, long silver hair spilt from within the hood to hang freely, brushing lightly against the other's cheek. Riku's hand trailed from the scarf to the bedding locked in a strangle hold before pressing flat over the boy's slowed resting heart. He flinched. A strange sensation went through him, like warm pins and needles prickling through every inch of skin. It was almost as if his entire body had been laid asleep. His gloved hand twitched, tightening over the covers. Something was very wrong about this boy. Riku didn't know what, but he didn't like it.

While Sora slept, the hair begun to tickle his face. The boy gave a couple sniffles, his nose twitching, but it wasn't enough to satisfy the restless feeling the strands caused. Before long one hand untangled itself from its hold on the blankets, wiped at his face and touched the few dangling pieces of silver in the process. It didn't take long for him to settle back down though, just as quiet as he was before.

Riku blinked underneath the blind fold, rather surprised that the boy didn't wake. This Sora was really quite pathetic. He could easily take out the teenager with one swipe of his keyblade and all wrongs would be fixed.

Straightening some, Riku pulled his hair back behind his neck, returning it to the hood. Still all he could find himself doing was staring into at that childish face with disheveled brown hair. Hesitation? Why was he hesitating?

"... Sora," he breathed out. "Why can't I do anything right?" Riku didn't know where the words came from or why, but they felt like they were right some how. "... I can't do anything right with out you." But he couldn't even remember the boy, how could that be? "You were right... I shouldn't have left," His whispered voice cracked a little. "I've messed us up so bad." A hand went up to his face but when the tips of his fingers touched the blind fold, he faltered. No. He didn't want to take that off. He didn't want that ever to be removed. His gaze returned to Sora's face. "... There's... there's no fixing this."

Sora's previously troubled sleep seemed to be bothered a bit more by the distinct quiet voice, familiar yet so distant. His body shifted around to try and get comfortable, ignoring it, but there was no fixing the damage that had already been done. Eyes barely opened with a small sound. It was too dark to see anything in the tiny room, though he was sure that something was there. Of course at the moment he was way too groggy and out of it to be concerned.

Inside Riku's head went blank. He should have expected Sora to wake up since he had just spoken but why he had run his mouth in the first place, he wasn't completely sure. There was something so unnatural about the boy. It made Riku uncomfortable yet so calm at the same time. Calm and sad.

A gloved hand slipped up, touching a single finger to Sora's lips. "Shhh," Riku quieted the other before he even had a chance to speak.

The boy kept his mouth shut at that single gesture and anything that his fogged mind had tried to think of suddenly tumbled down. Instead he stayed still, blinking his blue eyes against at the inky darkness surrounding him, the shadows winning. Something inside told him that he should probably panic about the situation, but for some reason, he felt no real fear.

"I don't want to know why," Riku softly spoke in a whisper, "or what, or who, or even how." He leaned down again, a few strands of hair straying from the hood once more to touch Sora's face. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason," his finger slowly departed from the boy's lips, tracing along the contour of each one, "that I'm sure neither of us want to know right now." Riku found himself replacing the digit with his own lips instead.

Despite the haze he was in, Sora still knew the touch of those lips like he had been kissed a thousand times over. His mind had them memorized and it was that which had him easily pressing back into the gentle kiss, his fingers rising up to touch the loose strings of silver. Every action was so natural, coming as second nature by now. "...'Ku." The half hearted attempt at a name tumbled from the teen's lips, so faint it might have been missed.

Oh god. Sora's lips were so warm. Warmer than anything Riku could ever remember. Nothing in the Darkness was as warm and perfect like this. Not even his own 'Sora''s lips, which fervently kissed him so many times now.

Riku wanted more; to warm his skin with this Sora's touch. Tasting the other's lips, he lazily drew his tongue across before plunging it past. His knee rested on the mattress aiming to crawl closer and his mind fell into a sort of fog. Some how the boy had him pushing away those earlier dark thoughts.

Sora was just as eager to melt into the kiss, allowing it to deepen further. He didn't even notice when the bed shifted beneath the extra weight. Only a muffled gasp left him as he released the other's hair so his limbs could rise up, encircling Riku's neck. The action brought the boy even closer and that seemed to be just fine.

Riku yanked that stupid scarf away, tossing it aside to crumple on the floor where ever. He then climbed further on the bed, straddling the other's petite torso over the sheets. Reluctantly the kiss was broken but soon feather soft brushes of lips were on Sora's cheek, traveling down his jaw to his neck. The boy was so warm, soft and inviting. Riku couldn't figure out why he wanted to touch the teen like this, like his Heartless Sora, or why this Sora wanted his touch just as badly as he wished to give it. Minding the collar, he gave an affectionate lick to the side of the other's neck before peeling back the covers, coming to the realization that Sora was fully dressed. For some reason that had Riku faltering.

"... Why are you still dressed," Riku murmured the question near Sora's ear, "in bed?"

Sora blinked heavy cerulean eyes at the question. He wasn't entirely sure himself. Things were still so fuzzy and it seemed like such a useless thing to worry about. "...Don't know," he spoke up in that same weary voice, "just so sleepy. Didn't care..." That must have been the right answer. It sounded good enough.

This time, another swipe of tongue was slow against Sora's ear. "Get undressed." Riku nuzzled the boy's plush hair with his cheek and added quietly, "please."

"Riku..." The name was exhaled in a quiet whisper and the sleepy teen did nothing to argue. It was a little difficult for him to move with the other on top of him, but somehow he managed to wiggle out of his jacket. When the garment was freed, he started to pull at his gloves, only to realize that there was a zipper attached. He wiggled his fingers, whining. "Help me, Riku?"

The older teen blinked behind the blind fold, sitting up to oblige. He gave a small grunt of annoyance, the words pouring from his mouth before any thought was given to what he was actually saying. "You really are helpless without me, Sora." Riku took the other's hand in his, linking their fingers while giving Sora's palm a sweet nuzzle. He then unzipped the fabric, wrenching it off before tossing it. Placing the boy's bare hand on his cheek, he abandoned it there to tend to the remaining hand in its glove prison, shortly after, giving a soft sound as he touched the opposite palm to his cheek as well.

Something then occurred to the boy that had him narrowing his eyes. "... you didn't wear your shoes to bed... did you?" Reaching back, he felt for Sora's foot to see if the ignorant teen had.

The younger teen's foot twitched at the touch. Even though the thick blanket still separated them, his feet were very sensitive. "Mmm... no I didn't." Sora lazily shook his head, almost striking the back against the bed post. "Jus' my socks." His fingers drew small little lines up and down Riku's cheeks as best they could in their current stupor while he quickly yawned.

Riku nodded. The caresses that the teen gave were enough to melt away any and all thoughts he had. Nothing else seemed important to think about, though, he was still adamant about getting Sora out of his day clothes. "C'mon, you're almost done," he spoke up. Scooting off the boy, he gathered the comforter, wrenching it away entirely. Now granted easy access, he tugged down the zipper of Sora's jumper and seemingly thought nothing of a few well placed kisses to the other's bare chest and clavicle.

The kisses tickled, causing Sora to squirm against the sheets in a writhing mass. "Riku," he whimpered this time louder than the last, unable to control the volume of his voice. It wasn't everyday he got such attention, if ever.

Riku peered up at Sora. So whiny. He continued to remove Sora's attire and wasn't satisfied till the jumper was down the other's legs and off, joining the rest of his outfit discarded on the floor. The socks were next to go, despite the teen's constant wriggling and groggy snickers. Such a nuisance.

Positioning both legs on either side of Sora's middle, Riku straddled him yet again. Now without the obstruction of clothes, he could finally give the boy a scrutinizing look over. The younger teen was very tiny; no muscle at all for his age (whatever it was), small girlish waste and no power to those thin arms and waste. Riku couldn't help the disapproving look. "You're not much to look at, Sora," he off handedly spoke in observation, mind vacillating to and from remembering.

Those words seemed to sour Sora's good mood, a tiny blush staining his cheeks. Despite his overwhelming exhaustion, he suddenly felt much too vulnerable from what had been said and his response almost sounded hurt. "Shut up, Riku."

Riku slipped his hood down and shook his head, hair settling comfortably around his shoulders. "How can you do so much," he ran a hand slowly up Sora's naked front, "in such a small body?" The hand trailed back down just as leisurely. "It doesn't make much sense."

Sora shivered at the contact. Riku's hands were cold, his skin having been warmed from a couple hours under multiple layers of cloth. "I'm not small," he spoke in his own defense. Sora never enjoyed the jabs thrown at him about his stature. It always rubbed him the wrong way if the meaning was beyond playful. "Stop being so mean."

Riku was a little perplexed that Sora could continuously take everything so lightly but something wouldn't let him think on it any longer. The other looked rather inviting to cuddle up with, wrapped up tightly in the covers. He shook his head, clearing his mind from the mixed ideas he was receiving.

"... I am mean, aren't I?" Riku spoke, hushed. "Sora... I'm so confused," his voice shrank, laced with anxiety. "I'm not sure who we are anymore." He searched the other's drained visage for answers he didn't have anymore. "Are you Sora?... Are you my Sora?"

"Of course I am, Riku," Sora was quick to answer. It was a bit strange to the boy that such questions were being asked of him and he couldn't think straight as it was, considering how late in the evening it had become. In his mind it was just normalcy all over again. Riku had crawled through his bedroom window like always to help claim his bed. Reality hadn't caught up with him at all but it never really did during exhaustion and loneliness. "Nothing's changed." He suddenly felt guilty for getting angry. "I'm sorry, Riku. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Riku slowly shook his head showing that it hadn't bothered him before pushing Sora's bangs back, leaning in to plant a small kiss there on his forehead. Deep within the other's heart, he could feel the beautiful lie that the naïve boy indulged himself with. He could also vaguely remember those nights when he escaped out his own window and slunk along the bushes, rocks and pavement like a man on a mission, only to relax when he saw Sora's window already waiting open and inviting.

Not wanting to alarm Sora, Riku bit his lip to refrain from letting out any sad noises. He wanted to continue playing this wonderful make believe game that the other had started. ".. Y'know," His voice was cautious, "your mom isn't going to be very happy when she discovers that I came in and stripped you in the middle of the night." He rested his head on the boy's shoulder, nuzzling a little and enjoying the warmth of the body underneath him. "She'll come in, in the morning, wondering why you're practically naked in bed with me." His eyes squeezed shut as he half buried his face against Sora's throat, slightly below his jaw. "... She's already started to say we're too old for this kinda thing," it was obvious he tried to keep his tone in light spirits," no wait... that was your dad."

Sora's arms instinctively rose to coil around Riku's waist in a protective manner as if the other boy would be brutally yanked away at any given moment by his own parents. "No, it'll be okay, Riku. It's always so hot around here. I can just tell my mom I got stuffy and took off my clothes before bed." The boy himself seemed quite content to settle back down, his eyes soon slipping closed again. "I like when you come over to sleep."

Riku nodded in agreement. "... I like when I come over to sleep too." He gently nosed the other's neck. "... and I really like you, Sora," his confession fell quiet. "I keep forgetting that... I'm sorry." In apology, he pressed closer.

"Forgetting?" Sora echoed in a groggy tone. "What do you mean you forgot?" A faint laugh left him, contained by the barrier. "Riku, you're so weird sometimes. I think you're just tired." He rubbed his head against the other's, sighing. "I know you would never forget something like that."

Riku opened his mouth before it clapped shut once again without a single utterance. Perhaps now wasn't the time to admit that so profusely. Especially if it meant breaking the illusion.

"Yeah, you're right," It was best if he just went along with it. "Here, I'll pull the blankets back up." He shifted in Sora's hold, grabbing the desired object and hoisted the covers over them both. It was a little strange considering Riku was still decked out, head to toe in his garb but he wasn't so sure about taking that off when his skin felt frozen when in comparison to Sora's. He was so nice to snuggle up to and the other fit so perfectly against him that it made his heart ache.

Everything felt much warmer with the blankets wrapped around them both. Sora's fingers periodically twisted in strands of Riku's hair as they both lay on the mattress. He even began to drift in and out of sleep, catching himself at times when he did.

"We'll spend tomorrow together, right, Riku?" Sora timidly spoke up after a few moments. "After we wake up, just you and me. We can ask mom to make us something to eat so we can spend the entire day at the island."

Riku swallowed hard, forcing himself to nod. "Yeah. Just you and me." The fingers through his hair only wedged a deeper pain into his chest. "We can fool around with sword fighting like the old days," He attempted to stave off the cracking of his voice. "Then... when the sun is high up and it's too hot... we can cool ourselves off with a swim." An amused sound left him. "We can even catch some fish and terrorize Selphie with them... Hmm, maybe cook some of them over a fire later when the day gets cooler."

"I'd like that." A noise escaped Sora, clinging tighter to the boy above him but it wasn't hard to tell that it was something troubled. "Riku," he began hesitantly, "I had a horrible dream before you came. I-I thought I lost you again. There were so many things wrong and I lost you. I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so glad we're home and that you're alright. I never want to lose you again. Never again, Riku."

Oh Sora. "Yeah... I think I had the same dream. ... Everything went to hell and I had to go. I promised I'd come back but..." Riku's voice faded as he squeezed the boy closer, drowning himself in the other's scent. "For some reason I had forgotten about you, and replaced you with someone who was you but wasn't you... And I made my own world out of Heartless." He paused. "I had a throne and everything. I made Zexion my Heartless... and... and I used Saïx's way of tracking you to find you again. But it was to kill you... It was a pretty bad dream... I woke up and had to come to your room." Keeping his voice steady, he swallowed any pained noises that dared to leave him. "Like I always do... You keep the bad dreams away, some how."

Sora sniffed wetly against Riku while he wiped away the traces of tears that had gathered in his eyes. "It's a pretty crazy dream we had, huh, Riku?" He weakly tried to laugh it off. "I guess mom was right. We shouldn't stay so long out in the sun. It's not good for us or something like that..." The humour left him. "I'll always be here for you though, Riku. I'll always make the bad dreams go away, okay?"

"Okay. No more sunstroke dreams. No more." He nuzzled his cheek to Sora's, careful that no tears fell. "You'll chase them away." The smallest of smiles eased across his face, the first he'd given since he'd gotten there. "My Sora. My real Sora." His voice lowered, mumbling to himself. "I'm sorry I forgot you."

"Sshh," Sora was quick to shush those words spoken. A finger moved to tap against Riku's lips in a playful way afterwards. "You said it again. Didn't I tell you to stop acting so weird? You didn't forget me Riku. It was all just a silly dream. Everything's okay." He removed the digit but it trailed down the other's cheek instead. It was when he blinked innocent eyes up at the elder teen that he spoke up again in a curious tone, "Did you want to get undressed too, Riku? You're all bundled up."

Riku glanced down at himself at his clothes. "I am... aren't I? I-... well, I woke up in a cold sweat. And- so I really dressed warm when I snuck out." He looked down at his gloved hand, flexing his digits. "My skin is kind of cold... you probably won't like it against you. You're so warm.. it'll probably give you the chills." He frowned a little, keeping his blind fold hidden under his bangs, thankful for the darkness and the other's poor sleepy vision.

Sora shook his head against the pillow beneath him. "I won't mind at all." He reached down to tug at the cloak with his fingertips. "If you're so cold then take all of this stuff off and get under the covers with me. I'll warm you up, Riku." He glanced back up at the boy, ceasing his tugging.

Riku squirmed at the tugging that Sora had insisted on doing. He was about to protest more until he glanced down and saw the other's expression. His resistance then melted away with a sigh. ".. Okay. I guess. But.. close your eyes." He didn't want Sora to take one look around the room and notice he wasn't home so he put his hand over the boy's eyes, forcing them shut. "I'm.. um.. shy.. yeah."

The elder teen then pushed himself up and scooted toward the edge of the bed. "Sorry I wore my boots in your bed." He smiled sadly. "Your mom would have my head if she found out." Slipping off the shoes, he checked to see if Sora's eyes remained shut. "And she'll really wonder about finding both of us in bed practically naked. Heh... not that she doesn't already know."

Sora indeed kept his unspoken promise not to peek and had placed his hands on top of his eyes after Riku had removed his own for good measure. "You worry too much, Riku." He kicked his feet under the blankets, waiting for his friend to finish with his clothes. The slight teasing only had a simple smile playing at his lips and once he finished, he had stuck out his tongue. "We can just hide under the covers when she comes in the room so that she won't see us. Just like we used to do when we were kids whenever you were over for dinner and she wanted to feed us vegetables."

Riku actually paused at that then suddenly started laughing. It wasn't very loud or strong, not chest-rattling but it was something he hadn't done in a long time. It felt good. It cleared away all the negative thoughts from his heart for the moment. Sora was such a goof.  
"I doubt the covers will hide us very well. I think she'll notice the two hidden lumps under the blankets." Riku ran his gloved hands over his sleeves, dismissing the clothes from his person. The attire almost immediately turned to mist, curling away in a black smoke from his skin before disappearing into the darker shadows dwelling below his bare feet.

Without the protection of clothes Riku felt the chill of the air, despite the world being a tropical one and it was as if he were in a freezer instead of a bedroom. He had to clench his jaw to keep it from chattering. "Though.. hiding under the blankets did save us from having to eat veggies those few times." His fingers subconsciously skimmed over the black cloth covering his eyes and his good humour fell. Smirking, he turned to face Sora and couldn't help reaching under the blankets, poking him the side with a cold finger.

Sora squealed instantly at the cold sensation. "Riku! Stop it!" His hands fell away from his eyes, protecting his sides instead and it wasn't hard to miss the giggles that escaped. "No fair, I wasn't ready. You never told me to open my eyes yet." Despite the words his tone was still rather playful.

Riku lightly laughed again. "You're so silly, Sora." He crawled over to the huddled up ball of blankets and placed a quick kiss on Sora's lips. "You always cheer me up... even when I'm far gone." Reaching up to his blindfold again, his fingers slipped under the clothing, giving it a gentle yank. Dissipating into the air in a similar manner to the rest of his garment, the strip of cloth vanished. "Okay... now you can open your eyes."

Sora blinked to clear his vision and adjust to the darkness, but what he saw in front of him seemed so much different then before. Fingers flitted over the other's cheeks while a slow smile spread across his face. He could see the beautiful green that made up Riku's eyes so clearly and it put earlier worries to rest. "You always had them covered," Sora started to speak before smiling sheepishly when he realized he needed to be more specific. "In the dream I had you always had your eyes covered and even though I knew you had to it always made me sad. I felt like I'd never get to look at them again."

Riku smiled just a little. He only smiled for Sora because for Sora he could mean it. "I kept them covered... for you. So that there's still a part of me left safe, just for you." He leaned into the hand on his cheek. The world was so different now, but all he could see was the other teen laying there on the pillow, grinning up at him. He could see the soft colours of the boy's face, his hair, and eyes, a blue never became dulled by the shadows. "... I'm sure I missed looking at you," Whispering, he soothed back the other's bangs. "Your goofy face and even goofier smile." He couldn't help smiling a little more to himself.

Sora's smile turned shy at each compliment. They all meant so much after such frightening visions even if the images themselves weren't real. A hand snatched the comforter, pulling it over Riku to keep the other cuddled close and warm. "I always thought about you in the dream. I was always so worried about you and hoped you would come back soon." He gave a shaky laugh while his hand sought out the eldest teen's to hold. "It was sort of like our last adventure all over again, except I wasn't allowed to chase after you this time."

Green eyes heavily drooped. When was the last time he'd slept? The last time he even felt the tug of sleepiness on his mind? Riku found himself at the mercy of it under the warmth of blankets that decided that he'd never leave their clutches. His fingers twitched at the skin to skin contact but soon relaxed at the affectionate hold Sora's hand had. "... Really?" Finally he spoke up, surprised to hear the drowsiness cling to his own voice. "Hmm.. that's too bad, I rather liked you chasing after me like a man possessed. 'Have you seen Riku? Riku? I'm looking for Riku? Riku, Riku, Rikuu?'." He gave a small chuckle. "Such a handful." His skin began to drink in the heat, warming up on its own slightly.

Sora snuggled close to Riku's sudden body heat. It was inviting to be near and even though he was the one that was supposed to provide the other warmth and keep the dreams at bay, he still wanted to be held in a similar manner as well. "I know, but I was just worried. You know that, Riku." His fingers wiggled against Riku's hand in idle movement and when he smiled it could be felt against the older boy's skin. "But I have you back now and even better is the fact that nothing can tear us apart."

Fingers busied themselves, combing through Sora's hair flattened by Riku's cheek. "Forever," he quietly lied. "I'll let you tell anyone and everyone about us. I don't care anymore who knows." His head leaned closer to the other teen's. "I want them to know. Your parents, mine, the kids at school, everybody." He made a soft 'heh' to cover up the broken sound he wished to make. "I'll let you gush to who ever you want. Selphie, Wakka, Tidus; everyone."

A tiny noise leapt from the back of Sora's throat. He wasn't sure he had heard right, but there was nothing else that he could have gotten mixed up in such words. "R-Really?" Sora lifted his head a little to try and see Riku's expression, peering into his eyes when he couldn't see much of anything else. "You don't mind anymore? You're okay with it?" His words were becoming excited little by little and soon faltered before he looked away again; back down. "What about Kairi? Is it okay to tell her?"

Riku nodded and gathered Sora to his chest, clunking his head against the boy's. "Even Kairi." One hand remained buried in the boy's hair while the other raced up and down the other's spine. He tried to remember the happy girl they all knew on the island. The way she tucked her maroon hair behind her ear when she giggled at the silly things him and Sora used to argue about. The same girl that used to lean against the paopu tree while the both of them sat on its bent trunk, watching the sky turn soft shades of pink and orange; dreaming about what was beyond the horizon of water. Kairi; their dear child hood friend. Not Kairi; their worst of enemies, betrayal and life failure.

"She'll understand. It won't mean we don't c- love her any less," Riku whispered against Sora's warm brunette hair, hastily correcting himself. "... She's... she's like family. Our sister and more." Shifting, he peered up into the boy's fretful face. "We'll explain it together and make her understand how important she still is to us. That despite how much we grow, and how much things seem to change... our hearts never will."

At that, any uncertainties Sora had vanished in an instant and his smile returned. "You're right, Riku. She'll understand once we talk to her. She knows how much we mean to each other, right? But, she also knows how much she means to us." Burying himself deeper into the mound of blankets, he nuzzled the other's chest. "It'll feel better this way you'll see, Riku. We won't have to sneak around everyone any longer. It'll be like a weight is lifted off our shoulders."

Riku feigned a small groan. "You're going to want to hold hands and kiss in public aren't you?" He ruffled Sora's hair. "Public displays of affection all over Destiny Islands... in school, in the streets, at restaurants. Geez, what have I gotten myself into." It seemed he tried to be as dramatic as he could.

"Riku!" Sora shouted in a bit of a whine. "Of course I'm going to want to. That's what being a couple is all about. Well, not all about, but I like doing those things with you when we're alone. We should be able to do them in public too." His voice started to get that enthusiastic little tone to it again as he mulled over what would happen with the sudden change. "School will be different too. We won't have to sneak around anymore, you know? And when we see each other in the halls I can let you know how much I missed you instead of just exchanging really quick words before we go to our classes."

The only response to this was a roll of green eyes. "Like the 'L' word in public, followed by silly pet names, hugs and kisses." Riku chuckled a little. "I'm never going to live any of this down. People are going to think I've gone soft, what with all the cuddling and kissy faces." He couldn't help teasing.

"What's wrong with saying you love me?" The words came so natural for Sora that he had to stop for a second himself to think over the question. Of course in the dream, he had told Riku. He could remember himself saying it so many times in fits of tears and just quiet moments by themselves. But soon he smiling again as he tried to look at Riku's face once more. "I wouldn't mind saying it in front of everyone. You know, saying that I love you in front of our friends or anyone else." He nervously laughed and tried his best to roll his eyes in the dark. "Besides, no one will think you've gone soft, Riku. Everyone in school will still think you're something great."

"Hmm... if it stops girls _and guys_ from pestering me and leaving love notes in my locker... then I guess it wouldn't be so bad." Riku gave a small shrug. "Except the notes signed by this mysterious 'S' that I kept getting. I kept those. They were folded into little paper stars and I often found them slipped into my locker." He tried to hide his new found grin. "Sometimes they'd mysteriously show up in my pockets. Which was strange, since there was only you around me at the time." Averting his gaze, he feigned thought. "Hm... I wonder who that mysterious 'S' was that said all those sweet things. Hm." A hand scratched through his hair. "Maaaybe- Selphie. Yep. It's definitely Selphie. Who else would say I have 'long beautiful hair like spun silver'?"

Sora almost choked on his tongue and felt lucky that the darkness hid the fierce blush while he tried to figure out how to work the miracle of speech. He didn't know whether to deny it or scream the truth to the other. "I-I dont... well that is... you see." Eventually he groaned when all he could do was stutter and turned his head away, trying to think of a coherent sentence. Something that wouldn't be broken up. "Who knows."

"'And eyes 'like the sparkling water around _our_ island'," Riku continued despite Sora's embarrassed out burst. It took all he had not to laugh himself. "I especially liked the part in the most recent one mysterious 'S' gave me." He moved so he was face to face with Sora, nuzzling his forehead against his. " 'Whenever I'm smiling I'm silently saying 'I love you, Riku' with my heart." A couple fingers caressed the other's hot cheek.

Sora chewed at his bottom lip while his cheeks became hotter. He was caught and he knew it, but he wanted to continue playing innocent for as long as he could. Returning his line of vision to Riku, he took a small breath. "Y-You liked it?"

"Well, I can't, it would be weird if it's Selphie. Right?" Riku slipped his hand down Sora's back, enjoying the rare feel of skin along the ridge of the boy's spine without any obstruction. "I'll have to let her down gently. Tell her that I'm in love with a boy with eyes like pools of blue water and hair like spun dirt." He knew it was terrible to laugh after, but he simply couldn't keep it in any longer.

Sora's eyes widened for a split second before narrowing just as quickly. His cheeks puffed out a bit and he started to pout. "It's not funny, Riku." Freeing his hands, he pushed at the other boy's shoulders, wishing the bed would just swallow him up and he could disappear. "Shut up."

Riku tried to stifle his laughter, but Sora's face was just so classic. "Sorry, sorry." He snatched up the boy's hands and pinned them down on the pillow they shared as he tried to get his laughter under control. "Seriously. I love the little notes from my mysterious 'S'." An apologetic peck was given to the other's adam's apple. "I think he's very sweet." He then kissed Sora's collar bone, resting his head on the teen's chest afterwards and glanced up at him with a small grin. "If only I knew who he was. I might just fall for him." The boy's chin was next to receive a playful kiss. "So you better watch out, Sora."

Sora kept quiet for a bit, bribed out of his pouting by the kisses before he turned his head away and spoke quietly, "I'll share with you my secrets, my tears, my happiness, my fears and even my life. All I need to know is that I have you." Refusing to look the other in the eye, he swallowed thickly after reciting the words he had memorized from one of the many notes. "T-They're just silly little notes."

Riku silenced Sora, although with his lips this time instead of a finger to shush him and when he leaned back, he spoke in all seriousness, "They weren't silly to me. I really did keep each one. They're hidden in my room, kept safe."

Sora was dazed for a second. "Kept them?" Recovering, he seemed surprised by the information. "You really kept them?" His earlier embarrassment was long forgotten over the entire ordeal, replaced by a large smile. Now, he was ecstatic to know that something he had done for Riku had been treasured by the older teen. "I was so afraid you would throw them out. I didn't think you would care or even know since I didn't try to be too obvious."

"Aside from Selphie, you're the only 'S' I know who would write me. And the only one who would fold their notes into paopu shapes." Riku gave a wry smile. "That- and I can recognize your writing any day, no matter how neat you try." His expression softened. "So of course I kept each one, you nut. I didn't say anything cuz I thought that might stop you from sending them. They might have been cheesy to start, but with each one they got.. well..." He tried to search for a word that wasn't completely embarrassing and failed. " _Beautiful_." Averting his gaze, it was his turn to feel awkward. "Never thought anyone could ever say things like that to me and really mean it."

Sora had to lean up to close the gap between himself and Riku because of the hold on his wrists. Fumbling in the dark caused him to miss his target at first and he was giggling when he finally did hit his mark, kissing the other softly. When he pulled back, he gracefully flopped onto his pillow, smiling up at the other. "I meant every word of it in every single note, and if you really like them I don't have to stop writing them for you, Riku." His voice became shy again, "I liked writing them for you."

"Then I'll have to keep my eye out for little stars." Riku intertwined his fingers with Sora's, chuckling. "Who knows, you may start getting notes from a mysterious 'R'. I hear 'R' had his eye on you from day one. Though I don't think he's as poetic as mysterious 'S'."

Sora gave another quiet laugh of his own before he shook his head. "It's okay. I'll know the meaning is there and in the end it all means a lot." He clasped Riku's hands a little tighter, yanking the other down on top of him. "You know what, Riku?" Without waiting for a response, he continued on, "I feel really lucky that you're my best friend and that you've always looked out for me. I know that things changed a lot, but even still you kept looking out for me as best you could. I just feel really lucky to have you." He buried his face near Riku's neck. "And I'm so glad we're home."

A disappointed frown crossed Riku's face and he let go of the teen's hands in favour of slipping them around the younger boy, hugging him near. He would have clung tighter to the other in the desperate embrace but then that would have given it all away. Besides, the guilt hung so heavily on what was left of the other's heart and he had to keep reminding himself that this lie was for Sora's sake.

"I'm the lucky one, Sora," Riku barely managed to whisper.

Sora shook his head a bit, his smile easily felt. "We're both lucky then. We're lucky to have each other after so long. We'll be okay and we'll live our lives out here on the islands after we get out of school. We'll do it together." Sora had moved his own hands to encircle Riku's middle, near his chest. It just felt right to be buried against the older teen in such a way. He felt protected, and it was something he needed. "Because whenever you love someone so much you want to spend the rest of your life with them."

Dark tears squeezed past Riku's lashes. It hurt. It hurt so much to hear such happy and hopeful words spoken for such empty lies. He also wished hard that the bed they laid in was Sora's soft bed and it was the boy's old comforter they were snuggled under; that the room had clothes thrown askew or childhood knick knacks cluttering every shelf. The sound of the ocean far off was the same, almost painfully so, as the smell of its air blew in from an open window while the lazy sound of Sora's breath was warm against his chest. Riku could almost believe. Almost.

He pressed his cheek against the other's hair, cool black tears staining his flesh. "I do," Riku weakly spoke up, "I do want to spend the rest of my life with you, Sora. And the next one too. As many as I'll have."

"So do I," Sora spoke softly, laughing slightly. "I mean, I want to spend all my lives with you too, Riku." He pressed a lazy kiss to the other teen's skin since he was buried near the boy's chest anyway and was too sleepy to bother moving. His fingers drew tiny patterns on the other's back to ease them both. "I guess, maybe, I sound a little obsessive, huh? Sorry, I just really care about you."

Riku gave an obvious snort, amused. "You're preaching to the choir, Sora. You're not obsessed. And I know obsessed." He ran his hand through Sora's ruffled hair, using the action as a secret excuse to wipe his eyes unnoticed. When he settled, he kept silent a moment listening to the other's deep breath. "... I love you too, Sora," Riku whispered as quietly as he could, figuring the boy was fast asleep.

Sora's arms seemed to tighten but there was no real response. Even his fingers had stopped their random motions which made it obvious that Riku's assumptions had been correct. The surrounding warmth didn't help matters either and had only pulled him in quicker. It was only a matter of time before he gave in.

Riku stayed long after the boy had fallen asleep listening to the soft murmurs and small fusses he made in his sleep. This only made the other want to cuddle closer against the warm body that held him, his little noises ceasing when he was held just that much tighter. Absent-mindedly Riku's fingers combed through brown hair, whispering sweet affections he would never say in the wake of day.

The elder teen had never expected to get in this situation, laying nearly naked with his best friend in the bed of an inn while his companions lay a few feet away. He had never felt so lucid, as if he were waking up there, just then, and reality was waiting to crash down on him but he was far too selfish to give in. He couldn't tell Sora about everything he'd done. The fear that the other would never forgive him and reject him was just far too much to handle.  
And wasn't that little lie wonderful? Would it really hurt them so bad if it had been true? Hadn't they done enough to let everyone else take over from here?

Glancing down at the face pressed close to his chest, it looked as if the other didn't have a single worry or care and Riku wanted more than anything to keep him that way.

Carefully he touched a finger at Sora's temple, tracing along brunette hair, a black mist following. It coiled to form a black blindfold binding the boy's eyes which would protect him in the Darkness, causing him to sleep soundly as if they never left. Tightening his embrace around the other, Riku nuzzled his face against soft hair as they sunk into shadows.

Everything would be okay now. They had lies, each other, and home, to keep them happy. All the rest would just be a bad dream.p them happy. All the rest would just be a bad dream.


	59. Chapter 59

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 59

Kingdom Zenith; Riku's own perfect world, crafted by him himself.

A perfect world cast completely in Darkness, made from Darkness. The heavy air was dark, so cold yet humid to drink in and breathe, near stifling.  
Enormous obsidian skyscrapers jutted from the ground, a twisted memory from The World That Never Was, warped and pointed like behemoth barren ribs that populated the world's surface. Their lit windows a luminous yellow like the empty eyes of Heartless. Around them were palm trees, dark and lanky, their thin forms reached impossibly high into the violaceaus sky. Their fanned leaves and thin forms were draped and twinned in barbed wiry bonds, little glowing lights trailed along them, their cold illumination speckled along even to the distance like mock stars in the austere world. Below the ground was mostly water, liquid shadow, an ocean that spread onto forever save for a few islands here and there. The lights of the world barely glittered along its softly lapping surface.  
The people of this world, of Riku's Kingdom, were the worst of Heartless. The most twisted and darkened hearts were drawn to live in the darkest shadows of the cities. To live and become assimilated into the world itself, to be molded into Riku's worldscape vision.

But today, the King was away.

And that suited Axel perfectly.

The sky soon grew bright in its purple hues, light hitting a small area for the first time in all its creation; but it wasn't true light. Black fire erupted from the atmosphere and crashed down into the solemn peace. Glass shattered from the windows of the jagged buildings as minor Heartless were incinerated in the explosive heat. Water hissed throwing steam high into the air, trailing up from the fiery scar left from the attack.  
In the center of the dark mess burned two illuminated eyes; seething. The fire Heartless, perched on the tip of a shambled skyscraper. The damage, the destruction, the few deaths of his own, it wasn't enough. Roxas was here, he could feel it, covered in the thick layers of Riku's putrid Darkness; but there none the less, a small piece. And Axel was going to burn and tear away every piece of Riku's vile darkness to get what was his. Himself against the world; this was nothing new.

The surrounding trees swayed with the explosion that the vicious attack had caused, but even after, their movements still didn't settle. Even the steam that rose from the water gathered around in a dark cloud along the ground below. The calm that had resided in the world seconds ago had been disturbed and it wasn't hard to see that what Heartless made up the area were soon to make their presence known to the trespasser that had caused such a scene.

From the haze of the darkened steam the glow of multiple pairs of eyes could barely be made out as bodies slunk out from the water. It was from buildings further down that had escaped most of the Heartless' wrath that the familiar scritching of claws could be heard tearing at glass, trying to break through. All of them were the most powerful of the herd that seemed setup to protect the world.

In a burst of fire chakram appeared in front of Axel's hands stretched out at his sides. He narrowed his glowing eyes that matched the others that appeared around him, though they soon shone more bright and fiercely. He threw his hands forward sending the chakram forward, violent black fire erupted in a wall trailing after the weapons. Axel crossed his arms to summon and throw more chakram about him. He leapt off his perch to slide down the side of the skyscraper. The dark tattoos from his arms misted off to form a chain of chakram trailing down his arms. With them he caught the wind and took to the air, twisting round to slice the Heartless, which boldly leapt up to attack, with the chain of weapons.

Axel landed on the side of another building though not without dispersing the chain of chakram out into the herds of Heartless that gathered. Each chakram erupted in an inferno of fire on impact, taking out what Heartless it could.

"..Roxas," Axel spoke the name quietly under his breath. But he saw no sign of the teen. Nothing. Only this disturbing world. Axel grit his teeth. Soon Roxas' name was screamed from his lips as he threw out his hands to stretch out a new inferno around him. The building beneath his feet shook, cracked, as fire burst from its insides, bursting out from the windows to lick at its dark frame.

The Heartless that had been unscathed from the attacks jumped back from Axel to land in a safer zone and away from the sudden burst. Most of them landed on one of the warped roofs of another building while the rest hung upside down from the lanterns. There was quiet amusement among each and every one of the Heartless; mocking sounds at the fire user's anguish which they greedily fed upon.

Dark energy formed around multiple claws all at once while only a couple of the Heartless worked together to create a small vortex using the water below. Glowing eyes beamed brighter as each dark bit of energy was released towards Axel and the strong tunneling water was pushed his way as well in combination.

Axel was quick to summon a few of his remaining chakrams from his arm. One spun to cut the energy that fired at him in half while another kept in his hand to block the water that flew his way. The vortex of water slammed hard into him; god how he hated water. It was far stronger than he anticipated and he lost his footing and flew back to crash into the water far below with a large splash. The water hissed when it touched his hot skin and it was quick to pull him further under.

Above, the chakrams in each inferno flew back and plunged into the water after Axel. Fire couldn't be created in water but at least Axel could form protection around himself. The chakram cut into Heartless that tried to attack and pull him further, while the other chakram circled around Axel to keep him safe as he tried to make it back to the surface.

Most of the Heartless scurried around trees and roofs to keep watch on the area where Axel had fallen into. They kept their distance from buildings that still burned away and had watched when a few of the weapons had returned to their owner. Still, some of the Heartless kept at their attacks despite the shield and blasted energy into the water, but it seemed to do little good.

A few of the Heartless that kept their eyes on the water began to manipulate the surface of it. The water rippled and thrashed about as the Heartless' claws clenched and twitched. Anything to make the trip inside the liquid even more difficult for Axel.

Axel paused in his swimming. He looked down; nothingness and darkness. For a moment up seemed down and down was up; Roxas was down there, deep in the heart of things bleak down below. Though swimming as he was down wouldn't get him very far. The worst of Heartless down there would cut everything he was up into small unrecognizable pieces. There was only one way to go about it.

Up tore the fire Heartless up from the torrid surface that the other Heartless caused. Immediately fire ignited when Axel tasted the air, a wave of inferno washed out to engulf the Heartless nearby, chakram flying forth and gutting the other Heartless further out.

Axel landed on the tilted side of a building, a burst of fire swept over his skin to dry him off. Quickly he ran up its side. He leapt to a nearer building to avoid the Heartless that climbed up its surface to stop him. The chakram that still surrounded him tore through the Heartless that ran along side and tried to claw at him.

The remaining Heartless hissed their displeasure at watching Axel rip through their kin so easily. What had once been a darkened and twisted city was suddenly a burning wasteland from the battle going on. The Heartless paid none of it any mind. Any clear area they could find was used for footing and whatever Heartless wasn't in battle yet was called forward from the shadows to slink up from the ground to help aid.

Bursts of dark energy were shot off towards the weapons that Axel wielded to try and disarm the Heartless. While the distraction went on other Heartless bounded across buildings to hope to take Axel by surprise with a sneak attack. Claws barely made a sound against the building's surface before the few Heartless leaped to try and tackle the fire user.

Chakrams blocked and cut into what Heartless they could but there were far too many and a few made it through the barrier. Axel flinched at the claws that dug into his skin and soon the offending Heartless burst into flames. Others were cut in two as chakram appeared with a burst of fire inside the Heartless that tried to latch onto his arms.

Axel leapt onto another building, scrambling up to its peak. He had little time to take in the scene around him. The raging fires he'd made were quickly being smothered by the shear numbers of Heartless that were rushing towards the scene. They were climbing the building he was perched on quickly, cold murderous hearts that wanted nothing more than his messy death.

Axel stretched out his hands summoning all the chakrams he had around his person, leaving his arms barren and pale. Each weapon burst into dark flame as they few around him, spreading far across and around. It took a few Heartless out but that wasn't its purpose. Axel gestured sharply to the water below and few burning chakram plunged down to start a fiery path. Axel leapt, the remaining chakram spinning round him with protective fire as he dove down towards the water at great speed. The splash was enormous, throwing hot steam up like a wave of water as Axel bore deep into the water, plunging further into the darkest of the planet where he knew the worst of the Heartless resided; and Roxas.

The sudden act of plunging so deep inside the darkness was a bold one. Despite the protective barrier Axel tried to force around himself the more vicious Heartless that resided deep below could still be felt just as easily had it not even been there. They would have no mercy on one of their own that they deemed as a traitor. Claws tried to tear at pieces of the Heartless' body, but the harsh weapons kept them at bay. It didn't stop them from trying to hit somewhere else and hurt the Heartless even worse.

They refused to allow Axel to feel any hope of finding what he searched for. A strong sense of dread and emptiness was forced upon Axel's entire being as he plunged deeper and deeper into their territory for the time being. They would weigh down his heart in any way possible.

Axel clutched at his chest. That same horrific pain seized through it as it had that day when he knew something terrible had happened to Roxas. The Darkness wouldn't let him forget that the worst was waiting for him in the center of the world. Axel had forced himself not to dwell on it but now the Darkness wouldn't let him think of anything else. Roxas wasn't his. Roxas's heart had been claimed by Riku, and was now Riku's alone. His fight was pointless, useless and it would only end in disappointment and heart break.

"Heh..." Axel gave a pained smirk as he still drifted further down. "You seem to forget... I betrayed the Nobody Organization for him... I'm surprised you're shocked I'd betray the Darkness too for him." His glow eyes dulled and faded. "Not even death has stopped me." When he blinked open his eyes were green again. Axel grinned wide.

Dark fire erupted within the darkest of the world, throwing forth and spreading cataclysmically. It was the last that Axel had to push through; there wasn't much he had left now. With Sora it had killed him, in that dark city it nearly had and it almost broke Roxas' new heart. Axel had to smile though in the last few seconds he had conscious; even if he did die, at least Roxas' heart wouldn't break over him now.

With that last burst of dark flame the horrible feelings ceased. Everything around that wished to destroy the Heartless had been vanquished by the sudden attack. There had been no hope for any of the cruel feelings and scratching claws. The way had been cleared completely and there were no more barriers left to keep Axel away from what he had searched so hard for. The only hindrance would be if the Heartless even had any strength left at all to be among the living after giving his all as the darkness gave way to the center of the world where Riku kept his prized pet.

Axel's body fell and fell hard against the solid ground, leaving him a wet crumpled mess. The chakram hadn't returned to him, leaving his arms still barren. Slowly consciousness crept back into him though he was barely aware. All that he knew was that he was happy to be finally out of the water, but he felt so damn cold, so empty, as if the fire of life had nearly been snuffed out inside him. His fingers twitched as Axel tried to figure out just exactly where he was, but his body didn't have the energy to cooperate much. Which for the moment suited Axel, he didn't feel much like moving anyway.

"... R-...ro." Axel choked on his own attempted words and the liquid darkness that had invaded his mouth and throat. He coughed violently a few times before laying still again.

The darkened room kept still and silent even after Axel's entrance. Only a few of the barbed lanterns that had been high above were settled around, but they weren't nearly enough to produce good enough light. It was after the Heartless was completely still that there was a small bit of shuffling. Quiet footsteps padded along the ground and grew closer until they stopped beside Axel. After a few seconds a clawed finger poked the Heartless rather hard against his forehead in a none too gentle fashion.

"O-ow," Axel gave a broken whine. He was already broken enough, he didn't need a new hole in the head. His hand twitched but he didn't have the energy to rub his abused forehead. Instead he forced his eyes to open and look up at his attack. Axel's eyes grew wide around. "...R-ro," the name died in his throat.

Glowing eyes blinked and Roxas quickly back-stepped in an instant once Axel raised his head to look at him. His hand had fallen to his side and both twitched in a defensive way. He had easily sensed the moment the other had stepped foot on the world above, but the shambled state that the other Heartless had fallen into the room as had Roxas thinking he wouldn't be any real harm. At least not until Axel actually moved. For the time being Roxas kept quiet and only studied the other Heartless as he tilted his head.

Axel slowly shook his head. "... No." He tried to push himself up on arms but only fell back down on his shoulder. "R-Roxas." He dug his nails into the ground as he grit his teeth, raw emotion and adrenaline fueling him now. He tried to drag himself nearer, but the black water made his grip near impossible and bogged down his being. So Axel only stared in helpless horror at what Riku had forced Roxas to become; some sick puppet, twisted in his Somebody's image.

Roxas stood up straighter when the other Heartless spoke his old name. It was just another person on the list that seemed to know it besides Riku and himself. He was soon shaking his head from side to side as he watched Axel stare at him. It made him feel slightly uneasy, but he pushed that aside for the moment. "That's not my name," he spoke rather quietly to the admittance. "My name is Sora now." His eyes narrowed a little as he couldn't recall ever seeing this Heartless before. He was always sure to remember such details. "Who are you?"

Axel felt his jaw go slack and perhaps unhinged. And for a moment he swore his dead heart give a frightening thud in his chest. Riku truly was a sick twisted bastard. "..A-Axel," he barely managed to speak up. "Axel," he repeated more assuredly. He couldn't think of much more to say past his own name.

"Axel," Roxas repeated the name more to himself then anything else. He muttered the name over and over as if the Heartless weren't even in the same room with him for a few seconds before his attention was quickly back on the other. His gaze traveled over the wounds and such that Axel had been forced to endure before his eyes moved to meet the Heartless' own once again. "Why are you here?" It was another quick question that was straight to the point.

"To see you, you brat," Axel forced his tone to be normal. It was one of the small things that kept him from losing it. Axel managed to run a hand through his soaked hair, pushing the water out as best he could. He flicked his fingers free of the liquid, but the watery darkness was clingy. "Hmph... you always did like to play in the water. Why, I never understood."

Roxas watched each action while he kept on the defensive. Axel's words confused him a great deal and it was plain to see on his face. If he didn't know this Heartless then why would Axel be coming to this world to see him? And what silly things would Axel know about him if they had never met. It got on Roxas' nerves that the other Heartless only seemed to be trying to confuse him. His eyes narrowed once again and he snarled out his next words, "I don't even know you."

Axel flinched but he wouldn't let angry words detour him. He pushed himself up to sit, at least then he was more eye level with Roxas. "You do. But Riku has buried those and all your memories deep inside your heart." He weakly raised a hand to tap his chest. "... I've been searching for you, looking so hard to find you, missing you... so- so much. Even if you can't remember, even if you don't know who I am- I'm sorry. I'm sorry I let all this happen to you. I said you were safe, and I thought you were- but... he found and took you anyway." Black tears then fell from Axel's eyes and he lowered his head, unable to look at Roxas anymore. "... We've really gotten ourselves all mixed up, huh, Roxas- Sora- who ever the hell you are now. Everything just goes to Hell every time we think we're happy." Axel scoffed as he dragged a hand through his hair, yanking it through the wet mess.

Roxas shook his head from side to side much like he had when Axel had spoken his old name. None of what the other Heartless said made much sense to him and at the same time he couldn't stand to hear his master talked about in such a way. "Riku didn't do anything wrong. Riku takes care of me and I help him whenever he needs it. He was there when I woke up and I belong to him." Roxas' hands shook at his sides even more. "Riku even loves me. You don't have a right to say anything like that about him because he did no such thing."

Axel gave a low frustrated sound. "He doesn't love you! He loves _Sora_ \- the _real_ Sora! You're Roxas- Sora's Nobody. His other part. We fought so damn hard to get you a heart- to make you actually feel. He did this to you! He took your free will away- he took away everything we had tried so hard to build." Axel wiped away the dark tears with the side of his hand. "You're an idiot if you think everything he's done, especially to you, is out of the kindness of his 'heart'. Riku is a maniac lost to the Darkness. He's raped your heart and brain washed your mind. Think about the time before you woke up- you existed before all this... remember Twilight Town, your godamn loser friends who are probably worried sick because you've disappeared."

Axel gave a small sound between a laugh and a choked sob. "Probably blaming me again. Right?" His grin was so sad. "Don't you remember the beach? When you dragged me into the water." He flicked his soaking hair in gesture. "And how much I hated it but I still went in. And then we huddled up in the blankets and 'christened' your beach soon after. I wouldn't let you go to school the next day because I said I didn't want you going outside and getting a cold, forcing you to stay in bed with me all day." The dark tears started falling again, Axel couldn't stop them but still he kept grinning for Roxas. "But you have to remember our night on the clock tower. You drank so much, I was afraid you were going to fall off the edge. But you just kept clinging to me and whispering just how much you really did care... and how sorry you were for everything. And even though you didn't say it, your heart kept pleading with me, whispering 'don't go, please don't go, and don't leave me'." Axel gripped the front of his shirt and his grin finally fell. "... I took you home after you fell asleep. I stayed with you a couple of hours with you in bed." He smiled sadly at the floor. "I didn't think a kid fast asleep and so sloshed out of his mind could cling so tightly. But you did..." Axel slowly looked up at Roxas. "... I almost didn't leave," he quietly confessed.

Despite Axel's tears and such heart-felt words, during the entire speech full of memories not once did Roxas' expression change. There was still that same narrowed stare, but a fierce hatred seemed to have grown inside glowing eyes and soon the Heartless took a few more steps back as he nearly shouted his next words, "You're lying! None of that's true. You're just trying to trick me, just like Zexion tried to do." He remembered the cruel words that the illusionist placed upon him as he was called a puppet. He wouldn't allow this Heartless to twist his mind in the same way.

Flames licked at the air and burst forth, but they didn't come from the weakened Heartless that was still seated on the floor. Instead they had come from Roxas' tightened claws and soon both fiery keyblades showed themselves when the fires lessened. "You're just trying to turn me against Riku. You're one of those other Heartless that have only been a nuisance to him, aren't you?" He raised one of the blades and pointed it straight at Axel. "I'm not going to let you fool me."

Axel's eyes widened, though not because his life was threatened it was the keyblades that Roxas was still able to wield even as a Heartless. Axel's expression saddened again. "... I gave you those." Of course he didn't have the tattoos to prove any of that and Axel cursed his fate with luck. He stretched out a hand, palm up, and struggled to summon flame. He curled and stretched his hands but nothing came. With a sound of frustration Axel snapped his fingers instead and soon a small black flame hovered over his fingers. "See. That's my dark flames you're using. I gave you those keychains. Back when we were fighting to get your heart." Axel uncurled his hand and the flame grew to rest in his palm. "You've always had me close to you... Even though you didn't know it."

Roxas' anger seemed to vanish for a split second as curiosity took hold of him instead. He cocked his head to the side as he stared at the black flame, rather intrigued by it, or so it seemed. He had only seen such a thing when he summoned both of his weapons and even then it was only for a moment or during certain attacks. It was odd to see the flicker of power in someone else's hands. His eyes blinked and darted back to Axel, but they didn't narrow as quickly as before. "I've always had these. I didn't get them from you." It was the truth that Roxas knew. Not some story that this Heartless before him seemed to have made up on the spot. Still, he seemed very interested in the flame that flickered and it kept his attention as he spoke up again in an innocent tone, "Does it hurt to touch?"

Axel turned his eyes on the fire and curled and stretched his fingers causing the fire to dance a little more. "It used to... But that was a long time ago. A part of me gave everything I had to it and was snuffed away with it. But," he spun his hand and the flame crawled around, twinning around to sit back in his palm, "now I am the fire." His fingers curled into it and the dark flame spread to dancing along his fingers. "So it doesn't hurt." He sat his hand back down and the fire rested in his palm again. "Unlike other Heartless it makes me warm. I'm still warm to the touch. The fire may be so cold it burns, but that doesn't matter. Fire is fire." Axel tightened his hand and the flame went out. He unfurled his hand and offered it to Roxas. "Go ahead. See for yourself. I'm very warm." He stretched out his long arm further, offering his hand weakly. "I'm betting you're pretty cold. Most Heartless are." Axel gave a weak smile. "They don't realize it though, they just don't know any better."

Roxas seemed hesitant to do such a thing as he gazed at Axel with wide eyes. "Riku will be mad at me." The thought that ran through his mind had escaped his lips out loud. He couldn't help it though. He was certain that if Riku knew he did such a thing then he would be punished for it. It didn't seem to stop Roxas, though. The blades at his sides vanished and he took careful steps toward Axel. A hand rose so claws could place themselves on top of the other Heartless' arm and almost in an instant Roxas felt shivers run down his spine. Axel was indeed quite warm and he felt as if he wanted to steal all that heat for his own. It was that which had him placing his entire hand on the other's arm to rest as a soft purr mixed in with his words, "You're right. You're very warm, Axel."

Axel gave a tired nod. "Fire Heartless get away with it. We're lucky like that I guess. Though I'm usually much warmer than this." He gave a slight grin. "Had a bit of trouble getting here, tired me out." He very gently rested his other hand atop Roxas' to encase it with more warmth. "And I'm kind of wet. Fire doesn't do well in water, I'm afraid." Axel looked at Roxas' face, speaking his question as casually as if he were asking a normal person, "Are you cold?"

Roxas was about to protest and yank his hand back, but there was that shiver again. He never realized until that very second how very chilling his own body was compared to the Heartless in front of him. It was the only thing that kept his hand encased beneath Axel's own. He lifted his eyes away from their hands to meet the other's gaze and gave a quick nod. "Yes, I am."

Axel gave Roxas a sympathetic expression, the Darkness was cruel like that, taking every warm feeling away. "I'm sorry to hear that." He pulled his arms away and offered one hand. "Here, give me both your hands, I'll do my best to warm them up." He gave the smallest of smiles. "Don't worry, I won't tell Riku. You won't get in trouble."

Roxas missed the warmth as soon as it was gone and almost gave a pathetic whine. It was Axel's words that had him keeping silent and thinking hard about whether or not he should actually agree to such a deal. Of course if he ever wanted that warmth back he would have to. Even Riku had never given him such a feeling. The other always seemed just as chill at times as Roxas himself and it always suited him just fine until now. "Okay," he spoke in nearly a whisper. Both his hands lifted and extended towards the other Heartless to take.

Axel took Roxas' small clawed hands in the palm of his longer spindly hand. He rested his other hand on top and encased Roxas' hands in his, curling fingers around tightly. "Is that better?" he quietly whispered back.

Roxas could feel the heat in his hands and it seemed to travel up his arms, throughout his body. The soft little purr that had accompanied his words came forth on it's own from his throat as he stared with wide eyes at their hands. He realized he needed to answer and shot his gaze up to Axel as quick as he could. "Yes," his voice rose and a small smile spread on his face, "it's much better."

Axel returned the smile with his own; it was all a step in the right direction, even if they were small baby steps. "Good." He gently rubbed the top of Roxas' hands, even though there wasn't any real circulation to get moving, it was just an excuse to be able to touch Roxas. "That purring is new. It's nice." Axel stared down at his hands, lost for much else to say.

Roxas seemed startled at the fact he had been caught doing such a thing. His teeth chewed at his bottom lip for a few seconds as the smile had been wiped clear from his face. "I always seem to do it when I'm happy or something of the sort. That's usually when it happens," the words left him quietly. He seemed almost afraid to admit it to the other Heartless when seconds ago he had been threatening Axel with his blades. "Riku likes it, so he finds ways to make me do it a lot." The timid smile returned.

A sharp pang of jealousy tore through Axel but he tried to bury it deep. Roxas didn't know any better, he couldn't help it. And honesty meant a lot when you were a Heartless, when you're life was made up of hatred and lies.

"It means a lot to hear it too, then." Axel let his hand trail up to Roxas' forearm. He wrapped his hand around to feel the temperature. "You're still pretty cold." He rubbed Roxas' arm to remedy that. "The Darkness isn't very warm I'm afraid. If I wasn't so water logged I'd make us a fire or something to sit by." His small smile returned as he remembered their huddled up moment on the beach.

The smile on Roxas' face fell away as he watched Axel for a few seconds as if thinking over something carefully. Finally he pulled free from the other Heartless completely and bounced backwards on both feet with a playful laugh. "I can help. Watch me." It was as if he were a child seeking attention and the blades that had long since vanished reappeared in his hands just as quick. He twirled them around on fast hands before plunging them both inside the dark ground on either side of himself. It took a few seconds, but soon dark fire erupted from the ground to encircle the two of them far enough not to burn, but close enough to warm.

Axel gave a short laugh. "Wow. Very nice. Couldn't have done better myself." He rubbed his own arms before he reached out towards the fire to warm his fingers. "That's much better. Thank you, Ro- erm, yeah, Sora." He bit his tongue on the slip up and smiled some more. He ran a hand through his hair trying to dry it out. "Hope the chakram come back. It's a little strange not to have them." He ran a finger down where the chakram would usually spiral down his arm. "I feel kind of naked." He rubbed his arm.

Roxas kept each blade in the ground, but dropped his hands away from them. He was more interested in the other Heartless. He had been so bored since Riku left, and despite the earlier anger he had felt towards this Axel person, he also was rather curious about him as well with each passing moment. He stepped back towards the other Heartless, but instead of stopping he leaned in close, bending over at his waist so he could peer into the other's eyes with nothing but a blank expression on his own face. "Will you still keep me warm?" It was an innocent question and despite the fire burning around Roxas still didn't feel like it was enough.

Axel blinked but soon nodded with a grin. "Sure. Of course." He raised a hand to rest the back of his hand against Roxas' stone cold cheek. "See, I'm warmer now. I can keep you much warmer now." It took everything Axel had not to stroke Roxas' cheek. He didn't want to scare away the tiny little bit of trust he'd made with 'Sora'. But it was torture to feel just how tight a grasp the Darkness had on Roxas' small heart, to know that it wasn't beating warmly in his chest.

Axel let his hand fall away and so did his gaze. "If you lean against me, you'll be very warm." He smoothed a hand down his shirt. "I'm nearly dry, it shouldn't be too bad."

Roxas had liked that hand on his cheek; it felt even better then just having the other Heartless hold his hands. If he did exactly as Axel said then he was certain the warmth would be even greater if he leaned against the other. The thought easily had him grinning as well and soon he moved to kneel down on the floor. He crawled on hands and knees until he was settled right beside Axel and snuggling up to his side. He gave a rather content sound at the contact and the heat that ran along his skin. "Feels good," he spoke the words softly.

"Here, this'll be even warmer." Axel let his warm arms slip around Roxas' small cold form. "See, nicer, right?" He rubbed a hand down Roxas' arm trying to instill warmth that would never stay on the other's skin. It felt so damn good to hold Roxas again, the circumstances didn't matter, and he had Roxas near again. It was something Axel had feared would never happen again.

"It is," Roxas agreed quietly. He couldn't help but reach both hands up to cling to the other Heartless. He wanted to take in as much of the warmth that he could and it seemed the only way to do that was to keep so very close to the other. "I like this very much." After the words left him he felt a small instant of shame for even saying them. Riku would have certainly been angry at him if he had heard him speak such a horrible thing, but he couldn't help feeling comfortable after feeling so cold and empty inside.

Axel chanced resting his head atop Roxas', holding him nearer even if it was just because he was warm. Roxas was greedily drinking in his heat but Axel didn't care much if it meant being near him. "I like this very much too," he quietly confessed as well.  
Roxas blinked at the sudden weight on top of his head. The words seemed to startle him as well and they brought him back to reality of the lies that Axel had told him much earlier about himself. He lifted his head, forcing Axel to remove his own just so he could look up to meet the other's eyes. He didn't let go of his tight hold, though. "I still don't believe you." Once again the words were straight and to the point as if the other Heartless would try and snatch him away from this world at any moment.

Axel let out a long thoughtful noise, though more for dramatism. He felt like he was dealing with a small child. Riku's Darkness had degraded Roxas' mind to such simplicities. Axel had to keep on a level that Roxas would understand. "No? Hm. Well, I'd like to prove it to you. If you'll let me." Of course Axel couldn't think of anything he had that would prove it to Roxas' basic understandings. "What can I do to prove to you that I'm not lying?"

"Nothing, probably," it was such a simple answer that came from Roxas' lips while he settled his head back down. "I told you that nothing of what you said happened to me, so none of it's true. I've been with Riku this entire time, so none of that could have happened anyway. There's no way you can prove it to me." He shook his head lightly as it rested against Axel before he was still again and continued to cling.

Axel frowned a little. But he wasn't about to let a little something like that detour him; he'd gone up against far worse. "Hey, hand me one of your keychains." He tapped Roxas lightly on the head to get his attention. "I want to show you something. Something that will prove I know you and you know me."

Roxas raised his head again to look at Axel, but soon his gaze moved to both of the keyblades that were stuck in the ground. He took one of his hands away to lift it up, calling one of the twin blades back to his hand. Even with one gone the fire around didn't let up. When the blade was in his hand it instantly vanished, but not completely. In its place was the small chain that made the keyblade what it was. "This?" he asked the question softly before he handed the chain over to Axel.

"Yep. This." Axel took the keychain in his hand. "Now watch." He grasped the keychain tightly with a small burst of black flame. He then opened his hand and the keychain was gone, but now on his once bare palm there was a black chakram tattoo. "See. The keychains were made from apart of me, my chakram." He wiggled his dark fingers.

Roxas watched with wide eyes that quickly turned back to Axel once the keychain was linked with the Heartless. The sight caused him to scoot away from the warmth he had been taking in and move a few feet away from the other as he shook his head in denial of what he had just seen. "No, it's just a trick," he spat the words out. "It's just some kind of illusion. I know it is." His gaze became sad as he stared at where the chain had disappeared. "Give it back to me." He reached a clawed hand, but it fell back to his side just as quick.

"It isn't a trick, Roxas," Axel quietly spoke, "you know it isn't." He raised his hand up and with dark flames the chakram appeared but at its normal size. He set the weapon down on the ground, turning it this way and that before he cartwheeled it to Roxas himself. "See for yourself."

Roxas flinched a little when the weapon was suddenly sent towards him. It looked nothing like the small little chain he had been holding earlier. It was warped into something larger and he didn't like it. It didn't stop him from reaching out much like before to stop the chakram at once and hold onto it tightly. It was strange to touch after so many times only wielding something like his twin blades. After a few seconds he picked it up to examine it with both hands before his eyes moved to the only other blade sticking up from the ground and it's chain attached. His eyes narrowed on it for a second before they moved right back to Axel while he hugged the weapon close. "But I don't know you," he stressed the words in a pathetic little whine. None of the former aggravation was there, but the confusion was.

"You do. You haven't forgotten. The memories are just buried," Axel tapped the left side of his chest, "here. Hidden. I know it seems confusing, but if you just think about it for a moment, _really_ think, you just might remember something." Axel's eyes pleaded for Roxas to try and trust him on this. "You can feel it can't you, that I'm not lying or trying to hurt or confuse you on purpose." He rested his hand over his heart. "As a Heartless you can feel my sincerity." Axel's voice became a little hopeful, "Right?"

Roxas' eyes fell half-lidded. It was true that among the silence in the room when both of them had finished speaking, and even before, Roxas could feel the other Heartless' troubled emotions. The sincerity he spoke of and how upset the other seemed to be. Even that hopeful tone in Axel's voice didn't seem to be a lie as much as Roxas had thought moments before. It was all that which took the words right out of his mouth. He couldn't really answer with anything if Axel was right. So, he only broke eye contact and looked away while he continued to hug what used to be his chain.

The fire around had restored a little of Axel's strength back. It helped that it was his own fire that surrounded them. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and crawled over to Roxas to sit beside him. "I came back to find you, Roxas. Just like before... time and time again." He rested a warm hand on the teen's shoulder. "Seems fate is very good at taking you away from me. And now, you can't even remember me... Just like before." He reached over and brushed a finger against Roxas' cheek. "History has a funny way of repeating itself. I'm sorry," he quietly finished. "You seem to be the death of me... time and time again."

For once Roxas didn't shun the words spoken nor move away from the touches. Axel was even warmer then before, but it wasn't only that. Roxas had become curious once again because he couldn't deny what he had felt and turned his eyes up to gaze at the other. "I don't understand any of this. Why do you know about things that I don't? Riku told me that I belonged to him and that I was his. None of that other stuff makes any sense."

Axel stared at Roxas' empty glowing eyes a moment. His thin brows began to furrow. "... I can help you remember." He removed his hand and settled it back down on his lap. "But... it'll take some time. And... it'll probably hurt like hell." There was no point in lying about it. It had been a traumatic experience for Roxas the first time the Darkness tried to invade his heart and Axel had stopped it. Axel could only worry and fear Roxas' mental state after all of this. But he had to try.

Roxas clutched the weapon in his hands a little tighter. He wanted to understand everything better, but some of the things the other Heartless said frightened him a little. "You're going to hurt me?" He dipped his head down a little so that his eyes were nearly shielded by his hair after he asked the question as if Axel were going to harm him at that very second.

"No, I would never purposely hurt you." Axel blinked as he recalled all the battles he had with Roxas as a Nobody and all the rough and tumble between the sheets; but those times didn't count. He slowly reached over so he wouldn't startle Roxas and gave him a gentle pet on the head. "I want to remove the darkness from your heart. It's in there, clinging really tightly, like... um... an infestation of... bugs." He gave a small shrug. "It's burrowed pretty deep. Getting it out will hurt, I won't lie. But after it's all gone," he let his fingers fall to Roxas' cheeks as he smiled, "you'll remember. Best of all, your heart will start beating again, and you won't be so cold. You'll feel warmth inside and throughout your entire body again."

Roxas found himself smiling as well. "I'd like that." Just as quick his smile faltered and fell away. His eyes fell to the ground below as he remembered something very important. "But, what about Riku? Do you think he'll mind? I don't want him to be mad at me if I suddenly change. He likes me so much the way I am." Even though Roxas felt for the other Heartless he still clung onto the one person that made him who he was at that very moment and it was Riku that had him hesitating.

Axel found himself faltering at that. But soon he was smiling again, assured. "If someone really loves you... they won't care what changes happen." The memory of Roxas' assurance back in Twilight Town had flitted through his mind; Nobody, Heartless, Somebody, he was always Axel to Roxas. "So don't worry," he quietly finished.

Roxas raised his eyes back up to stare at Axel. The tiny smile came back and he was quick to give a small nod. "Alright," he sat up a little straighter as he continued to speak, "I'll let you help me. I want the cold to go away. I want my heart to beat. And I want to remember the things you seem to remember too." His smile grew just a little.

Axel returned the little smile. "Okay." He nodded. He reached over and touched a warm hand to Roxas' cheek. "I'm sorry that it'll hurt. If there was an easier way, I'd do it in a heart beat." A horrible joke but it had Axel grinning a little. "Here, lean against me again. You can still hold the chakram, I did give it to you after all, so it's still yours."

Roxas took the invitation and moved much like before. He was soon snuggled close to Axel's side, burying himself as close as he could get to the other Heartless. Not once did his hands let go of the chakram that he had been given as if it were an actual life line that would keep him safe during the entire process.

Axel hugged his arms around Roxas and held him, truly held the small Heartless like he wanted to, tight and securely. It was the least he could do before he started the agonizing process. He let Roxas stay warm in a tight embrace for just a moment. He wanted so badly to tell Roxas just how much he had missed him, how much he still missed him and how much he still loved Roxas despite the change. But he couldn't ruin the fragile little trust that was set. So instead he quietly whispered, "Ready?"

Roxas hadn't protested one bit to the sudden embrace. In fact he had actually cuddled closer and the soft purr could be heard throughout the dark room they sat in. Under Axel there was a slight nod as Roxas moved his head before he spoke up, "Yes, I'm ready."

"Alright," Axel quietly spoke. He slipped his hand between them, resting a hand over Roxas' chest. "If it hurts, just cling to me, okay." He traced a finger over Roxas' heart, a trail of black fire circling around. He didn't delay it and plunged his hand through the fire to where Roxas' heart lay. It was just as cold inside as Roxas had been outside. Axel touched the still dormant heart and felt his chest grow painfully tight. He tried not to dwell on 'what if's but it was hard with the results clinging against him. Axel held Roxas closer, tighter with his other arm. "I'm sorry." He then delved into Roxas' heart, unweaving the mess of Darkness that had taken the heart. Riku's Darkness was vicious, it wouldn't leave without a fight, and it took Axel concentration and determination to carefully pull out the hooks it had with as little damage as possible from Roxas' heart.

Roxas' eyes snapped open as his still heart was suddenly violated from the inside and the Darkness that had him captured fought tooth and nail against the intruder. A pained scream tore from his throat that he didn't even try to hold in and more then likely had no idea that he let out. It hurt so badly and Roxas wanted nothing more but to tear the other's arm away and make him stop. His grip on the weapon he held had become so painfully tight that spikes had begun to tear into him, but he didn't even seem to notice against the pain inside him.

 _'Will you miss me when I'm gone again?'_

 _'I won't let you be forgotten.'_

Voices in his head, but yet still Roxas screamed because it hurt so badly. He didn't care what was said he just wanted it all to go away.

 _'I don't need the rest of me… you make me feel whole, Roxas.'_

 _'... Just for you.'_

 _'Sometimes I wonder if there's anything you won't do for me.'_

Bloody claws let go of the sharp weapon, causing it to clatter against the dark ground, as Roxas clung tight to Axel instead. Sharp nails dug into the other Heartless' skin and left nasty marks, but still Roxas wasn't conscious of his actions.

 _'... I wanted to help you with your dream that was never really finished.'_

 _'I don't want you to stay hidden from me all the time.'_

 _'If wanting to grow old and die with the one I love is stupid, then yeah, I guess I am stupid.'_

 _'Nothing can hurt us.'_

"Axel..." the name was spoken during a strangled cry. Roxas continued to claw while the Darkness battled inside of him, but all of the vivid images made sure they had broken free.

"Just a little longer," Axel spoke in a strained voice. His free hand buried itself in Roxas' hair keeping his head tucked tightly under his chin. "I'm sorry it hurts, I'm sorry," he continued to murmur those words knowing they wouldn't sooth the utter pain he was causing. It had to be done slowly, carefully unhinging the heavy dark that desperately tore at what it could to stay inside. There, a small bit of light, so small and almost insignificant amongst the hurt and shadow in Roxas' heart, but it was there. Axel needed Roxas' help with this; it was Roxas' light after all, a small glimmer of hope. Axel couldn't fight this Darkness alone.

Axel pressed his mouth near Roxas' ear, speaking quickly and firmly, "Roxas, my Roxas, I know you can hear me now. I need you to fight this. I know what you feel you should believe, the pain, the anger, the hatred- but I need you to let it go. Please. Grasp onto a happy, shinning memory, and don't let go." Axel nuzzled hard against Roxas' head as he squeezed his eyes shut. "I won't let you go. I won't ever let you get away from me, you brat."

Roxas couldn't speak at all. His only responses were more anguished cries, but he did hear the words. He could feel each little thing that Axel spoke of and amidst all the pain he tried so very hard to concentrate while he buried himself further against the other Heartless. He tried to hold onto something so near and dear that he could think of. Something that made him happy that had come back from the depths of what had once been cold. As soon as he grasped onto it a sharp gasp escaped his lips and he clung tighter if it was even possible. Black tears ran down his cheeks as what was left of the Darkness inside him tired to force it all back down and make him forget.

Green turned to luminate yellow in Axel's eyes as he fought hard with waning strength. The Darkness inside Roxas had no where else to go but to another source of shadow and it was inside Axel though his intruding hand that it sept in. Riku's Darkness was savage, tearing through him in one last ditch effort before it became simple darkness inside him. The Darkness itself was already displeased with him for attacking its world and the destruction of his own kin. Axel was losing what part of him that remained as he cleared Roxas' heart. He felt light headed, all the world spun in vertigo and he leaned more heavily on the body that clung painfully on him. Black misted from Axel's skin, his very being pulling away, though Axel tried hard to keep his concentration on existence, on saving Roxas, but he was so tired. Tired of fighting and tired of trying.

As the Darkness was twisted and pulled away from its original owner blackened skin and dark hair was forced to mist away. The new outfit that had been forced on Roxas' being stayed in place, but the teen's original self slowly came to be once again as he took a sharp breath just as the heart that Axel kept his fingers near gave a sharp beat. Eyes that had closed tightly during the harsh process snapped open as wide as they could go and when bright blue saw what was in front of them a choked gasp left Roxas. "Axel!" There was still so much pain. Axel still hadn't removed his hand, but he didn't care. He wouldn't let the Heartless go. "Axel, no!" He clung tighter with his hands in a desperate attempt to keep the other with him. "Don't leave me!"

The glow in Axel's eyes faded, blinking back to dull green. " R'xas," the name was barely a breath of syllables. "You rem'mber." A weak smile perked on Axel's lips. It had all been worth it to see recognition in now blue eyes. Axel couldn't recall them being so brilliant a blue, but he was glad the colour was back, that it was possibly the last thing he was ever to see. Sora had the same eyes; Axel remembered his Nobody was so happy that they were the last thing he saw.

His fingers lightly ran over the little heart that he'd brought back, enjoying the soft beat and light it gave off. Even if that light caused his darkness to fade more. With what little strength left Axel pulled his hand free of Roxas' chest, slipping his arms best he could around him. "... I missed you... oh god, so much," Axel's voice broke but it was fading as well. It was so hard to keep focused, there was so little anchoring him save for Roxas' clinging hold.

Roxas started to shake uncontrollably while in Axel's arms. His wide eyes stayed open to the dark room around them until they shut tight, not able to stand watching the mist that trailed up around his friend. "You promised," he choked on his words, "Axel, you promised. Don't go. Damnit, you can't go!" Tears stung at his eyes and they fell freely for how tight his eyes were shut. "Please, Axel, I love you. Don't leave," his voice cracked on the last few words.

"... I know," Axel murmured with tired breath against Roxas' now warm blonde hair. He gave a weak nuzzle. "But I'm so good at breaking my promises. I'm'sorry." He gave a soft shaky sound that was meant to be a chuckle. "... You're s'warm now." Black tears fell onto blonde hair, a few falling onto Roxas' soft cheek. "... I'm s'cold," the words petered as Axel's arms began to go slack.

Roxas instantly clung tighter as if the action would help to warm the Heartless up. He tried to ignore the way Axel started to become so limp. He didn't want to believe it. "Axel, please." He freed his head to place tiny kisses all over the Heartless' face, ending with one on each of the two tattoos that rested under his eyes. "I don't want to be alone, without you. Who am I going to wake up next to in the morning when I go back home, who else will I watch the sunset with, and who else will put me in my place when I'm being too much of a damn brat?" he spoke through tears and his voice started to break up. "I-I don't w-want it to be anyone else, Axel. You're t-the only one th-that makes me feel whole." He pressed their lips together as he continued to cry while another quiet 'please' left his lips at the same time.

A choked sob left Axel against Roxas' pleading lips. He managed to place either of his hands on Roxas' cheeks and pulled him in for another kiss. The dark tears wouldn't stop and Axel pulled from the kiss to rest his forehead heavily against Roxas'. "I love you..." A quiet sob left him. "So much. ...Even as a Heartless... it'seems I'm doomed to chase you." He wiped the tears on Roxas' cheek away with a thumb. "And lose you." The dark tears were now misting from Axel's pale cheeks. Axel didn't want to go just yet; he didn't want to die again. But at least it was by his own loving suicide and not by anyone else's hand. "At least this time I found you again." Axel weakly smiled. "... If this is goodbye, at least it's with the real you. Roxas."

Roxas shook his head so quick it was amazing the teen's neck didn't snap. He buried his face against Axel's chest as a tiny whimper left him. "No, it won't be goodbye. I'll bring you back to me. I don't care what I have to do. I'll get you back." Roxas could feel the Heartless slipping away and he desperately held on even tighter as if it would keep Axel right beside him. "Y-You've done so much for me when I don't even deserve it. It'll be my turn to do the same for you no matter what."

Of all things, Axel shook his head atop Roxas'. ".. No... There's no point now." Long fingers ran through Roxas' hair weakly. "Riku knows our home... we can't ever go back. We can't ever go home t' Twilight T'wn." His hands stilled. "... I'm so sorry Roxas," Axel barely whispered against soft blonde hair.

Eyes narrowed for a split second at such information that Roxas himself knew to be true. Of course just as quick he shook his head again and tried his best to give a shaky laugh. "When have I ever listened to you?" He tried to joke but it just felt weak. Still, he lifted his hands up as best he could to bury in Axel's hair as he kept close. "It'll be okay. I promise it will. You'll see, Axel. No matter what, we'll be okay."

Axel gave a soft smile despite the tears that continued to fade after they fell. He took the rare optimism from Roxas to heart, even if it was dead still. And even though all the other times Axel found himself a selfish Heartless, feeding off Roxas' sweet miseries and tears secretly so many times before, he couldn't find it in himself to be so cruel even now. He didn't want Roxas to witness this grim moment any longer.

"I'm already missing you," Axel softly spoke against the bridge of Roxas' nose, nuzzling his lips so very softly. He leaned forward to Roxas' to softly spoke the whispered words to Roxas' poor abused heart; _Sleep. Grasp again onto a happy, shinning memory, and don't let go. Dream, and don't forget me._

Roxas knew the trick. He was so very used to it, which was why he wanted to try so hard to fight against the heavy feeling that started to come over his eyes the second he felt it. "Axel... no," he barely managed to get the plea out. His attempt at staying conscious was a losing one and soon enough his eyes slipped closed as his entire body followed as it grew slack. His mind had wrapped around the one distant memory that had brought him back to the world along with thoughts of the one he cared most for.


	60. Chapter 60

**Ikurx**

 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 60

Sunlight drifted in through blinds that a lazy owner had failed to close. The harsh rays moved along the floor and along articles of clothing that lay thrown about, until they made their way across the bed. Its sleeping occupant whom had been tossing and turning a little so far was soon to be woken up by the bright light in his face and with a few muffled groans eyes began to flutter open before they snapped completely wide.

Blankets were rustled as Sora sat up quickly in bed and scanned the room. Any traces of sleep had left him as he stared nearly slack jawed at what he saw. Little toy knick knacks were scattered about in various places, a few stuffed animals piled high in one small corner of the room and a desk that was usually used to sit and do homework, but ended up very much abandoned on occasion when laziness kicked in.

"I'm... home?" the words left Sora in a question. He couldn't help it after feeling like so many horrible things had happened. "I'm home. It really was all a bad dream," he sounded more sure of himself that time and clutched the blankets by him. A shaky little giggle left him at the prospect and he took another look around before averting his eyes down. That was when he gave a startled 'eep' at his state of near undress and quickly covered himself with the blanket.

"Of course you're home," a groggy voice spoke up beside Sora, "ya big stupid nut." Strong arms suddenly grabbed round Sora's naked middle to yank him back down into bed where he was promptly cuddled near in a stubbornly possessive embrace. "Now get back here. You're letting all the heat out."

Sora swore his heart skipped a beat at that voice. Sure he remembered tiny moments from a groggy conversation he had early in the morning, but he hadn't thought it had been real. Of course being held skin against skin in such a quick second caused him to blush, but he was feeling too squirmy to think too much about it. He wiggled a bit until he was pushing at his friend and turning around to pin the other body under him. "Riku, you don't understand! We're home!" He repeated earlier words and it seemed as if he would just squeal and pop, but instead he jumped away from Riku and off the bed, nearly tripping over the blankets and falling face first onto the floor.

As soon as the teen righted himself, Sora was across the room to look out the only window that was the source of light. He pulled the blinds up as far as they would reach and didn't even seem to care any longer about his state of undress as he stared in awe at what met his eyes. He could see their small town past his own neighborhood and in the distance the islands were there, waiting for them. "All a dream. It was all a bad dream."

Riku rubbed his poor chest that Sora nearly crushed in all his excitement. He had to admit that Sora's rampant enthusiasm was amusing all the same, of course that didn't stop him from giving the other a look as if he had completely lost it.

"Course you're home." Riku finally bothered to push himself up to sit. "Must have been some dream if you're acting this crazed." He gave a long yawn, finding Sora's new wild insanity a bit too much for the morning, so he promptly flopped back onto the bed. "Wake me up when you're back to the world of sanity, 'mkay, Sora?" Riku yanked the blankets over his head.

Sora twirled around in just a second on the heel of a foot to look back at the bed. "Riiiiku!" He whined the other boy's name while he leaned back against the window. "It was a horrible dream, you know that. You told me you thought you had one just like it." He hurried away from the window as he pushed off of it and was quick to leap onto the mattress so that the action disturbed Riku's attempted sleep. "C'mon, Riku! Get up! You know what my mom says," as he spoke he started to jump up and down on the bed, "it's a horrible thing to waste the day away sleeping." He finished with one last jump that had him landing rather hard on his bottom on the mattress.

Riku gave a disgruntled sound from under the blankets at being disturbed. "You're sixteen and you still listen to your mom." He pushed the blankets away and smirked at Sora. "You know what, I think? You're a mama's boy." He tapped Sora's chest with the accusation. But before Sora could pout with his answer Riku crawled over and placed a quick sweet kiss on Sora's lips. "Good morning, Sora." This time Riku smiled genuinely. Despite what it seemed Riku really was happy to see Sora bursting with such cheerful energy. He'd missed that, so much.

Sora returned such a smile with one of his own, but the blush that had left his cheeks came back to accompany it as well. "Morning, Riku." His smile widened a bit as he reached over to brush his friend's bangs away from his eyes, but they only fell back down right after Sora pulled away which caused him to laugh. "Get out of bed you lazy bum. We're going to spend the day together, remember?" That part of the conversation wasn't quite as fuzzy in his mind, he made sure of that, and with another quick kiss Sora quickly hopped back out of bed and onto his feet to search for some decent clothes since his usual ones were laying in a pile on the floor.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember." Riku waved Sora's enthusiasm off since he was still a bit too groggy to deal with it first thing waking. With a grumpy noise he left the nice warm bed to stand. He stretched his hands up with another yawn and gave an unsuspecting Sora, who was bent over searching for clothes, a pat on the bottom before he found some clothes. Sora's home had always been his home away from home. He spent more time there than in his real home, second was their island. So it was nothing new that he kept some of his stuff at Sora's home, clothes, tooth brush and the like. "Better hope your mom doesn't walk in." Riku grinned over at Sora.

Sora had already been blushing from the small pat Riku gave him and nearly tripped with one leg in a pair of shorts he had found at the other teen's words. "Riku, that's not funny." He managed to slip the clothing on without any further mishaps and buttoned them up before he went about searching for a shirt. He hopped from one foot to the other as he gave up on his floor and checked his closet instead. "I wonder what we should take to eat, you know, since we'll be out so long. I don't want to just depend on fish the entire day." He stuck out his tongue while he finally pulled a shirt free and tugged it over his head. He didn't even bother to close his closet door and instead moved back to his discarded clothes to pick up his gloves and necklace.

Riku pulled on a vest over his shirt, wearing pants as well; he just couldn't be bothered with shorts. "Oh I don't know. Fruit, snacks, sandwiches." He glanced back at Sora and smirked. "Although I don't think you look like you can sit still long enough to make sandwiches. If you bounce any higher I swear you'll smack into the ceiling." He glanced around. "Did I leave any gloves here? A wrist band? Anything?" Riku walked over to Sora's desk before he dug through some drawers. "Oh god. These are so old." Riku wrinkled his nose as he pulled out some short black gloves that didn't even meet his wrist at the time, white around the rim and he had usually worn them with black wrist bands; he had really liked the style back then, he had a few pairs. Now Riku cringed as he waved it in Sora's direction. "I can't believe you kept these. Ugh. I had no taste when I was younger. If you had any sense you'd throw them out." Riku gave a short laugh as he tossed the glove to Sora.

Sora had just finished zipping up his own gloves and caught the piece of clothing with ease, laughing a little as he did. "Why would I go and do a silly thing like that? You should see your face, Riku. It's priceless." He played with the glove, making it dance around in the air. "I should tack it to my wall so that every time you come over you can re-live the horror that was your poor taste," he teased the older boy as he laughed harder. His movements with the glove stopped and he threw it back at Riku so he could have his hands free to put on his necklace. "I think you have something in my closet buried at the bottom. You can check in there if you dare." He grinned, knowing the mess that was in the bottom of his closet. It was where he shoved everything whenever he was told to clean his room. His quick fix.

Riku held the glove by the finger, keeping it far from him. "I think this thing deserves a proper burial in the bottom of your closet." He walked over and glanced inside the horror that was Sora's closet, he could barely see inside let alone the floor. He quickly tossed the glove in and dusted his hands. "Now we'll never see it again."

Still he was without anything for his hands again, and he was in no mood to go digging around in the pile of no return that Sora called his closet. Riku walked over to Sora and slipped his arms around his waste from behind to blatantly suck up to the other with a cuddle and a few kisses he'd never ever do in public. "C'mon, Sora," he gave a soft pleading whine against the other's ear, "lend me a wrist band or something. As my _boyfriend_ you're supposed to do stuff like that, right?" Riku knew admitting to little things like that would definitely win Sora over; or possible turn him to goo. Either was fine with him.

Sora's hands stilled while he tried to lower his head to hide the red in his face at such words. Riku was never so openly affectionate, so it easily threw Sora for a loop every time, especially if the other teen admitted to such things out loud. "I guess so," he spoke softly before he let out a sigh. "Fine, fine." He pulled free from his friend even though he really didn't want to and started another hunt around his room. Much like Riku, Sora didn't want to do a full out search in his closet, but he found an easier solution and got on hands and knees to look under his bed. An arm reached out to make a grab for something and in moments Sora was back on his feet producing a pair of gloves right in Riku's face. They had a good amount of dust covering them and Sora blinked at the sight before he smiled sheepishly and blew on them to try and get it off. "There!"

Riku gave Sora a rather flat look. " 'A' for effort, but no thanks." He took the gloves and set them down on Sora's night table, the flat surface was already far too cluttered. "I fear anything that's been under your bed that long. I think you've got a lost civilization under there, I swear." He ruffled Sora's hair. "I'll pick something up at my place; I have to get my wallet anyway. I have a bit of munny; we can grab some stuff in town to bring to the island." Riku shrugged absently as he continued feigning as if it were nothing really that exciting, "Maybe I'll treat you to an ice cream cone or something like that."

Sora's eyes went wide at Riku's words and his earlier rejection of the dusty gloves seemed to slip his mind. "Really?" A grin spread wide across his face as he started to bounce on his feet again. "I'd love some ice cream." He moved up on his toes so he could hug the other boy around the neck for a brief moment before their lips met. "You're the best, Riku." After the words he gave his friend another quick kiss and a smile before he let go to find some flip flops, deciding they would be better instead of his large boots.

"Yeah," Riku swept his hair over his shoulder before grinning, "I know I am."

Before either boy could speak there was a knock at Sora's door.

"Sora, you better be up by now," a woman's voice called from behind the door. "I won't have you wasting a perfectly good day by sleeping in."

"I would have liked to," Riku quietly murmured with a smirk to Sora.

Sora stuck his tongue out at Riku as he slipped on some colorful flip flops he found near his bed. Once they were tight on his feet he hurried over to the door to pull it open and give a large grin up at his mother. "I am, mom, see?" He spoke as if the sight wasn't obvious. Before the woman could get a word in at all he opened the door further and pointed behind him at the other occupant. "Riku ended up sleeping over again too. We've been awake for a while now. We're planning to spend the day out in town and then the islands. Riku's going to buy me ice cream."

"Morning Riku," Sora's mom smiled at his friend. Seeing Riku over was nothing new, the boy's were attached to the hip. Riku smiled and waved back. "Remember to breathe between words, sweetie," she gently teased as she tapped Sora's nose. "Sounds like a full day, and a lot of fun. You do have some munny of your own so poor Riku doesn't have to pay for everything, right?" She gestured for them to follow. "And come you two, breakfast is ready."

"Uhh..." Sora tapped at the pockets of his shorts as he followed his mother out of the bedroom along with Riku. He knew it was hopeless at finding any munny in the clothing since it had just been tossed on his floor, but he had hopped that there was a slim chance. "I guess not." He smiled nervously at his predicament and tried his best to sweet talk his mother, "But that's okay. You can lend me some right, mom, because you love me so much?"

Riku nudged Sora's side with a grin. "I don't think she loves you _that_ much." He quietly laughed.

"Hmm, I don't know, Sora," his mother stepped into the kitchen while Sora and Riku sat down at the table. "Riku might have a point there." She started putting generous portions of waffles, toast and hash browns onto two plates. It seemed she already knew to make breakfast enough for Riku; mother's intuition. "You have been slacking off on your chores, running off to play on your island all day." She set either plate down with some cutlery in front of the boys. Despite the teasing she gave her son a smile.  
Sora shot Riku a look for having put such ideas into his mother's head that he wasn't worthy of quick money and let out a pathetic whine as he picked at his food with a fork. "But mom, that's only because we're always so busy with school. We just want some time to relax, you know? It's so boring to come home and spend what's left of my day on chores when I have to waste my time on hearing a teacher lecture me on a failed math test earlier on." He stuffed his mouth full of waffles after he was finished speaking while he kicked his feet under the table.

"I could understand missing chores over studying but from the sounds of that failed test it already seems like you've relaxed enough." The woman shook her head. "You shouldn't slack off on your responsibilities, Sora. You do get paid for your work, so you shouldn't have anything to complain about."

Riku grinned over at Sora as he gave his friend a nudge. "She's got you there, Sora. Nice try though." He leaned over and placed a quick kiss on Sora's cheek when his mom turned to pour them some juice. He would never admit it out loud but he really did love Sora's home. It was so welcoming and Sora's parents were so kind, even when they were giving them a lecture. "Good waffles, Sora's mom."

She gave Riku an amused look for that title. "Thank you, Riku." She placed their glasses by their plates.

"Thank you, mom," Sora spoke up after he was given his glass. The small blush he got for the sneaky kiss was still present on his cheeks, but he hid it as best his could as he took the glass and lifted it to his lips. Once he had enough he set it back down and glanced over at Riku. "Suck up," he teased the other quietly before he pouted for having been shot down so quickly. It only meant he would be broke. "It was a really hard test, mom. I tried the best I could, but even with Riku's help I still didn't get very far." He tried to defend himself to see if he could still get somewhere.

"It's true, we studied all day," Riku was quick to add.

Sora's mother looked at either boy and smiled. "And by studying do you mean 'fooling around on the island'? Because I don't remember seeing you two study anytime here."

Riku and Sora shared a glance. Riku tapped his plate idly before he tried to come up with something quick, "It was at my place." She didn't exactly look fooled at that, even though Riku was a better liar than Sora.

Sora nodded quickly while he chewed on a piece of toast. He didn't even wait to swallow every bite before he was speaking up again, "Riku thought we'd be able to concentrate better at his place, so we went there. He doesn't like the mess in my room anyway." He coughed a bit after he was done talking, having swallowed wrong since he had been speaking at the same time.

Riku blinked. "You're so charming, Sora." He patted Sora's back to keep him from choking. "Of all things, toast will be your down fall."

Sora's mother sipped her coffee from her favourite sun flower mug. She smiled and shook her head. She had such a silly son. No thought to manners at all, but she still loved him. "That wouldn't be a problem if you actually stopped and gave it a thorough cleaning. And not just hiding things under your bed or in your closet." She tsked. "Your father is really getting upset with the state." She gave a small laugh. "We're starting to wonder if we raised a pack rat instead of a teenager."

"Both," Riku murmured under his breath and tried to hide his grin by eating more of his breakfast.

Sora rubbed at watery eyes that were the aftermath of his choke attack. He glanced back and forth between his mother and best friend before he pouted. "I'm not a pack rat. There are just some things I'd rather not get rid of. It doesn't mean I'm messy." He seemed to realize something after that and quickly perked up, leaning his chair on two legs towards his mother. "Oh yeah! Hey, mom do me a favour would you?" He tried his best to give a charming smile before he continued, "My favorite clothes are dirty along with my scarf. Can you wash them please?"

His mother nodded. "Of course, sweetie." She sipped her drink, lowering it back down to tap the side of it with a finger. "Though, you better get a start on that room tomorrow morning. Before your father has a fit." She gave a soft laugh. "One day you're going to wake up and your nose will be touching the ceiling with how much junk you shove under there. And you'll open your closet and you'll be squished by an avalanche of more junk."

Sora groaned as he fell back on all four feet of the chair. "Yeah, yeah. I know Dad doesn't like the mess. I still say it isn't that bad." He picked at his hash browns before he ate a little of them. He made sure to swallow what was in his mouth this time before he nudged Riku in the side with his elbow as he grinned over at his mother. "It's okay, though. Riku can come over tomorrow and help me clean up. I'm sure he won't mind." He had to hide his laughter behind his hand at the fact he had volunteered the other boy.

Riku had just taken a bite from his fork and sent Sora a glare. But soon he shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Sure, I guess. Got nothing better to do."

Sora's mother smiled. "So, are you going to pack anything up for the island? I can pack you some snacks or something, so you'll have something to nibble during the day. So Riku doesn't have to blow his munny to pay your way to feed you all day." She went to see what they had in the cupboards that could be packed.

"Yeah, Sora," Riku nudged his friend, "you're going to put me in the poor house." He chuckled as he snuck a hand under the table to find Sora's. "Being your friend is just too expensive for me."

"I know for a fact you don't mind it, Riku." Sora gave a tiny smile behind his glass he had picked up while he squeezed Riku's hand as soon as it could be felt near his own. He didn't want to let go, so he didn't. At least not until he knew he might have to. "We might just bring some sandwiches with us, mom. Oh! And that pudding that you made earlier this week that's in the fridge. I mean, if we still have some of it. Dad was putting it away like it was nothing." He set his glass back down and rolled his eyes at the thought.

His mother checked the fridge. "Hmm. He must have eaten it all, there's none left." She sighed. "I told him to leave some. But you know how he likes pudding." She looked at the boys with amusement. "I think he sneaks in the kitchen at night for thirds." She looked back in the fridge and started getting out the things for sandwiches. "Hmm. Maybe I'll go all out and make some cookies for tomorrow for all my hard working boys." She laughed. "It is a bit of a special occasion if it means my Sora is finally tackling that mess he calls a room."

"Mom, I told you it's not that bad," Sora continued to whine. He picked up his other piece of toast, but didn't dare bite into it until he was finished speaking. "Geez, you two act like a tornado came through my room. It's just a little cluttered, that's all. You know, just some clothes here and there. Maybe a few cups and candy wrappers, but nothing horrible." He finally bit into the toast, satisfied that he had defended his precious living space.

"You're right, Sora." Riku nodded in agreement as he cut the last of his waffles up with a fork. "It doesn't look like a tornado went through your room." He ate a piece of his waffles, swallowing before he spoke up. "It looks like a _hurricane_ went through your room." He hid his laughter by eating the rest of his waffles.

Sora puffed out his cheeks at the remark and shot a glare at Riku. It didn't last very long though, and soon a small grin perked up on his lips. "Fine, just for that you get the job of cleaning out my closet tomorrow." Sora didn't try to hide his laughter like Riku did and immediately went back to finishing up his own plate of food.

Riku grunted and poked Sora's cheek with his free hand. "You wish. No way am I going near that wasteland. I'd probably get sucked in and lost forever if I went near that closet of yours." He smirked. "Besides, if I'm cleaning up anything, I'm going at it with a shovel and a trash bin."

"You better not. I have a lot of good stuff in there, Riku." Sora pushed his empty plate aside and turned to give his friend a stern look. It didn't really work very well, but at least he tried. "It's just all buried under other stuff." He leaned back on two legs since he was done with his meal and no longer needed to stay still. "Besides, your room isn't the cleanest thing on the planet either, Riku-AH!" The last simple shout had been the cause of Sora losing his balance in the middle of his speech. A loud thud had followed to signal the teen's fall rather ungracefully onto the floor beneath; chair and all. "Owww..."

Riku flinched and peered down at Sora. "Like a cat, always landing on your feet, huh Sora." He grinned.

Sora's mother on the other hand was quick to get to her son's side to dote over his injuries. "You okay, Sora, honey?" She helped him off the chair and gently felt his head to see if it was alright and if he'd acquired himself any lumps. "I keep telling you not to lean back in your chair," she fussed, "now you know why first hand."

"I'm fine, mom," though Sora said the words while he rubbed at the back of his head. He glanced over at Riku for a second before he looked away again. He would never admit to his mother that he had seen the older boy do the exact same thing while they were on break in school hundreds of times. It was the reason why Sora always did it himself, but was never any good at it. Of course he didn't want to get Riku in trouble either. "It didn't hurt all that much. It just surprised me, that's all."

After his mother was satisfied that Sora was alright she placed a quick kiss over the hurt spot on his head and rubbed his back. "Don't be doing that again." She stood up and went to go finish packing the food.

Riku leaned forward after Sora's mom had left and tapped Sora's head with a grin. "Mama's boy," he quietly teased so only Sora could hear.

"Am not," Sora spoke just as quietly. He picked the chair back up to put it back near the table, but he didn't sit down right away. In an instant he was right behind his friend and wrapping his arms around Riku's neck from behind despite the chair the other sat in. It wouldn't have been an odd sight to see even if they were trying to keep things hush hush. Sora had always found it in himself to cling to his friend at any given moment. Of course now it was just an excuse. "Riku, we can still go into town even though I'm broke, right?"

Riku couldn't help but go a little rigid. Unlike Sora he wasn't that easy going. But Sora was a hard person to deny anything; the boy would hug anyone and anything really. "Yeah, yeah. We can still go. I did promise you ice cream, remember?" He tried to distract himself by drinking the rest of his juice. Before Sora could get too comfortable on his shoulders Riku shooed him away so he could stand up from the table. "We should get going. We still have to stop by my place." He pointed down to his feet where he wiggled his toes. "I need to pick up some shoes too. So let's get a move on." He pushed in his chair and thanked Sora's mother for breakfast before he headed towards the door.

Of course Sora's mother quickly gestured for her son to come near. "You don't want to forget this, Sora." She handed him a large brown paper bag full of the food she packed. "You can carry it in a bag with you. Oh, and here." She took Sora's hand and placed some munny in it. "Don't tell your father," she whispered with a smile as she tapped her lips after. "Be a gentleman and treat Riku to something nice too, hmm?" She smiled cheerfully.

Sora took both the food and munny, but it was his mother's words which had him going red in the face for another time that day. "Yeah, I will." He leaned up to kiss his mother on the cheek, giving her a small smile afterwards. "Thanks a lot, mom." He pocketed the munny he was given before he ran off to the front door where Riku was waiting for him so they could finally leave.

The day was warm and sunny with a light breeze that was refreshing instead of too cold or humid. Riku walked side by side with Sora, seemingly as entranced with the scenery of their neighbor hood as Sora was. Riku stared up at the cheerfully blue sky, barely a cloud seen. There was something so good about the smell of home; it had Riku actually smiling for no real obvious reason for once. It wasn't rare for Sora, but it was for him. Though Riku didn't care who saw him in such a good mood; Sora was right- they were home.

Beside him Sora had started to hum quietly to fill the silence. The bag that contained their food was swung this way and that by his side. It was easy for them to just enjoy each other's company even without words spoken. The quiet atmosphere was enough despite Sora's need to fill it up with some random tune that was made up on the spot. Still, the moment the younger boy chanced a look at his friend the humming stopped and a wide smile came over Sora's lips.

"Riku," Sora started out slowly as he began to walk backwards in front of the other teen, "what's up?" He lifted a hand to point it towards his friend's face, but it didn't stop in midair. It kept going until he poked Riku's nose and an amused giggle left Sora at his own actions. "You look so happy, yet earlier you were so grumpy because I woke you up."

Riku blinked and soon gave a short laugh. "Hm, well, contrary to belief, I was looking forward to spending the day with you." He shrugged. "And, I don't know, I just have a really good feeling that our lives are going to get a whole lot better." He grinned some. "Cryptic, right?"

"A little." Sora shook his head before he turned back around to watch where he was walking. "But, I don't see how anything could go wrong, so of course it can only get better. We have each other and our friends. Our parents and our home. There's nowhere to go but up, Riku." He fell in step beside his friend instead of in front of the other and turned his head to give Riku another small smile. "So, I guess I have that good feeling too."

Riku gave his friend a good natured roll of the eyes. "You always have 'that good feeling' though. So it doesn't really count." He then did something he never did in public; he snatched up Sora's hand and held it tight as they walked together. "See. I told you things would get better." He continued his smile.

Sora's attention immediately snapped down to their hands and for a moment time seemed to slow for him. That had never happened before. Usually Riku refused to hold his hand and such until they could be certain there was no one around, which meant right when they were alone on the islands. Of course somewhere deep down he remembered that he had felt extremely happy during the groggy conversation at night. With that one thought he lifted his eyes back up to glance at Riku as his hand squeezed tight. "Yeah, they're much better." He smiled once again, but it was even brighter then before, feeling quite happy at the turn of events.

Riku looked back ahead of himself, smiling a little more wryly though. "Hmm. I'm guessing you forgot the conversation we had last night." He closed his eyes and shrugged, knowing Sora would be completely baited. "Oh well, too bad."

Sora's smile fell away at the teasing. "Riku, no fair." He tugged at his friend's hand to try and get him to speak up about the things he couldn't remember. "You know you can't do that. I never remember what we talk about in the middle of the night, but yet you always do it anyway." He tugged a little more. "Please tell me, Riku, please."

"Ohhh- just that you thought I was amazing. And that I am the best sword fighter in all the worlds and totally lord and master of our island." Riku tried to keep a straight face through most of the lie. He idly swung their hands as he peeked an eye at Sora. "You believe me, right?" He smirked.

Sora's flat look was evidence of his answer to those words. "You have got to be kidding me." He tugged a little harder while he groaned and shook his head. "I'm not that stupid, Riku. Give me some credit at least." He tried to narrow his eyes up at the other teen, but he only ended up pouting just like usual. "Now tell me what we really talked about. I want to know."

"Alright, alright." Riku sighed unable to bear Sora's pouts. "I _may_ have agreed to letting you go ahead and blurt about us to whoever you want." He shrugged as if what he said were something as casual as a remark on the weather. "That's all." He paused and spoke before Sora had a chance to bounce or hyperventilate. "Yes. Even Kairi."

Sora stopped in his tracks which only caused Riku to stop with him since he still held tightly to his friend's hand. "Really? Honest and true you're okay with it?" Sora didn't even give Riku a chance to respond to his questions. If Riku had said so already then Sora wasn't going to let him have a chance to take it back. He couldn't contain himself from twisting around and jumping up to latch himself around Riku, burying his face against the taller boy's neck. His feet were forced to come off the ground for that instant, but Sora didn't even seem to realize it. He was too happy to notice much else.

Riku tried to keep his usual standoffish attitude but it was hard to do with Sora literally hanging off his neck. So with a laugh he wrapped his arms tight around Sora as he swung him around. "Crazy nut!" He leaned down to set Sora back on the ground. "You seem to love shouting how you feel on all the roof tops. No point in fighting it any longer I guess." He smirked as he rested his head on Sora's. "There goes my privacy. But it seems to make you happy, so, I guess I'm happy with it too."

Sora's own laughter was loud as his happiness to the entire idea was more then obvious. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he looked into Riku's eyes. "I'm incredibly happy. You have no idea, Riku." He leaned up a bit to press an eager kiss to the other's lips which proved difficult since he was still laughing the entire time. He felt so giddy all of a sudden he couldn't exactly help it.

Riku pressed a proper kiss to Sora's lips, pressing a few more lingering ones before they were ruined with a smile as well. "Just don't talk anyone's ear off, okay? I know how much you love to go on and on and on about things you're passionate about." He knitted his fingers at the small of Sora's back as he kept near the other. "Not that I mind much when it's me you're bragging about." He chuckled before he kissed Sora again, not feeling at all self conscious that it was out in the open. Sora's radiant happiness was far too consuming to be bothered with any sort of worry.

Even with such restrictions Sora still couldn't stop smiling once he pulled back from the kiss and nodded his head to show that he had heard what Riku said. "Yeah, I'll try." He pressed another quick kiss to the other's lips. "I love you, Riku." He pulled back and bounced on his toes a few times before he pulled himself from Riku to take his friend's hand once again with his free one. He felt even more energetic then before and tugged rather hard on the hand he held as he tried to hurry Riku along. "Now, come on. We still have to go to your place before we go into town, and if we happen to see any of our friends I want to be able to surprise them."

"Oh man," Riku groaned dramatically, "what have I gotten myself into?" Though he still laughed good naturedly as he tried to catch up with Sora's tugging. "I've created a monster, that's what. Just- try not to pop one too many of our friend's minds all in one day, alright Sora?" Not that Sora would listen, and really Riku didn't care all that much anymore anyway.

They arrived at Riku's home quickly with the pace that Sora kept. Neither of Riku's parents were at home, as per usual, and Riku didn't have his key with him. So Riku did what he always did when he forgot his key: he crawled up to his window, which he always secretly kept open, and weaseled himself in and unlocked the front door for Sora.

Unlike Sora's home which always felt warm and inviting to anyone who entered, Riku's was more empty, unused, his parents were always out at work and too tired to do much else save for unwinding in front of the television or going straight to bed. It was very clean and tidy but dusty since Riku couldn't be bothered to do more than his usual chores. Despite being well off, Riku couldn't help but resent the rarely used expensive furnishings in every room.

And like always Riku found his allowance munny in the obsidian bowl on the counter in the kitchen where his parents also kept other loose things that had no real end save for ones pocket. He pocketed the munny and lead Sora to his room. It wasn't entirely messy like Sora's but one of the more lived in areas of the entire house. There was clothes tossed here and there like any normal teenager, but Riku was tidier with his knickknacks. He didn't keep _everything_ like Sora was prone to.

It was on his table that Riku found his wallet and a black studded belt for his wrist. After pocketing his wallet Riku realized he'd been silent ever since he'd stepped foot into his house. There was just something about his home that made him keep it all inside; maybe it was the constant silence, or the sterile feel that everything had to it. But Riku wasn't going to let that bother him for once.

"... I want to show you something," he finally spoke up, albeit quietly. "But you have to close your eyes." Riku glanced at Sora with a small smile.

Sora had been looking through a few books that Riku had placed on his bed and more than likely forgotten to put up, so when he heard his friend speak it startled him. He quickly turned around with wide eyes before he grasped what was said. and was quick to set the bag with their food down so he could do as told. "Okay, fine." He covered both eyes with his hands since he had the bad habit of peeking otherwise. "What is it?" There was an excited edge to his voice.

"You'll see," Sora could hear Riku say.

There was some shuffling and movement, a lot of it just to throw Sora off to where Riku was exactly looking. But soon Sora could feel Riku's hand on his, turning his hand over so a smooth box of some sort could be placed on it.

"You can open them now."

When Sora did he saw that it was a small black box, almost like a jewelry box, on top was a simple small metal heart on top. The heart was upside down, the top facing the opening, a mistake by the craftsman. But Riku had instantly taking a liking to the box because of it.

"Go on. Open it."

Sora did, and inside were small star folded pieces of paper, varying in size and cheerful colours. A few had cute happy faces on their sides while others had hearts.

"I always tried to fold them carefully back to their original shape. It was a little hard at first, but with each one I seemed to get better," Riku's voice drifted as he glanced shyly at Sora.

Sora's wide eyes darted up to Riku for only a second before they looked back down to each little note in the box. He found himself stepping backwards until he felt it safe to drop back and sit on the bed. His knees had felt too weak to keep him held up much longer. With gentle hands he picked up one of the notes, but didn't unfold it. He only looked it over with a small smile on his face and felt his vision going blurry at just the simple thought that Riku really had kept them all. "Riku..." His friend's name was the only thing he could think to say. He felt beyond speechless otherwise.

"This was something else we talked about too while you were half asleep." Riku gave a very soft laugh. He sat down beside Sora. "Forgetful dimwit," he spoke the teasing words with the utmost affection. He reached across Sora to bury fingers in hair as he placed a hand on Sora's cheek to turn his attention back on him. He very softly brushed a thumb over Sora's cheek, as slow and gentle as if Sora was made of something more fragile than flesh and bone. "When it comes to you, Sora," Riku spoke much more quietly than a whisper, "I can't really help it. I can't find the same silly perfect words you do; I don't have the same energy to do the things you do. So I treasure every little bit you give me, no matter how small, I keep selfishly to myself, because it fills that part of me I'm missing. You are that missing part in me. The piece that fills the hollow I've had ever since I can remember." Riku leaned his forehead against Sora's, keeping as near as he could, his nose softly brushing against his. "That's why it's so hard for me to say, because nothing can ever describe, how long and how much I've always loved you, Sora." A few small tears managed to slip down Riku's cheeks but they weren't noticed. "I always just thought it was best to never say it at all. So I didn't."

Sora's own tears started to make tracks down his cheeks, but he didn't dare try to wipe them away. He felt like if he moved this entire moment would shatter and it would never come together again. He couldn't even find the words to respond to something so heartfelt. Anything he had to say seemed so small compared to Riku's own confession. Someone that was usually so reserved with affection. It threw Sora for a loop. "Riku," he finally managed the other's name again in a small voice. He could remember all those times he felt so scared for his friend, fighting against Riku and fighting to find Riku. The recent dream he had only added fuel to the ever growing fear. "Me too... so much, Riku... so so much." Of course Sora felt like the words weren't enough at all, they felt so weak. So, the box Sora still held was placed aside so he could wrap both arms around Riku and press an eager kiss to the other's lips that was so very rare.

Riku gave a shaky breath against Sora's lips; it all meant so much it was over whelming. He pulled Sora's mouth closer with a hand buried in soft brunette hair at the back of his head, making the soft endearing kiss a little more possessive. Riku couldn't help it, his heart always ached so painfully, but now everything was alright and for once Riku didn't feel the anger or jealousy he had when it came to Sora. Sora was his and Riku finally felt it.

His free hand fell to the small of Sora's back to tug him near, grasping his shirt unconsciously. Riku broke the kiss to softly nuzzle his tear stained cheek against Sora's, mingling tears and soothing comforts. "I love you, Sora," he quietly whispered before he hugged his dear childhood friend tight, just hugged Sora warm and tightly in his arms as his heart beat so fast.

Sora easily buried himself against Riku, always enjoying the feeling of being held so tightly. "I love you too, Riku, forever and ever. I always will." He clung tight to the vest that Riku wore while he gave small sniffles to clear his nose. It felt so right to be held in such a way by the only person he had always been so incredibly close with. He knew for a fact that other people, including their friends, saw Riku as closed in and quiet, but Sora saw the best part of his friend. He saw the side of Riku that could joke around, smile and bring tears to Sora's eyes with just a few simple yet sweet words. For all of that Sora was so glad to be Riku's very best friend and more.

Riku kept hold tight of Sora for a while longer. He just wanted to keep this small intimate moment, to feel so complete and okay for just a moment longer. And it was so rare for him to indulge in a clingy moment himself. All of this felt so right. Never had Riku felt so right. His life had always felt so filled with wrong choices, wrong paths, for once in his seventeen years of existence he felt whole.

-

"Mm," Riku murmured against Sora's hair after how long he wasn't sure. He ruffled a hand through Sora's hair to see if Sora was still in the world of the living. Riku felt as if he dozed off, though it couldn't have been for more than an hour or a half, it was still light out. He was half amazed he'd done so sitting up right huddled against Sora. Sora had been so good at getting away with sleeping anywhere, especially at school, Riku not so much. "Sora?" Riku peered down at him. "You in there somewhere?" He smoothed back the soft spiky hair from his friend's face to look down at him with a soft grin.

There was a small noise from the smaller teen as Sora's closed eyes scrunched up for only a second. He tried to bury himself as much as he could against Riku, hoping he could get away with sleeping a little longer. The boy made such a comfy pillow and Sora felt as if he were back home in his bed at that very moment, having forgotten he had dozed off somewhere else in his groggy state of mind. "...Jus' a bit longer, 'ku." He pushed at the hand near his face, hoping it would allow him to get some extra sleep.

"Nope," Riku denied with a small laugh. "You wouldn't let me sleep in; you're totally not getting away with a few minutes longer." It was a little cruel to run his hand that Sora had shooed away up and down the other's side, it only encourage Sora to get even more comfortable against him. Riku had to admit Sora fit very snuggly in his arms, but his back was getting sore from the hunched over position he was in. So without warning Riku tossed Sora back onto his bed. "Wake up!"

The squeal that Sora gave easily echoed through the room and possibly the entire house. Sora hadn't been expecting the sudden treatment and shot up with wide eyes afterwards to stare over at his friend. It took a few seconds for him to get a hold of himself, but when he did he narrowed his eyes. "Riku! That wasn't funny." Of course despite his words a tiny smile tried to show on his lips. "You jerk."

Riku set his small box of stars somewhere safe before he crawled over to Sora on the bed, stalking him on all fours. "Revenge for not letting me sleep and jumping on me this morning." With a sly grin he placed a hand on Sora's shoulder to push him back down to lay on the bed, keeping him pinned. "You're quite the screamer, Sora." His grin grew before he leaned down to touch a lingering kiss on Sora's lips.

Sora had no time to protest any of what Riku said as the touch of lips quieted him instantly. The flush on his cheeks could more then likely be felt with how close they were. He couldn't help feeling embarrassed over a few of the words spoken, but didn't let it upset him too much. He pressed back into the kiss and only squirmed a little under Riku's hold before he kept still and shut his eyes.

Riku tried to contain his grin against the kiss. The brief nap had him energized and, feeling a little mischievous, he crawled over Sora, straddling the other boy's waste to keep him pinned. He slipped his hands just under the bottom of Sora's shirt and very slowly dragged his touch along the other's sides dragging up the shirt with it as he just barely ran his tongue along Sora's bottom lip.

Sora's body twitched at the simple touches. His sides were sensitive only because he was an extremely ticklish person, but all the same he let out a small noise at the contact. It wasn't unpleasant. He just hadn't expected Riku to be so forward when Sora was still in the process of waking up. The tongue at his lip knocked him out of his thoughts and ever so slowly he opened his mouth as he let out another quiet noise before touching his tongue to Riku's own. The action rather shy on his own end.

Riku couldn't help the small sound of amusement at Sora's shyness; he found it cute and almost girlish. He didn't hesitate to run his own tongue along Sora's. He grinned a little at Sora's shy squirminess. He gave Sora's lips another slow playful lick before pressing a soft deeper kiss against Sora's mouth.

Sora's hesitance seemed to be slipping little by little. It was obvious by the way he pressed back into the deeper kiss, just as eager as Riku. His hands reached up and away from the bed to cling tightly to Riku. They wrapped around the other boy, holding onto his vest to keep him near as they kissed.

Riku pushed up Sora's shirt further before he drew a hand up Sora's front, running his touch along the other teen's chest under the shirt. He pulled back from the kiss licking his own lips unconsciously after. Still he couldn't help giving a slight look down at Sora as he watched the other through heavily lidded eyes. He leaned, still smoothing his hand up and down Sora's chest as he murmured against the other's ear in a husky voice, "Have I told you lately how pretty I think you are? Prettier than any girl at school. Prettier than any girl I've ever seen." Riku grinned as he kissed Sora's ear. "So much prettier than any of the princesses of Heart." Riku gave an affectionate lick to Sora's neck before he added against Sora's jaw line, "that includes Kairi."

Sora chewed at his bottom lip at how close Riku was and the other's voice near his ear. It was a weakness that Sora would never admit to, but the older boy more then likely already knew about. The words easily had his face growing hotter and his insides fluttered at each compliment he received along with the intimate affections. "N-Not lately, no," he spoke up weakly, but still managed a small grin.

Riku drew his hand down from Sora's chest tracing down his ribs as he spoke. "It isn't just the way you look outside, it's everything in here." He lightly tapped Sora's chest. "You're pretty on the outside because you're beautiful on the inside." Riku chuckled. "The corny stuff never sounds right when it comes from me. You get away with it so much better." Riku nuzzled his lips against Sora's neck as he placed little affectionate kisses along skin. "Because you always mean every word." His hand smoothed down to Sora's hip where it dangerously pushed down shorts so it could run down the curve of hip bone. "You're lovelier than anyone, Sora," Riku continued in that quiet throaty tone of his before he softly sucked on skin.

Among each word Riku spoke that nearly had Sora melting, the younger boy could feel his shorts sliding lower then they should have been. It was Riku's hands that caused his breath to catch as he managed to stutter out a few words, "Ahh... umm... R-Riku?" Of course that was as far as he got since coherency was lost on him and he gave into the lips on his skin. There was just no point in fighting that and his hands clung a little tighter.

Riku hid his grin against Sora's neck. He didn't seem to give a second thought as he slipped his hand down under clothes to run fingers down further along Sora's hip. "Yes?" Riku drew the word out a little in his throat against Sora's ear. "How can I help you, Sora?" he asked in a husky tone that near purred from his grin perking lips.

Sora wasn't very good at hiding the noise that escaped him and it was something that caused him to try and become one with the bed afterwards. The way Riku spoke and how much further the other boy insisted on moving his hand almost caused Sora to let out a few more weak sounds. He couldn't even answer the question given to him, afraid of his stuttering responses already given. Instead he found it safer to move his hands, grabbing Riku's face so he could press their lips together once again.

Riku was more than happy to oblige Sora a kiss, pressing softly with affection at first then a little more heated. He was amused with the state he'd left Sora in: his mind a mess as he pressed into Riku's bed. Riku's hand moved to run his palm across Sora's bare stomach, tracing a finger down below his belly button near the low waste line of his shorts.

Sora's body seemed to move up into the touches all on its own. His stomach tensed a little at the ticklish sensations a few of the touches gave off, but Sora's sounds were muffled at the time. His mind could only tell him that these feelings were so good and he should never let Riku stop. This was why he kept the other close, allowing the heated kiss and responding to it eagerly.

Riku eventually parted from the deep kiss, pressing one small kiss with a lazy smirk. He shrugged from Sora's tight grasp to move down further along Sora's body. He glanced up at Sora's flushed face before he placed a few lingering kisses on his chest. He pushed Sora's stubborn shirt up further to flick his tongue across skin.

"Hmm, maybe we should just stay in my room all day," Riku couldn't help but tease. Personally he didn't think it was half that bad an idea. "Screw town and the island, you should just get undressed now." He gave a lazy smirk as he gave Sora's shorts a teasing tug, not that they weren't dangerously low already.

Sora wanted to protest against those words and tell Riku that he had been promised ice cream by the older boy. Not to mention he had wanted to waste away a day at the islands, just the two of them. It had felt like forever for some reason since they had done so.

Of course with Riku smirking at him like that and the way the other boy kept pulling at his shorts, Sora couldn't really complain. The teasing kisses already left his mind hazy and he nearly forgot just why they had left his house in the first place. "O-Okay," he managed to stutter out a reply again as he fumbled with the sheets since his hands were suddenly free.

Riku blinked actually startled and soon warmth crossed his face. He hadn't expected Sora to actually give in to his joking words. "R-really?" He placed one last lingering kiss to Sora's chest before he crawled back up to nuzzle his head against Sora's. "You sure? You were so excited to go running around today." Riku rested himself on his side on the bed still keeping near to Sora. It left his hand free to lazily run up and down Sora's bare middle. "We can always fool around on the island," Riku couldn't help suggesting with a bit of wickedness to his voice and grin.

That only caused Sora to blush harder, added onto the fact he felt very much exposed at the moment. Riku's wandering hand soothed him a bit and he decided to cuddle a little closer to his friend. "I-I guess so..." It was the only thing Sora could think to respond with when told something like that. He would admit even to himself that he was a very shy person, even naive at times, but he wasn't at all stupid. It just took him longer to grasp onto simple concepts that was all. "Wherever is fine." Sora realized the words came out wrong and wished that the bed would swallow him up. "I mean, you know, we can stay wherever. Not that... other thing..." He groaned.

Riku did his best not to laugh at Sora's embarrassment, but it was hard when Sora was so cute when he talked himself in a corner. "Of course." He nodded against Sora's head. "We can spend time anywhere as long as it's together, right?" A small sound of amusement did manage to escape him. "Where ever is fine with me too." He grinned. "And I guess you can take that any way you want." He touched Sora's cheek. "Think I just made your face redder, Sora."

"Shut up, Riku." Sora lifted his hands up to cover his face after Riku's teasing. It didn't help that he knew the other boy was laughing at him as well. He moved one hand away to push at his friend, hoping to make him fall off the bed, but knowing he wouldn't be successful. "You're not funny." But despite that Sora was still smiling while he tried to pull down his shirt. He was too embarrassed to pull his shorts up to their proper place for the time being.

"Sure I am." Riku was quick to snatch up Sora in his arms again in a possessive embrace which of course denied Sora's attempt at pulling down his shirt since it pinned his arms. "Because you love me." He snuck a hand down to undo Sora's previous attempts of fixing his shirt by tugging it back up. It helped that Sora's shorts were still low; it let Riku sneak a few more personal touches. "And everything's better with love." Riku chuckled playfully as he snuck a few kisses against Sora's hot cheek.

Sora failed once again at keeping a noise in with the few touches Riku snuck in. He tried to squirm, but eventually gave up as soon as his flushed skin was kissed. "Riku," he whined the other's name, "we're not going to get anything done if you keep pinning me to the bed like this." Sora immediately blushed worse at his own words and tried to turn his head. "Geez..." He was obviously at a loss for saying much else and had given up.

Riku didn't even try to hide his laughter this time. "You're right, we'll get far more done faster if we strip you down, Sora. Maybe right now before we head over to the island." He tried to hold more laughter in. "It'll save us time on the island later." He gently nipped Sora's ear giving it a small lick. "Course, we'd get more done if we just did it all here." Riku knew all of that was terrible and if Sora managed to get an arm free he was going to get swatted. But it was worth it. So Riku tried to appease Sora's embarrassed anger by sweetly kissing his ear.

Sora could have easily been angry with Riku for all of his teasing words, but of course the other boy knew just how to make everything all better. He let out a sigh at the kiss to his ear and thought about still doing something to get back at Riku, but Sora was already feeling quite embarrassed. Why not go the extra mile? There really was no turning back at this point. At least that's what his brain told him.

From behind Riku there was a bit of shuffling as Sora squirmed underneath. Two loud thuds could be heard on the floor which made it obvious the younger of the two had just thrown his flip flops to some unknown area using his feet. "You know, it's kind of hard to get undressed with you pinning me down like this, Riku." If only the other boy could see the grin on Sora's face.

Riku wished such a startled 'huh?' hadn't left his mouth. Once again he didn't expect Sora to take his teasing words for real. Without giving it much thought he let go of Sora and pushed himself to sit up and look to where Sora's shoes had flung themselves in his room. When he looked down at Sora he smirked some. "You can't be serious."

Sora didn't answer. As soon as he was free he sat up and started to unzip his gloves one at a time before he actually pulled them off to toss aside. As soon as they were off his hands went to the bottom of his shirt to lift it up over his head. His necklace fell to his chest as it slipped through, but he ignored the cool metal to throw his shirt over with his gloves. His eyes met Riku's own once he was finished with just those few pieces of clothing and he managed a small shy smile before he spoke again, "Does it look like I'm joking?"

Riku stared. He had to clack his jaw closed since he realized he was staring open mouthed. He shook just his head to Sora's question.

Despite the red on his own face that refused to go away, Sora's smile still widened. He was quite pleased with the response he got out of Riku, but wasn't going to stop there. On hands and knees he moved to crawl over to his friend, stopping right in front of Riku. His hands reached out to bury along the edges of the vest that the other wore, and with another small grin, Sora started to slide the piece of clothing off of Riku's arms.

Riku was sure warmth tinged his face but his mind was else where there and then and right on Sora. He let the vest fall off his arms and shrugged out of it. He settled his hands on Sora's shoulders after, running them along skin enjoying the absence of Sora's shirt. His hands slid up and down Sora's arms as he managed to grin a little. "You couldn't be more serious." He let his hands smooth down Sora's back down to rest on his hips. "I guess I should do my part, and help." Riku grinned as he slipped his thumbs under the waste line of Sora's clothes to slowly slip them off.

Sora wiggled a bit to help aid Riku, but as soon as the pieces of clothing were off he seemed to realize what had just transpired. He let out a surprised squeak and clung to the blankets which he tried his best to hide under with only his head peaking out. He narrowed his eyes on his friend and pouted. "No fair. You're way over-dressed now, Riku." Despite his embarrassment Sora gave a small smirk and let the blanket fall away only a bit.

"I'm completely dressed," it was a simple explanation and it had Riku full out grinning at Sora's dilemma he'd gotten himself into. "But I'll remedy this for you." He crossed his arms and took the bottom of his shirt to tug it up and off, tossing it aside. He crawled closer to the bundle of self conscious Sora. "Better?" He took Sora's hand to rest it on his chest over his heart, smiling more than grinning.

Sora's hand twitched as he felt his friend's beating heart beneath his palm. Of course the fact he had just watched Riku take his shirt off only heightened Sora's embarrassment, but he was slowly trying to get over it. "Much better," he whispered quietly. His hand drew a tiny circle before he moved it up to wrap around Riku's neck, bringing to other boy closer into a heated kiss that Sora found himself grinning against. Of course the only reason for that being his other hand had sneaked its way out from the blanket to trail down so fingers could snap at the buttons on Riku's pants.

A very soft amused laugh was muffled against Sora's lips at his sneakiness. Riku pulled Sora nearer, pushing away the blankets that cloaked him so he could run his hands down Sora's back with slow affection as he kissed Sora. "We can always grab ice cream later," he was quick to joke with a grin against Sora's lips. "I love you more than ice cream anyway."


	61. Chapter 61

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 61

The clock on a bedside table showed that it had become rather late in the afternoon. Time was something to be ignored along with earlier plans of ice cream and just hanging out altogether. The two bodies that lie underneath twisted blankets seemed to have forgotten everything beyond the bed they were lying in so comfortably.

A soft sound echoed through the room as Sora curled in closer to the body next to him. His only real article of clothing that had been spared was still the necklace that jingled quietly around his neck with each movement he made. He had been dozing in and out of sleep every few minutes and was more then content to cling tight to the only other warmth there was.

Feeling the small body move closer against him Riku realized just how cool the air was on his damp skin, even with Sora clinging and tangled near. He sightlessly reached behind himself, feeling around until he felt the edge of a blanket which he promptly yanked up over them both. He snuggled Sora up just that much more under the new comfortable warmth of the blanket. Riku was content to never get up out of bed ever again.

Sora seemed to cuddle even closer as soon as the added blanket was thrown across and Riku's arms wrapped around him. Still, he seemed to shift around and rubbed his face against Riku's shoulder since his hands weren't free. One groggy eye blinked open as soon as he was done to look up at Riku for a few seconds before he broke out into a small giggle fit which was the cause of something only he probably found to be amusing. "Riku... your hair..." he managed to speak between bits of laughter. He freed an arm to reach up and press down on a strand that was sticking up while he still laughed.

Riku frowned some at being laughed at. He refused to open his eyes and instead buried his face against the crook of Sora's neck to hide from the teasing. He gave a disgruntled whine. "Mmm, don't make fun of my hair."

Sora's laughter died away, but his smile never fell. "I'm not making fun of it. I like your hair, Riku, but it's so messy right now." Since the other boy had decided to bury himself away, Sora took his chance to run his fingers through the strands as gently as he could. It was a bit difficult since he had to move his neck a little, but he managed.

Riku was soothed by the fingers through his hair. "Your fault." He soon ran his hand lazily up and down Sora's spine, trailing down to his tailbone and up to the top of the small of his back. "It couldn't be helped. I'll live though." He placed a few small kisses on Sora's neck which was a little bruised from heated kisses and love bites that were done in the heat of the moment.

Sora gave a rather content sound at Riku's actions and let his fingers fall away to force Riku's head away. At the moment he felt a bit more playful then he usually would have been previously and placed a few quick kisses on the other boy's cheeks before he gave in and allowed Riku a small kiss.

Riku tried to remain disgruntled but he just couldn't. Sora's affection was just too sweet; Riku just didn't have the fight in him to be anything but happy. He didn't let Sora lean away without giving him a kiss back, leaning his head against Sora's with a smile after. His chest hurt but it was a good ache for once, he couldn't describe it with any word other than 'perfect' or 'complete'. It truly was something perfect to love and be loved in return. To share every intimate part, as cliché as it sounded, Riku felt so much closer to Sora now. There was nothing obstructing them from each other now. Nothing would ever tear them apart. Riku would never let it again.

Sora let out another small laugh as he looked into Riku's eyes. He nuzzled their noses together in a small playful way before he pushed Riku back a bit so he could have some room. "Hey, Riku, do you still keep some paper around here?" It was an odd request, but Sora couldn't keep still even after their previous activities. Before Riku could even answer, Sora was already crawling across the other boy to try and lean over to look inside the night stand, opening the drawer to search through it for some paper and something to write with. The action caused him to lay halfway across Riku, but he didn't seem to care much himself.

"Uh," Riku drew out the clueless sound as he suddenly had a naked Sora across him, which inconveniently made it hard to think beyond that simple fact. It caused his hand to wander more than it should. It took him a moment to actually think on Sora's very random request. "I think there might be some loose paper in a drawer on my desk." He pointed to the desk for Sora, as if it weren't plain to see in the room. "There."

Sora stopped his search in the night stand to look over at the desk with wide eyes. His brain seemed to catch up to him and let him know that in order to get over there he would have to leave the safety of the bed quite naked. It didn't detour him though, and soon Sora was grinning as he hopped up from the bed, taking the blankets with him and leaving Riku with not much else as he made his way over to the desk as if it was quite normal to be wearing the sheets.

"H-hey!" Riku whined. All his source of warmth had left him stranded naked on his bed. "That's not nice. Get back here." He tried to reach for Sora, but unfortunately his arm didn't stretch that long and he could only grasp air. Riku grumped and instead tried to find another blanket to keep warm. He found one thrown on the floor and tugged it over himself to huddle up in. "You're horrible, Sora."

"But you love me anyway," Sora spoke in a sing song voice as he searched through the desk. It was a bit difficult with one hand keeping the blankets held up, but he managed somewhat. They still slipped down every few seconds. He finally pulled out a piece of paper and a pen that looked as if it had been chewed up on the end. Feeling successful enough, Sora sat himself down at the desk chair to write instead of going back to the bed.

Riku peeked over at Sora from under the blanket. He blew some of his pale hair from his eyes as he watched, rather confused. "Can't you write a report on what we did later?" He chuckled. "I'm sure the teachers will love to hear the details, but I miss you more. And demand you come back." He reached out from under the blankets and made grabby hands at the air.

Sora rolled his eyes at Riku's words and whines. "I'm not writing a report, stupid." The playful name calling wasn't unusual and Sora even smiled afterwards. He continued to scribble a few things down before he dropped the pen to look over his words and seemed plenty satisfied with what he saw. His fingers then moved to the edges of the paper and began to fold it little by little into a familiar shape. When it was all done he picked the pen up again and drew tiny hearts on each corner.

Once Sora was finished he stood back up with the folded note in his free hand as he walked back over to the bed. He stopped beside it and held the paper up by a corner while he smiled a little nervously at Riku and wiggled the note around. "See, much better then a report."

Riku blinked at the little dancing paper star in Sora's hand. He pushed himself to sit up and gave Sora a rather touched smile. "My mysterious S writes me again. Never thought I'd see another little star from him." He took the note from Sora but grabbed Sora as well, pulling him over to gather him up on his lap. "He's very poetic, you know. And getting one from him today, well, I may just have to treasure it forever. And then some." He chuckled, placing a kiss on Sora's cheek. "Let's see what my beloved S has written me." Riku carefully unfolded the little paper star to read.

Once the paper was unfolded Sora's messy print could be made out with just a few lines of text, but the meaning behind the words were what made them jump out the most:

 _'I'll always be your light. Your bright and shining star. Above all you're the one that matters most. I know now I can't fall any harder.'_

"I remember in the dream," Sora started to speak up in a whisper, "there were things you would say that made me feel like the most important person in all the worlds. I don't want you to think, or for me to think, that just because it was a dream that none of it mattered to me. So, I'm reminding myself and letting you know how much it all means." Sora twisted his fingers in the blanket as he became nervous. "Just, how much you mean to me."

Riku swallowed thickly. He raised a hand to rub at the corner of his eyes. He wrapped his strong arms around Sora to hug him close, keeping a tight hold of the note at the same time. "My little star, huh?" he managed to say in a quiet voice but it still cracked. He nuzzled his cheek against Sora's hair, burying a hand there as well. "My little shinning star."

Riku gave a shaky exhale. He kissed Sora hard on the forehead just to show him how much it truly meant. "Not many people get their own falling stars." Riku managed to chuckle weakly with a smile. "Damn, Sora." He ran a few fingers across Sora's cheek before tilting his head up to look at him. "I think I just fell in love with you all over again. Hard." To prove it Riku then captured Sora's mouth, not happy until he kissed Sora's breath away.

A low sound was muffled against lips as Sora tried his best to respond to the kiss. His arms had instantly wrapped around Riku's neck to cling tight to his friend, keeping close during such an intense display of affection. It wasn't something Sora had been expecting and the words nearly brought tears to his own eyes. Riku was good on leaving him absolutely breathless, because it wasn't long before Sora was forced to pull back to catch every bit of air he had lost only to look up at Riku and give a shaky laugh. "I'm glad you liked it so much."

Riku gave an equally breathless laugh. "Love it." He dotted Sora's nose with a quick kiss. "Love you." He looked over Sora's shoulder to the note he still held. "Think I may just carry this one with me all the time. In my wallet. A little piece of my little star with me always."

That easily brightened Sora up completely and the same energy he had seconds ago came back full force. "Really?" He didn't even wait for a response before he was giving Riku another quick kiss. When he pulled away he turned so he could take the slip of paper from Riku's hand. With practiced skill he folded the paper back up to its original shape with each heart on just the right corner. When he was done he handed the small star back over while he leaned back against Riku's chest. Much like Riku he felt as if he never wanted to leave the room. He was quite content for the moment staying comfortable against the other teen and knowing that he had done something to make Riku happy.

" _Really_ really," Riku finally answered Sora as he rested his head atop Sora's. He kept the other's head tucked under his chin as he spun the newly folded paper star around between his fingers. After a moment he held the star in one hand so he could rub Sora's arm as he kissed the top of his head. "We should probably have a shower," he murmured the suggestion against Sora's hair. "Not right now, but sometime today." Sora could feel the smile against his head. "We can eat whatever was packed, after."

At the mention of food Sora seemed to realize that despite having breakfast he was still quite hungry. Of course he didn't really know how much time had passed since they had left his own home and he felt as if he hadn't eaten at all. "Sounds good to me, but we should save room for desert. You're still taking me out afterwards." Even though Sora's grin couldn't be seen it could be heard through his words, "Don't think I've forgotten, Riku."

Riku gave a soft laugh. "I don't think anything could make you forget ice cream." He messed with a few locks of Sora's hair, running his fingers through the warm brunette strands. "We can still go off to the island. It'll be nice with all the stars out. Cool enough we can just lie on the sand and watch them." He gave a soft thoughtful sound. "Feels like I haven't done that in ages. Just, spending time with you, doing absolutely nothing."

"Well, Kairi is usually with us, you know?" Sora instantly flushed and realized how those words could be taken. He didn't want it to seem like he held anything against his other dear friend. "I mean not to say I don't want her around. That's just horrible. Still, it's nice when we get time, just the two of us." His fingers twisted around themselves. "That didn't come out selfish did it, Riku?"

Sora could feel Riku shake his head against his hair. "No. You're the furthest thing from selfish, Sora." Riku slipped his arms tight around Sora, letting out a content sound when the other was firmly snuggled in his arms. "You always want every single soul to be happy, even at the expense of your own. Wanting to actually be happy yourself sometimes, trust me, it's not selfish." Riku lazily trailed his hand up and down Sora's back. "Me, I'm selfish. I'll admit that I've done terrible things just to feel happy. But, I've found I feel far more happy when you're smiling, Sora." Riku gave a short 'heh'. "And I'd do anything to make you happy, Sora. Maybe still, some terrible things. So, maybe I am still selfish."

"You're not selfish either, Riku," Sora found himself whispering as if the moment would be shattered if he spoke any louder. "Just saying all of that proves that you really aren't. You say you've done terrible things, but isn't that all in the past? And if you stay stuck in the past then what will happen to the future? You have to move forward. You can't keep thinking about all the bad things." A small smile came to his lips. "As long as we have each other then we'll always be happy."

A short quiet laugh left Riku at Sora's constant optimism. "You always know exactly what to say." His hand fell from Sora's hair down to the crown necklace. It softly jingled as Riku toyed with it idly. "Always makes everything alright," Riku whispered. "No matter how cheesy it should sound, it never does, not from you." He glanced to the little paper star in his other hand and held it tight against his palm.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Sora's own hand reached up to wrap around Riku's fingers that had settled on his necklace. He kept quiet for a few seconds just enjoying his friend's company and warmth until his stomach gave a tiny growl to remind him of his hunger. He laughed at his own misfortune while he dropped his hand and turned to face Riku completely. "Come on, let's have that shower and eat lunch. My stomach is demanding it." He grinned. "We can raid your fridge a little too while we're at it since mom couldn't give us pudding to go along with our sandwiches."

Riku sighed as if it were truly a bother. "Fine. Fine." He pushed Sora to get up off the bed. "But you get to run around naked." He stood up, putting the paper star on the night table and wrapped the bed sheet around his waist. "I want you mine and naked for as long as possible." Riku captured Sora up in his arms before he could try to grab for a blanket. He ran his hands down Sora's back and further down as he kissed Sora's shoulder. "I like being with you. Like this."

Despite everything that had happened so far Sora still blushed at such words as well as Riku's actions. Even though he felt much too shy to admit to liking such a thing as well he still curled close to Riku's body as they stood up on the floor, and found himself smiling. "Well, it's not like I'm getting dressed anytime soon." His smile grew and despite his shy nature he felt rather playful as well. "And if you're good you'll get to take your shower with me. To save water, of course." He tapped a finger against Riku's chest.

"Of course," Riku quietly agreed. He nuzzled Sora's neck. "Though admittedly, I'm good when I'm good, but when I'm bad- I'm better." He grinned as he gave a playful bite against the other's neck.

Sora let out a noise at the bite and squirmed a little. "Riku, stop it," he whined. He was able to free himself after moving around a little and walked backwards away from the taller teen. With a grin on his face he lifted a hand to wiggle a finger for Riku to come hither before he twirled around on a foot to make his way towards the bedroom door, heading for the bathroom.

Riku chuckled to himself and he gave a rather pleased grin before he followed the naked Sora. What a perfect world he lived in.

It was long before either of them were in the shower under the fall of hot water, which soothed whatever tension was left in either of them. Riku held Sora loosely while either of their hair was wetted and slicked down by the water from the shower. He smoothed his fingers over wet skin, gliding over shoulder blades, sides, up and down Sora's arms. It all still felt so unreal to Riku, all that had happened right down to where they were right now. Riku needed to make sure all of it did happen, that Sora was really standing there with him warm and naked just like himself.

Sora never usually enjoyed staying in the shower too long, but for some reason he didn't mind it much this time around. He found it enjoyable to be held so close while under the warm water. His fingers twisted and turned under the sprayer to watch how the drops plipped on his fingers, even though his usual bouncy spikes nearly obscured his vision for the moment as the water held them down. For once Sora was quiet, a rarity, but he didn't feel the need to speak much.

Riku nearly forgot why they were there until his eyes landed on the shampoo bottles there. Wordlessly he picked up one of the bottles and opened it up to pour some on Sora's hair. He gave a soft laugh at the obscene sound it made as it squirted out. Setting it down he smoothed back Sora's bangs to clear his friend's vision of them, setting a kiss on Sora's forehead before he began to gently massage a lather through the sopping once spiky hair.

Sora gave a soft sound in the back of his throat. The fingers that moved along his scalp felt incredibly good and he couldn't help dipping his head a little so that Riku could reach farther back. He stopped playing with the water so he could wrap his own arms around his friend, holding on as he murmured quietly, "Mmm... feels nice, Riku."

Riku gave a soft chuckle. "M'glad," he very quietly answered. He reached back to run his fingers through the soapy lather to get at the hair behind Sora's head since he'd leaned his head forward. He gently massaged Sora's scalp, spreading the relaxing touch down his neck for a moment. Riku smiled softly to see Sora so subdued. He brushed away some suds that dripped down Sora's forehead so they wouldn't fall painfully in his eyes. Riku felt his own eyes sting, but it wasn't the soap. He was glad for the fall of water against him, the water that dripped from his sopping bangs; it hid the warmth that fell from his eyes.

Sora's hands wandered up along Riku's back. The water made them slippery, so he couldn't cling quite as hard as usual, but he didn't seem to be trying. He was only interested in giving small touches to skin as more soft sounds came from him. He wasn't used to anyone else washing his own hair, so the change was certainly nice. At times he moved his head one way to make Riku rub at one spot a little more, wanting to feel pampered for as long as he could.

Riku smoothed the excess lather from Sora's hair, reaching a hand out so the shower could wash it away. "Close your eyes," he quietly instructed as he stepped Sora underneath the fall of water from the shower. Carefully Riku went about rinsing the shampoo from Sora's hair, running his fingers through it being as gentle and affectionate as he had been with washing his friend's hair.

Sora had done as told as the shampoo was washed away. He was still just as subdued with the actions as he had been while Riku washed his hair. As soon as all the foam seemed to be cleared from his hair Sora seemed to notice since there were no more suds crawling across his body. He opened his eyes as he lifted his head away from the sprayer only to turn his full attention on Riku. He gave his friend a rather lazy smile before he leaned up to share a quick kiss, speaking after, "Your turn."

Riku thumbed away the wet hair that stuck to Sora's cheek. He couldn't help but find that the smile accompanied by the sopping spikes that now clung to Sora's head quite endearing. "Mine? How will you reach?" Riku couldn't help the gentle teasing. "A stepping stool can't be too safe, and a phone book would get soggy fast."

"Well, then you'll just have to make some sacrifices, won't you?" Sora's smile only grew and before Riku could respond he forced the other teen's head down with hands on each of his cheeks. His smile turned innocent after the action and he gave Riku another quick kiss before he let go to grab the shampoo bottle back up. He poured some out onto Riku's hair and set the bottle aside again, and instantly his hands were quick to run through each strand to lather it all up. Just as careful for Riku as the other teen had been for him.

A soft sound left Riku, his hair one of the things he was most sensitive about. But Sora's gentle loving touch for each silver strand put Riku at ease and let him enjoy the attention. He let his arms slip down to rest around Sora's waist, fingers knitting at the other's tailbone.

Sora gave a soft sound at Riku's touch, but didn't shy away. He continued to pet his hands through both hair and shampoo. At times he would twist his fingers gently around a few pieces. It was something he always enjoyed doing to Riku's hair and even then under the warm water he couldn't stop himself. He took extra care to make sure each piece was lathered up before he moved to the front to take care of Riku's overly long bangs.

Riku couldn't help the small smirk. "... I have a lot of hair," he spoke up softly. "It is a bit of a pain to wash, sorry. Mmm, but you're the only one I trust enough to touch my hair." Those words tasted rather familiar. But Riku ignored it. "Lord only knows how many times either of my parents have chased me with scissors or nagged at me to get my hair cut." He quietly laughed. "Only gave me more reason to let it grow even more." Riku relaxed all the more, he loved Sora's dotting touch through his hair, he always had. As girlish as he considered it, growing up he loved when Sora played with his hair. He'd always pretend to grump about it, but the farce would always pass when Sora would whine and Riku was contented to let Sora do as he liked.

"I'm glad you did. Besides, it's not that much of a pain." Sora shrugged a shoulder while he made sure to keep the suds away from Riku's eyes. "I don't really mind it at all." He finally pulled his hands back once he was sure he got every piece and switched places with Riku near the sprayer. "Now, you close your eyes. Of course, you'll have to rinse your own hair, sorry. You can't keep bending forward for that, so I won't be much help." He gave a sheepish smile as he shook off his soapy hands.

"The price of being taller, I guess. Heh, next time I'll have to sit or kneel for you." Riku leaned his head back to rinse out his hair. He brushed his hair back over his shoulders and ran his fingers through his hair to wash it out. Since his hair was long it took longer than Sora's but he managed to get it all out. He pulled his hair over one shoulder, running his hands through it to make sure there were no wet tangles in it. "Hm, Sora," Riku smirked some, "it's rude to stare, you know." He reached forward and clacked Sora's jaw closed. "You'd think we'd never done it with the way you're looking at me." Riku couldn't help the wicked albeit lazy grin that followed.

Thanks to the hot air the shower provided it was hard to confirm whether the blush on Sora's face had just appeared or been there the entire time. Although the way his eyes widened for a split second and he seemed to stutter made the former seem more then obvious. "You're so full of yourself, Riku," Sora was quick to reply once he got a hold of himself and made sure to turn away from the other to busy himself with the soap instead.

"Probably." Riku shrugged even though Sora couldn't see it. But he wasn't about to let Sora slink off so easily. He stepped behind Sora, his hands slipping to other's front to barely graze his nails over Sora's wet lower stomach. "But don't be mad." Riku placed little kisses along the back of Sora's shoulder, trying to make up for the previous teasing as he trailed them up to the nape of his neck.

Sora was instantly like putty in Riku's fingers and in the back of his mind he knew it. There was just no fighting those touches and the way his stomach clenched on its own because of them. "I'm not mad," he spoke with a pout. He had already grabbed the bar of soap and washcloth that he had been aiming to get once he had turned around. And just to prove his words he wiggled free of Riku's grasp to turn around, lathering up the cloth, but not for himself. He slid it against Riku's chest and moved it up towards the boy's shoulder, intending on helping the other get clean.

A low sound left Riku. "Always so considerate." He leaned forward to busy himself with continuing those kisses he'd pressed on the side of Sora's neck while Sora washed him. Riku pressed Sora back against the shower wall, pressing close as he ran his tongue across the sensitive skin of Sora's neck before softly sucking just below his jaw.

Sora's hand faltered a little as he gave a quiet sound of his own. He tried to concentrate on what he was doing, but Riku was making it very difficult at the moment. He pressed back further against the wall, allowing Riku to keep him pinned and when he spoke it was in a throaty little whine, "Riku, you're not making this very easy." Of course Sora seemed to aid in his own difficult situation as his hand that held the washcloth slid further down Riku's stomach.

"Oh I don't know, Sora," Riku murmured against damp skin in a soft husky tone, "I think I'm making it very easy." His hand ceased running along Sora's side to follow down his arm to the hand that held the wash cloth. He pushed the wash cloth from Sora's hand to knit his fingers with his and help his hand travel lower.

Getting clean would have to wait for later.

After the shower, getting food was next on the agenda. Riku's fridge and cupboards were soon raided and all forms of snackage were then horded into Riku's room. Two bottles of cola were added to the collection, since Riku's parents were thoughtful enough to buy things like that for him and his friends while they were gone.

Riku had paused in eating to stare at Sora before he gave a slight smirk. "If you eat that sandwich any faster with any less bites, Sora, you're going to choke."

Sora paused midway through a bite to snap his attention over to Riku. His cheeks were stuffed full of said sandwich, all bites that he had yet to swallow. Always quick on the defensive, Sora was just about to snap out a reply to Riku's warning, but of course a piece of bread decided to try and lodge itself into his throat and caused him to cough violently instead of form words. Sora launched himself forward to grab Riku's drink from his hand and started to down the cola in seconds.

Riku flinched and tried to keep his laughter for Sora's poor misfortune; which he was doing quite a bad job of. He rubbed Sora's back and tried to keep in an 'I told you so'. "My poor, Sora. Beaten by a sandwich made by his mom." He did a bad job of keeping in his new laughter.

Sora took a deep breath once he had taken the drink away from his lips. Thankfully he had swallowed every bite he had stuffed in his mouth and shot a look at Riku for the awful teasing. "Yeah, well, it's not that funny." He handed Riku his drink back even though it was nearly empty after Sora had gotten a hold of it. He rested back against the head board and decided against trying to eat the rest of the sandwich. He felt as if it was out to get him suddenly. Instead he picked up a bag of chips and opened them up to nibble on.

Riku lifted his bottle up and swished what was left of his drink; such a loss. Shrugging he lowered the bottle and grinned over at Sora. "So, you're not too tired now to still go out are you?" He tried to keep his act casual so he leaned back beside Sora and drank what was left of his cola.

As casual as the question was Sora still blushed, but tried to shrug it off as he bit down on a chip that crunched loudly in the quiet room. He shook his head until the chip was gone. "No, I'm fine. I still want to go hang out at the islands at least." Despite his still drying hair, Sora leaned over a little so he could rest his head on Riku's shoulder. "I was really looking forward to it. I mean, I'm not saying today wasn't really great and all so far," Sora blushed harder while he tried to continue, "but, yeah... you know what I mean."

Riku gave a good humoured chuckle. "I do. I really wanted to go there today. And we will, after we eat." He took another sip of his cola. "Because I'm quite sure you're very eager to brag to everyone that you became a man today." Riku patted Sora's thigh. " _Twice_."

"Riku!" Sora swatted his friend's hand away while he lifted his head back up to stare at the other with wide eyes. His cheeks had gotten darker at such words, but still a slow smirk spread across his own face and he was soon settling back against the head board. "I guess that makes two of us." He picked through his bag of chips as he spoke the teasing words.

"That's very true," Riku agreed far too casually. He leaned over and stole some chips from Sora's bag. "I guess that means I should tell everyone, even my parents, the good news: that I'm a man now. That I became a man with my best friend in both my room and in the shower." He chomped on the chip, eating it before he grinned at Sora who was looking quite red now. "What do you think?"

"I-I don't... well... umm... " Sora was at a complete loss for words other then the stuttering mess he had been able to get out. He didn't even seem to notice Riku's sneaky move to steal a chip. His eyes only stayed glued on the bedroom door as if Riku's parents would burst in at any moment. "I-I guess... if that's what you want, but... uhh, Riku?" Sora started out slowly, "I don't think they'll appreciate the part about the shower as much as you or I." His own words only had him flushing darker and he quickly looked back down to try and keep himself occupied with his snack.

Riku laughed; Sora really was adorable when he was a stuttering blushing mess. "I'm kidding." He slipped his arm over Sora's shoulders, ruffling his hair first. "Like I'd tell my folks anything. Not like they'd notice much. They could have walked in the bathroom while we were in there, do what they came for, and then leave without even noticing what we were doing. Heh. The less they know the better." He waved it off and stole more chips from Sora. "We could tell your mom though." He popped the chip in his mouth with a devious snicker. "I'm sure she'd like to know that her little boy has finally become a man."

"Well, I don't want to traumatize her or anything." Sora fiddled with the edges of the bag as he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for a second. "I'm happy, you know?" He finally spoke up after a while, but kept his gaze down. "That dream, it made me feel like I had lost everything and I'd never get it back. This whole day has made me realize that everything really is okay, and you were right, Riku. Things can only get better." He finally turned his head to meet his friend's eyes, smiling when he saw the color he loved so much. "And I don't have to worry about ever losing you again."

Riku's new smile was a little sad at first but soon it was just as happy as Sora's. "I'm happy too then. That whatever it was you dreamed really was just some silly old dream. If it wasn't, then today wouldn't have happened." He leaned forward to give Sora a quick kiss. "You have nothing to worry about anymore. We're both here, and you're very much stuck with me, Sora. We'll live out our lives together right here in Destiny Islands. We'll graduate school and go to the same college and share the same dorm. Hm, no, people are annoying. We'll live off campus in a small but comfortable apartment. You'll chase off the college girls who hit on me while I secretly hide the bodies of the ones who hit on you. Then we'll get jobs like normal adults, growing old together, no kids, maybe some pets. It'll be sickeningly romantic, a big old happy ending and everything." Riku beeped Sora's nose. "Just the way you like your stories."

Sora let out a small giggle at the playful action and scrunched up his face. Despite how silly some of the words had been, Sora found that he rather liked a few of the ideas. It made it seem as if they would have their whole lives planned out together and Sora knew right then and there that he wanted nothing more then just that.

Without saying a word after his laughter subsided, Sora moved around a little and dropped the bag he held aside. He crawled across Riku to straddle his friend's lap with a leg on either side of the other teen. Before Riku could utter a sound, Sora moved forward to press their lips together, laughing a little against the kiss when he noticed that Riku tasted like the chips he had been sneaking bites of.

Riku couldn't help the small bit of laughter as well since the kiss tasted like chips. His hands fell to Sora's hips and he was a little disappointed they got clothed; but he figured they'd never leave the house if they were left naked. He slipped his arms around Sora's waist and tugged him closer while he kissed him.

Sora's own hands found their way into Riku's hair to curl into each strand despite his gloves. He allowed himself to be pulled nearer while he deepened the kiss on his own. His actions not nearly as shy as they used to be which wasn't too surprising. He seemed to forget all about lunch and other such things once again as Riku became more important at that very moment.

Riku relaxed back against his head board, the fingers toying with his hair soothing him. He was more than happy to let the affectionate kiss become playful since Sora took lead to deepen it. Riku snuck his hands under Sora's shirt to run his hands over warm skin; it was still so hard for him to believe.

Sora squirmed a little as Riku ran his fingers along skin that was quite ticklish. He was forced to break away from the kiss since he couldn't hold his laughter in any longer and rested against his friend's chest. "Riku, stop it," the words were almost squeaked out. He squirmed a bit more, hoping it would force the other's hands to fall away.

"Hmm?" Riku glanced down at Sora squirming to avoid his touch. His hands stopped and came to rest on Sora's back. "Why?" Mischievousness passed on Riku's lips. "Does it- _tickle_!" He instantly attacked Sora's sides with tickles never letting up. It was just too tempting an opportunity to pass up.

Sora had no time to answer since Riku didn't give him any. Loud laughter escaped him as he tried to free himself from Riku's attack, but it was no real use. The most he could do was kick at the sheets on either side of his feet. "S-Stop! R-Riku, stop it! It's n-not fu-funny!" Since his hands had still been tangled in his friend's hair he accidentally pulled rather hard without meaning to while a sudden squeal left him when Riku brushed hands over a sensitive part on one of his sides.

Riku gave a short pained grunt at the hair pull. He stopped the tickling, giving Sora a rest so he could untangle his friend's hands from his hair. When he had his hair swept back over his shoulders he settled his hands down on either of Sora's legs. "Hey, Sora," Riku spoke the words low and with a grin perking his lips just barely, "I know your ultimate weak spot." Riku's grin grew wider.

While Sora tried to catch his breath he seemed to flinch at those words. They shouldn't have been too surprising since Riku was his best friend and they knew just about everything that made the other who they were. Still, Sora always tried to keep his most ticklish spots a secret. "You do not," he responded in a childish voice and it almost seemed as if he tried to scoot away.

Riku kept a tight hold on Sora's knees to keep him exactly where he was. "I dooo," Riku replied back almost as childishly as Sora did. He leaned forward rather close to Sora's face; his eyes fell heavily lidded as his grin became far lazier. "Want me to prove it?"

The rational side of Sora's mind thought it would have been a good idea to say no and just let the whole thing go. Of course it was few and far between that Sora listened to that side of his mind and ignored it once again at that very moment. "Yes, because I don't believe you," and with those words Sora did what he did best in such situations. He stuck out his tongue.

Riku promptly then licked the tip of Sora's tongue. "Fine with me." While Sora was busied with being flustered he slipped either of his hands under Sora's legs to lift them up and dump Sora on his back. This left Sora's bare feet completely at Riku's mercy and without mercy Riku attacked Sora's feet with tickles.

As soon as Riku's fingers made contact with his feet Sora was a mess. He started to squirm against the bed and tried to fight off the attack, but it didn't help that he was laughing way too much to help himself. There were tears at the corners of his eyes that tried to leak down his face as he tried to get a word out, "S-S-Stop!" It was all he managed. The rest of his words were lost to giggles.

"Bet you believe me now!" Riku laughed as he tried to keep Sora's feet in his grasp since he was squirming around so much. "I'll stop as soon as you say- 'Riku is the best and king of Destiny Islands'!" He slowed in his tickling so poor Sora could catch his breath, but mostly so Sora could speak the surrendering words. "Go on- say it." Riku grinned as he ran a finger down the ticklish arches of Sora's feet.

Sora's feet twitched at the still lingering touches. A few small laughs still left him, but he refused to speak such words. His head shook from side to side and he had to force himself to bite his lip to keep from laughing any harder. The act had him keeping silent while he stared at Riku with wide, teary eyes.

Riku let go of Sora's feet in favour of sitting up from the head board to kneel between Sora's legs, grinning over him. "You better." One hand yanked up Sora's shirt while another gave a few quick tickles to Sora's sides. "Or you'll get it!" He laughed.

"Ah! N-No! Riku, no!" Sora managed to get out the words between fits of laughter. He was squirming again, but it was a bit more difficult with Riku kneeling over him. "Fine, fine. You win, Riku." His own shaky hands reached down to try and grab Riku's arms, but his grip was weak because of his friend's tickling assault. "You're the best and you're king." Sora rolled his eyes at that last part, but still he couldn't stop giggling.

Riku slowly ceased his tickling. He couldn't help the laughter that continuously escaped him too. "You bet I am! And you better not forget it, Sora." He raised his hands and wiggled them in the air in a playful threat. "Or I'll getchya!"

Sora took in the air he needed from all the laughing he had done as he watched Riku through heavily-lidded eyes. As quick as could be Sora grabbed Riku's hands to pull his friend down into another kiss, silencing his teasing words and taking his own breath he had just gotten back, away in an instant. Of course Sora didn't seem to mind at all.

Riku pressed back into the kiss, grinning as he made sure Sora never got that breath back he'd just gotten and lost again. He sought one of Sora's hands to hold and press against the mattress. When Riku broke the kiss he smiled down at Sora, a light hearted smile that he only gave to his dear friend. He shut his eyes and rested his head atop Sora's, quiet for a moment as he just enjoyed the simplicity of Sora's company.

Sora moved his hands a little so he could twine his fingers with Riku's own. After that he was quite content to stay just as he was. Nothing could really rival the day he had so far. He could think of only two incidents and they either involved finding Riku or being able to kiss the other boy for the very first time. No other moments stuck out quite as vividly. He couldn't help not wanting this day to ever end. "Hey, Riku," he started out slowly and almost timidly, "I feel like this is the dream, but only because I don't feel like I've done anything to deserve to be this happy."

"Don't be stupid, Sora," Riku's insult was completely affectionate as he spoke softly, "you've done more than anyone in the entire _universe_. You saved all our lives, our fates, our worlds. _Our_ home." He opened his eyes and noticed just how much of a mess Sora had been made from the tickling. He wiped away the happy tears that had fallen from the tickling and smiled just a little. "You, above anyone else, deserve to be this happy. And I'm so glad it's me that's making you smile."

"You always know how to make me smile, Riku," Sora responded quietly. Just to prove his point the smile was brought back to his face and his worries seemed to vanish. "Besides, I didn't do it all on my own. You helped me. You were right by my side, fighting with me. I refuse to take every little bit of credit." He lifted a hand to brush Riku's hair aside, keeping his hand in place so it wouldn't fall back again. "You helped save us and you helped save me." His hand trailed down to stop and rest at Riku's side where the nasty hit had been taken that had long ago been meant for Sora. "And you deserve to be happy too."

Riku's hand came to rest over Sora's. "Well, I'll let you in on a little secret, Sora." He touched the softest of kisses against Sora's lips, just a brief brush of lips before he spoke even softer than the touch, "You always know how to make me smile too."

Sora flushed a little at such sincerity, but his smile only grew. "I'm glad. I always want to be your reason for smiling, Riku." He moved his free hand up to wrap around Riku's neck, pulling the other boy down for a quick hug that ended in more of a cuddle then anything else. Of course Sora didn't care. He just enjoyed being as close as he could get to Riku and he enjoyed it even more when he was snuggled near his friend.

Riku was more than content to be as snuggled close as possible to Sora below. He nuzzled closer to Sora's hot cheek, comfortable, comfortable enough to keep silent again. Things felt so right, more right than they had ever in Riku's life. It was a feeling that Riku never wanted to lose, along with Sora.

This happy little life on the tropical islands, spending every possible hour of his life with Sora making each other happy, was something that Riku was willing to fight with every fiber of his being to keep; even if it meant giving into the Darkness again.

Not that Sora ever needed to know any of that.


	62. Chapter 62

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 62

The first thing Roxas noticed as the heavy feeling of sleep started to leave him, was the fact that he felt much warmer then he had previously. There was no twisting knot inside of him that made his insides feel like little cold pricks of ice were stabbing into him. It was then that he noticed the other little detail was the soft bed under his body that was so very familiar. When he put the two together a small smile crept up onto his lips and he hugged the nearest thing close to him as he purred out a name he knew so well, "Axel..."

Something felt very off, though. Roxas squeezed his arms and his smile faltered as soon as he realized that the object he had been holding wasn't the Heartless at all. In an instant he sat up in bed only to bring the pillow he had been clinging so tightly along with him. He stared hard at it as if it was a trick, but he knew it wasn't. Axel wasn't there. Axel would never be there again. Axel was gone. He had watched the Heartless fade until he had been forced into sleep by the one he cared so much about.

As if it were the pillow's fault, Roxas threw the object hard across his bedroom while at the same time, letting out a frustrated cry. He seemed satisfied when the pillow hit the wall, but the sight didn't stop the tears from trying to fall, and fall they did. He didn't want to know why he was back in his own room or even back in Twilight Town. It all seemed so damn pointless to him now. His eyes darted towards the window for a second before they looked down at his hands. Without even thinking much about what he was doing, Roxas raised only one of his hands up to call forth a blade. Just watching the flames dance around his hand were enough to set him off and the tears came worse even before he was clutching the keyblade tight to his chest.

Behind Roxas the air grew cold, though through his grief stricken state he didn't notice much else but his own broken heart in his chest. And like a shadow of memory a familiar touch smoothed across Roxas' furrowed forehead and brow. But what was normally a warm hand was quite cold as it rested under blonde hair, cupping Roxas head, and soon he felt the weight of _his_ head resting on the back of his in a weak form of comfort.

" _Shhhh_ ," Roxas could hear the soft voice near his ear, distant and small. " _... Don't cry for me._ "

Roxas' entire body tensed up and he hic-cupped a sob as his breath got caught in his throat. He was quite sure that in his grief he was hearing things that only his broken heart wanted him to hear. Even the cool touches felt as if they were tricks being played on him by the breeze, but that couldn't be right because his window was shut tight and even locked. "Axel?" Still, the name left his lips in a hopeful tone of voice while he clutched the keyblade to his chest even tighter and didn't bother to wipe his tears away.

The head against Roxas' nodded saving their voice. The hand on his forehead fell down to brush the warm tears. Long spindly fingers did their best to smooth away the tears but they wouldn't stop spilling down Roxas' cheek. It seemed a lost attempt and his hand was only leeching warmth from Roxas' cheek. So Axel's hand fell away.

The keyblade fell away from Roxas' hands only to vanish. The teen was too busy lifting both hands up to grab onto the one that fell away no matter how cool the touch had been. He wanted to make sure it was real and that he wasn't crazy. He couldn't stop crying and he didn't want to, but to feel the Heartless' fingers against his own and that familiar presence so incredibly close had him breaking down even worse out of relief. "Axel... Axel... Axel," the name left him in a mantra of pathetic little whimpers and whines.

The hand was solid, real, in Roxas' own. Though the touch was cold in the upset hold of Roxas' flushed hands. But there was something horribly wrong, along the pale skin of what could be seen of Axel's arm there were no dark chakram tattoo that usually coiled around his arm. There was nothing. Only pale skin that seemed even paler.

Axel's fingers twitched. "The Darkness is so cold, Roxas," the words were weak near Roxas' ear, wavering just a little as they were whimpered.

Roxas seemed more then a little shocked to not see the familiar tattoos that he usually enjoyed running his fingers over so many times. The quiet words spoken had him letting out his own pathetic noise that only mixed with the rest. "I know," he quietly agreed. And he did know, even more so now then he did while he had been a Nobody. That's why it hurt so much to hear those words spoken from Axel's own mouth. The Heartless was never so cool to the touch and Roxas found himself trying to rub warmth into the sudden pale arms. "You can stay with me. I'll take care of you so you won't be cold." Of course Roxas had no idea how he would fix Axel, but he just wanted to keep him away from the bitter cold despite it being the only real way for him to get better.

Another freezing arm slipped around Roxas' middle, he could feel the cold press up against his back as he was weakly hugged. How Axel loved Roxas' promises, no matter how empty they seemed they never were to him.

"I stayed," Axel continued in that same distant voice. "For you. I... just couldn't leave you." Axel curled his tall body closer against Roxas, needing that warmth that Roxas' body seemed to ebb so easily. "When I jus'... got you back," his voice cracked just a little.

More tears wanted to fall from just those few simple confessions and Roxas held tight to whatever part of Axel that he could. With a bit of maneuvering with his feet he managed to kick his blankets up higher so he wouldn't have to move away from Axel's hold. As soon as he could, he grabbed the edges and wasted no time in bringing them up to toss over both their bodies. He had to let go of the Heartless for a few seconds, but he hoped that maybe the added warmth would help.

Once Roxas settled back down he was clinging tight to Axel's hands again and kissed each digit one by one. "I thought I had lost you," he spoke between affections, "I thought I'd never seen you again. I thought you... that you..." He found that he couldn't finish his own words and just held on even tighter.

A small pained sound left Axel's lips, all that affection, it was overwhelming to feel such emotions not only against his cold skin but from Roxas' heart. It had the Heartless trembling. He was quick to press a shaky finger to Roxas' lips; Axel didn't want him to finish that thought anymore than it had been. He shook his head against Roxas. Axel then let it fall near the nape of Roxas' neck; Axel had no strength to keep it lifted on his own. Roxas' hair was so warm, his neck, Axel pressed his face closer to greedily sup the heat into his cheek.

Roxas chewed at his lips as Axel buried himself so close. He gave no protest at all and only tried to bring the blankets even closer around them. Even though Axel had silenced him he found that he couldn't keep quiet. He didn't like the silence after everything that had happened. He was too afraid that it meant Axel would disappear from him again. "I hope this isn't a dream or that I've gone crazy." He gave a weak laugh that seemed more forced then anything. "I'm just so glad you're okay." He sniffed wetly as he lifted a hand to run it through Axel's hair as gently as he could. "I love you so, so much."

The ever so gentle fingers through his hair had Axel's grip growing slack around Roxas, only because it was so very soothing along with those last words, and he was so very tired. It would have been wise to slip back into the Darkness where it could heal him much quicker. But it was so cold away from Roxas, so lonely and Axel never wanted to feel any of that again. He was so afraid he would end up as cold and dead as the other Heartless puppets with no wills of their own. But most of all Axel feared that what he nearly lost his life for would be gone again, snatched away, when he returned. He rather chance his life and stay in the world of light where he could covet the warmth of his precious heart. Even though Axel's comprehension was little. As a Heartless it took great energy and will to be an individual. Axel had very little of either. Still Axel couldn't find it in himself to taint the heart he clung to and clung to him. For some reason he felt it still was his without forcing such horrible Darkness upon it. Darkness would only make this wonderfully warm heart cold too. And Axel never wanted that.

A soft purr rumbled in Axel's throat, a very quiet churr that left the Heartless not because he was content but because he was so broken. It was meant to sooth himself and perhaps the warm body he clung to, in hopes of making it that much warmer for him. Maybe it would sooth the sadness that poured from it even though boughts of relief seemed to come from him being there.

"You're not crazy," Axel very quietly spoke. "And I'm not a ghost." He lifted a hand to tap Roxas' nose, complete with 'beep'. "We're both very real. We make each other very real." Axel's hand rested back down but snuck under Roxas' shirt to capture that sneaky warmth that was hiding under his clothes.

Roxas shivered at first at the sudden contact, but he didn't dare pull away. He allowed Axel to keep as near as he wanted and grab up any bit of warmth he needed. Not to mention Roxas had been so afraid he'd never have this ever again. It helped the both of them. The small sound that the Heartless gave off did its job in soothing Roxas as well and he forced his hands to reach up and wipe away trails of tears. Still, he felt as if none of this was enough.

With much regret he pried himself away from Axel, giving the Heartless an apologetic smile for the action, but he had another idea. He pulled the few sheets back from his bed and then gently grabbed Axel by the arm to pull him over. "Here," he started out quietly and still a little choked up, "lie in bed with me." Without waiting for a response he pulled them both down to the one other pillow that had been saved and immediately yanked every blanket he had over them both.

The Heartless settled his head on Roxas' chest instead of the pillow, preferring it far more as he curled weakly around his source of warmth. He could hear the steady beat that pushed life throughout Roxas and it calmed Axel enough to shut his empty glowing eyes. This was far nicer than they had been. It was closer, warmer. Axel's cold hands slipped themselves under Roxas' clothes again to seek warmth that would never find his own flesh. Unlike Somebodies, Heartless didn't have circulation; there was no beating heart, no pulse. Nothing would truly heal him save for time and shadows.

Still that didn't detour Axel from letting Roxas try his damnedest. It was cozy and Axel felt so tired in such an unnatural way.

Roxas lifted a hand to run it through Axel's hair much like he had been doing before. It had seemed to sooth Axel once and Roxas wanted to try anything he could to help the Heartless. He felt as if none of it was enough after everything Axel had done for him, but he would try anything that he knew he could to help the Heartless heal. Instead of words he gave small kisses to the top of Axel's head where his hand wouldn't touch. Even a few noises left the back of his throat that ended up as a small hum, just to fill the silence and try to comfort the other.

Axel felt his chest tighten and his eyes ache with tears he had no energy to shed, though he wasn't sure why. His mind was still so foggy, he couldn't remember much. Maybe it was the sheer gentle affection he was receiving or the heavy burden he felt weighing on Roxas' little heart. Or perhaps most of all it was the distraught little sounds that tinged Roxas' voice with whatever sound he made. It hurt. All of it seemed to hurt.

"See," Axel spoke up very quietly, so as to not disturb any of Roxas' delicate actions, "you were right... everything will be okay, and it is." Maybe not, but Axel felt it truth enough. A pathetic attempt to perk Roxas' spirits as well.

Roxas nodded his head quickly to those words. Axel was right just as much as Roxas had been. Everything was okay. They still had each other and it caused a shaky laugh to leave him that was still a little sad, but happy none the less. He couldn't help pressing another kiss to the top of Axel's head, a little longer then the rest to show just how happy he truly was to have the Heartless there with him and curled against him. "Thank you," the words were a little muffled since he hadn't moved, "I wasn't able to say it. Thank you so much."

Axel moved his head just enough so he could open glowing eyes to look up at Roxas. "I'm not sure why but... I love you so much." His eyes fell half way closed tiredly and in thought. Soon his expression grew sad since he seemed at a loss. "I wish things could have been different for us. Not just now, but so many other times." He gave a small sad sound. "I did all I could. But I gave up, because you were gone. A life without you just wasn't something I wanted to bother living in." Small pools of darkness had gathered in the corner of his eyes and soon they fell down his dull cheeks but he didn't seem to realize. "I just thought I could do so much better than him," Axel's voice softly broke, though still he tried to talk through it, "because I did have a heart." Axel shut his eyes forcing more dark tears out to fall. "But I'm so tired," he spoke more quietly than a whisper, "I'm so tired of trying."

"Please don't say that," Roxas spoke out in a broken voice. He dropped his hands to place them both on Axel's cheeks, being so very gentle when he moved the Heartless' head so he could wipe away the dark tears and brush thumbs along tattoos at the very same time. "Please don't ever say that. I'm so very grateful for how hard you tried for me; for us. I'm so sorry for so much that I've done to hurt you and I know that I really am that brat that you call me." He moved a hand away for only a second to wipe his own tears away, but rested it right back on Axel's cheek after. "I'm sorry that all of this happened. I should have been more careful. You always go the extra mile and now look." He shook his head and quickly rested it back down on top of Axel's own. "I'm so, so sorry, Axel."

Axel leaned his head back against Roxas' the best he could, the most subtlest of movements he made was a weak attempt at nuzzling. "We tried," Axel softly explained and his voice choked just a little when he realized just how pathetic that truly sounded. "We really did. But, it just doesn't seem to be." He gave a weak sound. "Sora had sent Riku to find you, even after he let us go. He stole back what he gave. He lied." Axel's brows furrowed and angry hurt washed over him and a tortured sound akin to a sob escaped him. "He said you didn't exist." He opened his eyes, and there was Roxas, proof enough that he was there, he did exist. How could Sora not see it? "How could I have missed something so much- if it didn't exist. That ache was real. Everything we did was real. Nothing can be something. It's never empty- there's always _something_ there. Why can't anyone ever understand this?" Axel began to tremble again, heavily against Roxas. "Why does our happiness have to have a price when everyone's is so damn free? We were born as missing pieces, nothing ever fit right." Axel stared down at Roxas' chest, through it, at nothing as dark tears continued to fall unnoticed now. "We never fit the bigger picture. Our pieces just happen to fit together, but it wasn't meant to be. Together, we just don't fit anywhere." Axel gave a disjointed sound. "They'll always break us apart to put us back where we're supposed to belong."

After everything he had just been told Roxas felt beyond hurt that his other half would say such a horrible thing. Why did everyone else Sora meet receive such kindness, but yet Roxas was forced to settle for nothing but to be told he was nothing; a Nobody. That he should just take what he could get and live the life of his Other and nothing else. He didn't want that. He wanted his own life that had been ripped away from him. He wanted his home and his heart. And damnit; he wanted Axel.

"We'll always be together," Roxas quietly spoke up, but the words felt so sure. "We don't have to force ourselves to fit anyone else's plans. As long as we're happy then that's all that has to matter. We're damn well selfish like that, the both of us, and whether it's here or anywhere else I'm not going to let you go again. I don't care where we go or what happens. I'll protect you and I know you'll protect me." He brushed his hand along Axel's cheeks, wiping tears away once again and not at all caring about the dark streaks it left on his fingers. "We got this second chance at our life together, Axel; I'm not going to let it go."

The Heartless' wiry hand came to rest over Roxas' on his cheek, encasing it in cold above and beneath. "We can't stay here," Axel's words barely met a whisper. "I don't know how but- Riku knows, and he's done enough damage..." The horrid memory of the gym and the horrific pain it brought caused Axel to physically flinch. "He won't bother the town if we go and never come back. He's after us... not your friends." Axel tentatively looked back to Roxas. He knew exactly what this world meant to Roxas, and what it had come to mean for the both of them. It was the only place they had known as home; together.

A town that meant something to Axel because it meant everything to Roxas. A place where the sunset meant a little more than just colours and the end of the day. It had never, ever, been fake to either of them.

Roxas kept silent for a little bit, taking in the words spoken. He knew Axel was right about everything. They couldn't stay where they would be found out and Roxas didn't want to put his friends in danger. He had already worried about them enough when Riku had first showed up. "I'll get to say goodbye this time whenever we leave, won't I?" His voice felt so choked up on the words and he turned his hand to cling onto Axel's as tight as he could. He was agreeing, but it still hurt so much. "I never get to say goodbye."

For the first time since Roxas had woke up in his room Axel finally smiled, a small desperately sad smile but completely sincere. "Yeah," he very quietly spoke, "you'll finally get to say proper goodbye this time." His hand held Roxas' back giving as tight a squeeze as his strength would allow. "I'm so sorry it has to be for good this time."

Roxas shook his head a little before he spoke up, "They'll understand. I think it's about time I told them at least a little truth. If we're leaving then I should drop some of the lies." His eyes ran over Axel's face and just seeing the smile on the other's face instantly had his heart fluttering. Even if it was weak and a bit sad he was so glad to see it and he just had to lean forward to capture those lips with his own as gently as he had done everything else so far.

Whatever hurt had been floating around in the Heartless soon melted away at such a soft kiss. Never could Axel recall lips brushing his own so softly; that so much could be felt with just the smallest gentle touch. Perhaps it was selfish, but Axel felt he deserved such endearment. It was just so completing to feel loved, the something he sought so hard to obtain and keep.

"Alright," Axel quietly agreed after their lips parted. "They deserve to know." He rested his head back down against Roxas' chest. Emotion was so draining.

Roxas rested his own head back down on his pillow to settle down. His hand once again smoothed over Axel's hair as he kept the Heartless close against him and made sure the blankets were fit snuggly around the both of them. His tears had finally subsided for the most part and for that he was grateful. He didn't want to worry Axel anymore then he had with his own tears when the Heartless had his own troubles at the moment.

Silence pooled in once again since neither had much else to say. As a Heartless Axel was unnaturally silent, no need for breath and an even less need for sleep. So instead Axel listened to Roxas' breath and heart beat. Both were steady and lulling, especially with the fingers through his hair. He was starting to feel more warmth gather tucked tightly with Roxas under the blankets. Though his skin was quick to drink it in and give none off in return. Axel missed the fire he had inside, even this felt so very cold.

"... Can you say it?" It was Axel's turn to fill the silence with his voice.

Roxas' eyes had fallen halfway closed over time, content to stay still in the silence of the room. It caused him to become startled when Axel spoke up again, but he only gave a simple 'hmm' in question before a small smile came to his lips. "I love you, Axel." Roxas didn't stop there. As his fingers dropped down to softly stroke the back of the Heartless' neck he kept on speaking little endearments to the one he held so close, "You make me feel whole. You make me happy. You're such a good friend and I love everything about you and everything you do." He gave a quiet laugh that was almost muffled by his pillow. "Even if I pout, whine, or yell at you for something. It just means I love it that much more."

The little soft churring started up again while Roxas' spoke. Axel turned his head to bury it against Roxas' chest to give those fingers more neck to pet. It just felt so good, so soothing. He was more than content with the affections given.

"Hm, I'd rather you not yell your 'I love you's," Axel's murmur was muffled against the cloth of Roxas' shirt.

Roxas only smiled a little more. "I promise I won't ever yell such a thing." Since his hand was allowed more room to move it did just that. Fingers ran in small circles along Axel's neck before he was soon trying to massage a few places on the Heartless' skin. "I know that you can't heal as well here, but I really hope that this is all helping at least a tiny bit." His smile fell a bit before he placed another small kiss to Axel's head wherever he was able. "I'm sorry I can't do much else. I really wish I could."

"It's so much warmer here in the light," Axel murmured. "I'd almost forgotten. I don't want to go back. It's so cold there." A shiver ran through him as he remembered. "If I go back what's left of my fire will probably snuff out. They aren't too happy with what I've done. Taken you back from the Darkness twice now. And all the deaths prior to." A shaky sigh left Axel as he curled even nearer to Roxas, clinging to the teen's small waste. "Free will isn't exactly smiled upon. Mmm, even Riku is a puppet."

"Riku..." Roxas' eyes narrowed as the name left him in a near whisper. For a brief moment his hand stopped its gentle touch as his mind played through each event that he tried so hard to remember. "We had a fight in the gym. If I won he would leave us alone and never bother us again, but if he won I would be forced to go with him and give up my life." Roxas could feel the familiar stinging in his eyes again and started to move his hand along Axel's neck to try and occupy himself. "He kept telling me that he had killed you and he wouldn't stop treating me as if I were Sora. I-I lost and then... then it just hurt so much and grew so cold."

Axel's attention was caught and wordlessly he slunk higher on the bed so he was right beside Roxas. He wasted no time slipping his long arms around the small warm body to capture him in as tight an embrace as he could, which wasn't very strong. It disappointed Axel so much that all he could offer was that same cold in his touch. "It was never something I wanted." He pressed his head against Roxas'. "For you to experience any of it. Any of this. Being a Heartless is far crueler than being a Nobody. Pretending to love someone is far better than being able to actually love someone while being able to hate them just as much as well." Axel pressed a hand to Roxas' cheek. "You should have run," there was hurt in Axel's voice.

"There was no point in running," Roxas responded just as sad while he leaned into the touch. It didn't matter to him how cool the comfort given to him was. He took it all and clung as tight as he could to Axel while still trying to be gentle at the same time. "He would have followed me. I had nowhere to go. The only choice was to fight him. He had me trapped and he knew that. Riku, he knew about this place from when I was stuck here that year ago, but this time Naminé helped lead him to me. He showed me a picture that she gave to him," his voice broke up with those words at the hurt he remembered from learning such a thing. "I thought she wanted to help me, Axel. Why would she do that?"

"Because," Axel faltered at the knowledge and the reasoning. "Because, Naminé is Kairi and Kairi cares for Sora in a way he can't return." A sad sound left Axel. "Naminé thinks the same as all the rest. That if you go back to Sora everything will some how be right again." His thumb skirted across Roxas' cheeks. "We can't trust anyone but ourselves now. We don't have many choices anymore."

"No one but ourselves," Roxas echoed the words distantly. It was something he was used to doing and it felt like a sad case of déjà vu from times before he had left the dark city long ago. He had been such a shut in only speaking when he chose to and not when others wanted him to. Times when Axel had only successfully tried to cheer him up every once in awhile, but still tried hard. The memories caused him to give a sad smile between small sniffles before he spoke up again, "Then that's what we'll do. We'll live only trusting each other. If the world only wants to be cruel to us then why should we give a care to any of it?" He dropped a hand to run fingers over one of Axel's pale arms. "I don't want to see you hurt anymore, Axel."

Axel's new smile was very small. "I don't think I can be hurt anymore than I have." He leaned forward to place the smallest of kisses on Roxas' nose. "We'll be okay as long as we have each other. That's all we'll need. We'll show the worlds we don't need what everyone else has to be happy." He brushed his thumb through warm blonde hair that rested on Roxas' cheek. "I won't give up on us if you won't give up. I'm willing to try at least once more."

"I'll never give up." Roxas leaned into that one small touch and despite everything a tiny smirk showed itself on his face. "You'll have to pry me away from you from now on. I refuse to let you out of my sight. I want to make sure you're always by my side." He seemed to cuddle closer to the Heartless after his words and in the back of his mind Roxas wasn't even sure if he was speaking out of fear for his own sudden fears of being alone or Axel's own safety. His voice was small and shaky when he spoke up again, "So, promise me again that you'll never leave me. Please, Axel."

Either of the Heartless' cold hands settled on Roxas' cheeks, long fingers buried into blonde hair as Axel cupped Roxas' face. "I promise I'll never, ever, leave you. I'll always find you. It doesn't matter where, or who we are and when, but I'll always find you and bring you back again." He nuzzled his face against Roxas, enjoying the simple feel of warm breath against his cheek. "If we aren't happy in this lifetime, there's always the next."

Roxas could only nod his head to such words. They were exactly what he needed to put his mind at ease for at least a little while. With a tiny bit of movement, Roxas turned his head to press his lips against the palm of Axel's hand to give his own form of gratitude. He didn't care about the chill he felt against his lips and gave a few more tiny kisses up until he got to the Heartless' wrist where he stopped and nuzzled his face.

Something suddenly occurred to Roxas during his small affections. Yes, Axel's arms were very pale and no longer had the familiar tattoos tracing down them, but also his palms were bare as well. Of course Roxas knew exactly why that was and he had been holding the evidence of that in his hands not too long ago in grief for what he had feared. It got him thinking and he pulled away only a little to look back at Axel with hope in his expression. "Axel, what if I gave you the keychains back? You know, just so you feel at least a little better. I don't need them right now and having a part of you back would probably help."

Axel's illuminated eyes grew a little wider at that thought. What little of his mind wrapped around the concept easily and for the most it made great sense. It should help; there was no reason it couldn't help. Still, some part of Axel remained a loyal gentlemen to the brat he'd stalked through two life times. A cool finger traced over Roxas' warm cheek, draining just a little heat for his own but still the Heartless' touch never grew a degree hotter. "... But I gave those to you," he barely whispered. "They're yours. They'll find you with out them." His finger stilled when its tip ended at the corner of Roxas' lips.

Roxas turned his head a little in order to place a kiss on the tip of Axel's finger. He understood the Heartless' worry, but he had his own worries as well now. "I know, but it's the only way for you to heal away from the Darkness. As long as I don't do anything drastic for the time being then I'm sure we'll be fine." He placed his hand over Axel's own and squeezed gently. "It'll only be temporary until you have enough strength back, okay? I just don't like seeing you like this."

Axel opened his mouth to argue but decided against it. If he didn't follow through on the idea he would only fall victim to natural raw Heartless instincts, and given that Roxas was the only heart in an entire town, it would be smart to obey. So Axel gave a small agreeative sound. "Okay."

Roxas gave a small sigh of relief. He was forced to pull away a little from Axel in order to free his hands to have enough room since the blankets were in the way as well. He lifted both hands, but unlike so many times before he didn't summon the fully formed blades that usually came with his actions. Instead the small chains that he had been given showed themselves in both his palms with only a small flicker of fire each. He was quick to lift them up with fingers and turn back to the Heartless as he handed them over. "Here."

The Heartless' actions were slow and sluggish but he managed to move his hands to take either chakram keychain in either hand. A small sound of surprise left him. "They're so warm." And they felt so familiar against his fingertips; like he was touching a part of himself, warm but plutonic. He curled the keychain into his hands with his fingers holding them as tight as his waning strength would allow. Familiar black fire licked around his fingertips, so wonderfully hot, Axel held the keychains tighter wanting to feel the heat closer against his icy skin. The fire curled around his hands and soon swept up over his bare arms, licking over his face to run through hair dissipating back into his person.

Axel shut his eyes as a shaky unneeded breath left him and when he opened his hands the keychains were gone, nothing but the chakram tattoo left plainly on his pale hands. Slowly Axel blinked open his eyes, the illumination had dulled so green eyes could be seen. The corner of Axel's lips upturned, so much more life could be seen in his expression. "Better." He reached over to place either palm against Roxas' cheeks, the icy chill of skin was no longer there, and it was so much warmer now. Not completely what it was, perhaps almost as warm as Roxas himself, but it was a step in the right direction. Some of that flame had been returned; thanks to Roxas. "Such a sneaky brat." Axel gave a soft chuckle as he had the strength to grin wider.

Roxas felt all the worry he had built up inside finally drain away all at once to see that familiar grin on Axel's lips. To feel the warmth pressed against his cheeks helped even more and he couldn't help laughing just a little at his friend's words before he spoke up himself, "Damn you. You're such an impulsive idiot." Despite the words they were said with much affection and Roxas was quick to wrap his arms around the Heartless immediately after. He didn't feel as if things were so scary any longer. Things were okay again.

"I am. But you love every bit of my impulsiveness." Axel hugged Roxas back, having more strength to give the teen the tight squeeze he needed to know that everything was better now. "We wouldn't be here without it." He buried a kiss in Roxas' hair. "I wouldn't have you back. I had to give everything." Axel dragged his fingers through the warm blonde hair, having missed it so badly, every part of him. "It was either all or the end." He buried his face against the side of Roxas' head.

"I know and it still means a lot even though it was dangerous." Roxas turned a little so he could nuzzle cheek to cheek with Axel. He gave a soft sigh after the action and his vision once again started to blur. He didn't feel sad about anything, but much better now that he knew Axel was alright. "I'm sorry that I put you through all of that. I don't even remember much about what happened to be honest. All I know is what I told you and then... well... you being there. I mean, I understand what happened to me. It's the in-betweens that are gone." He gave a shaky laugh to try and joke it off. "I always seem to have a bit of a memory problem, huh?"

"Unfortunately and fortunately." Axel pressed his cheek nearer against Roxas', enjoying the feel of warmth far better now that he could share his own. "Perhaps it's better to forget the pain. But sometimes that painful memory helps us learn. I wonder if it's selfish to want to forget everything and live mindless happy lives." He ran his fingers through the short hair at the back of Roxas' head. "Heh, then I remember how boring it can be." Axel was quiet for a long moment. "I'm sorry Roxas," the apology petered away. "Sometimes it's just so hard to keep up with you. Hating and loving you sometimes there's just so little left of me for myself." Axel held onto Roxas just a little tighter. "I really thought I was going to-... -this time."

"You have no reason to apologize, Axel. I'm the one that should be constantly apologizing." Roxas pulled back a bit so he could sit up, but he made sure to keep his arms somewhat around the Heartless. "This, and everything, is my entire fault. I should have been more careful around Riku. You wouldn't have had to come after me or had to end up like this if I had just run or done _something_ instead of doing what I always do." He pulled a hand away to wipe at his eyes as quick as he could. "And now, because of me, you're not even human. The one thing you left for. It's my fault, so you have no reason at all to say sorry when all you do is try for me."

A dark finger curled the blonde hair around it that rested on Roxas' cheek. Axel made sure to meet Roxas' gaze, despite how exhausted he was he kept Roxas' sad gaze held firmly with his own. "So what are you going to do?" Axel spoke the words with quiet firmness. It wasn't meant as malicious, just pure questioning honesty meant to put Roxas in his place, on the spot. "How are you going to make all of this up to me?"

Roxas' eyes drifted back and forth between Axel's own. The question had him silent for a moment, but it didn't take him long to move forward so he could lean his forehead against the Heartless' own. "Whatever it takes," he spoke softly and tried to smile, but it was weak at best. "I love you, but that probably isn't enough to make up for everything. I can promise that I'll protect you just as well as you've always done me. I'll always watch your back and I'll always be by your side." He rested his hand on Axel's cheek and his smile grew a little as he traced over one of the tattoos that lay there. "There will probably never be a way for me to make up for all my stupid mistakes, and I'm very sorry for that, but I'm telling you right now that I'll never leave you again." He blinked. "Well, aside from being kidnapped. That doesn't count."

Axel scoffed as he slipped an arm loosely around Roxas' neck, fingers messing with blonde hair. "You're always being kidnapped." He tugged Roxas' head down so he could claim his lips. "And I'm always the one who has to save your sorry ass." He kissed Roxas with lazy playfulness, grinning a little after. "So it'll have to count. You're getting harder and harder to save, y'know."

The kisses had a playful smile coming to Roxas' own lips as well. "I guess I'm just that popular." He gave a quick laugh before he leaned forward to press soft kisses to each tattoo he had just been touching on Axel's cheeks. When he pulled back he pressed the flat of his palm against the Heartless' face and his expression was one of relief once again since he no longer felt the freezing cold that had been accompanied by each touch on Axel's skin. "The cold is gone." He looked back up into green eyes and managed a tiny smile. "And you seem to be feeling better. Do you think the rest of your strength will come back over time?"

"In time," Axel quietly agreed. "The Darkness isn't too happy with me. So it'll take me longer to heal away from it. But you've given me a head start." He tugged at the bottom hem of Roxas' shirt, lifting it up as high as he could manage. "So off with this, and heal me up, baby." He chuckled with a smirk. "I'm still feeling some what cold."

Roxas' smile turned into a grin and for a second things seemed normal again. He dropped his own hands to push Axel's away with a click of his tongue. "You know it would do you good to have some patience." They both knew that was asking for much which made the joke all the more amusing. He made a show of being as slow as possible as he picked at the edges of his shirt and lifted it up from his head. Once it was finally off he threw it aside and didn't waste any time wrapping his arms around Axel's neck afterwards. "Happy?" He smirked.

"Almost." Axel smoothed his hands down Roxas' bare back, enjoying the warmth of touch, the curve of spine. "But your pants seem to stunt that happiness." He gave a weak tug to the waist of Roxas' pants. "I'm sure I'd heal faster if you were without." He let his hand slip under the waistline with a widening grin.

Roxas gave a quiet little whine at the sudden attention he was receiving. His arms fell away once again and fingers trailed down across Axel's arms as they made their way down to where the Heartless' own hands were. He didn't dare remove them and instead went about trying to undo his pants as quick as possible. As soon as they were loose Roxas wiggled himself free as best he could while sitting down and managed to push the clothing aside. He glanced back up at Axel while he placed his hands back on the Heartless' arms, grinning just a little while he spoke up, "Heh, I miss your 'tattoos'."

Axel looked down his bare arms. It felt as strange as it looked, and he ran a hand down the pale skin and flinched. "... I miss them too." Axel looked back to Roxas and decided it was far better to keep himself busy with smoothing his hands over skin where Roxas' pants once were. "I kind of over exerted myself. I hope they come back eventually." Axel's hand followed the curve of Roxas' rear. "They're the whole reason I ever got you in bed with me." He laughed a little louder since he had the energy to, ignoring how much it tired him out.

Roxas' eyes fell halfway at the touches, but still he managed a quiet laugh as well. "I don't know about that. I would have been quite willing even if you didn't have them." He leaned nearer to Axel and dragged his hands up across arms towards the Heartless' shoulders until he was able to bury his fingers in hair. "But, don't worry too much. Once you feel a bit better then they'll probably be back. I'm glad I'm able to help you at least a little though," he grinned while he continued to speak, "with or without clothes." After that he pressed his lips to Axel's own, happy at the warmth he felt compared to the cold kisses of earlier.

"Mmm." Axel grinned a little more. "Without. Especially without. The best healing is without clothes." He pulled Roxas nearer as best he could, needing to feel the warmth of skin without the barrage of clothing. "You have to agree." His hand slipped dangerously low on Roxas' leg.

Roxas' body gave a small shiver at the touch while a quiet noise left his lips. "I do," he spoke up in a near purr. Instead of indulging in another kiss he pressed his lips to the corner of Axel's mouth, teasing the Heartless for the moment. He couldn't stop grinning as he did and moved his affections down towards Axel's chin, giving small licks to his skin here and there while his hands fell down to his back.

"Now I'm truly disappointed I'm so weak." Axel leaned nearer to Roxas. "All this naked Roxas affection and I can't take advantage of." He laid back down on the bed, pulling Roxas and more blankets on top; everything was better with a warm touchably naked Roxas on top. "It's truly discouraging." He trailed a few fingers down Roxas' shoulder.

Roxas was quick to curl up as soon as he was on top of Axel, finding the sudden position much more enjoyable then just sitting up. He kept his arms tight around Axel's neck and buried his face against the Heartless' chest as he tried not to sound amused at his friend's misfortune. "I'm sure it won't stop you from being touchy feely. So, your fun isn't completely ruined." He was soon grinning, but it was hidden for the moment while he continued to speak, "Besides, once you're all better you can take advantage of me all you want."

"That I can promise." Axel let his hands wander, never hesitating or worrying where his hands roamed on Roxas' skin. "Although I doubt it'll be anytime soon; sacrifices." He gave a dramatic sigh as he let his eyes fall shut. "A horrible one at that." He ran his fingers down what he could of Roxas' chest. "All I've given and I can't even reap the rewards." Axel quietly chuckled as he rested his hand on Roxas' cheek.

"Mmm, just think of how good it will all be once your strength is back." Roxas let out soft little sounds because of Axel's roaming hands. He wiggled around a little while he attempted to scoot up so he could be face to face with the Heartless. He leaned into the hand that was still settled on his cheek as he felt the same need that Axel did, but knew that it was better to wait. "You'll get to have your fun. For now we, or at least I, just have to think of a way to explain things to my friends. It's going to be a little difficult. I don't think they're going to believe me."

"They'll have to wait. You're on my time now." Axel turned to his side, dumping Roxas on the bed beside him so he could keep the naked teen gathered against him in his arm. He placed sweet little biting kisses along Roxas' shoulder since it was all he had energy for. "You're still so warm." Axel curled around Roxas, needing to be close to the only true warm beating heart in an entire world of lies. "I missed it... so much. The Darkness is so cold. I never want to feel that cold on your skin again." He dragged his fingers down Roxas' back while he nuzzled his chest.

Roxas' fingers found their way in Axel's hair once more and began to pet a few of the strands as he heard the Heartless' sudden worry. "It was scary I'll admit. I wish you didn't have to find me like that. That one time when Riku pushed me into the Darkness you tried to save me, but this was worse, so I'm guessing it finally got me. I really wish I could remember, but it won't happen again." He buried his face in Axel's hair, clinging just as tight to the Heartless as Axel was to him. "I just remember the pain and I really wish I didn't."

"It was never something I wanted you to experience." Axel went still in Roxas' arms, letting his eyes fall nearly shut though he stared at nothing. "Considering what happened, I suppose I've failed in my promise." He lowered his head some to hide his face against Roxas' chest. "I should have known _he_ would be able to get past whatever defense I put up." He scoffed. "He is the Darkness' bastard protégé."

"You didn't fail, Axel. I'm not going to tell you again to stop blaming yourself." Roxas let out a sigh as if aggravated over such a thing. It was the bit of normalcy that was usually between the two of them. "We had no idea that Riku would even come looking for me to begin with. You even said that Sora had given up which meant that Riku had done the same." Roxas placed a small kiss on top of Axel's head before he continued to run his fingers through his hair. "Neither of us had any idea this would happen. It hurts to know we were lied to and have to give up everything, but we'll get through it. Just me and you this time."

Axel gave the smallest of nods and left it at that. There really wasn't much to add, everything else was just dwelling or regrets; and neither of them needed that right now. He let the silence fill them, letting Roxas fawn little affections on him as he kept him warm.

"I'm going to miss it here," Axel finally spoke up, so quietly on a hushed warm breath. "It felt safe." But lies were always safest; especially sincere ones.

"Me too." Roxas' smile became sad as all the new memories he had of his home came back to him. Despite the fights he had recently with Hayner, he had enjoyed his brief stay in Twilight Town. It was his home and he didn't think he would ever have something to actually call a home to be honest. "I'm glad you like it here too. I was afraid you would find it too boring, especially school, but I'm happy to know you'll miss it just as much."

"It was nice to know what it would have been like before I became who I am." Axel's sad smile couldn't be seen against Roxas' chest; perhaps it was for the better. "Even if I'm never whole, at least I was able to pretend, for a little while here, with you." He placed a small kiss on Roxas' chest.

Roxas ran his fingers down so he could give a few lingering touches to the back of Axel's neck in return for the kiss. "You can still become human if you really want to, Axel. I refuse to leave your side, though. I'll help you and like I told you before, I'll protect you just like you have me." His hand moved further to move up and down the Heartless' back. "I know how much you wanted to and now it seems like you're in a lot of danger being a Heartless. If what you said is true and the Darkness sees you as some kind of traitor then it's best you become human."

"They'll be expecting it. If you come along with me, you'll just be walking into their hands... especially with both Sora _and_ Riku waiting." Axel subtly shook his head, trying to give in to the soothing touches down his back. "And with the way I last spoke to them, I doubt Ikurx would be willing to offer his help to me." Axel drew a few fingers up Roxas' side. "I won't have the strength to do much for quite some time."

"It must have been interesting if you think Ikurx won't want to help." Roxas shut his eyes and for a few moments he felt so very tired. All the emotional stress he had just gone under caught up to him all over again. "Still, I think it's only fair you get what you wanted from the start. I mean, besides looking for me. Maybe when things have settled down a bit more and we can be sure it's safe. There's always so much going on. Who knows, maybe Sora and Riku will be too busy with the others at some point."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Axel whispered more quietly, nuzzling up at Roxas' jaw. "For now I think we should both get some rest, regain our strength. We have so much still to do, let's not worry about it right now, okay." His hand sought Roxas', holding it for a moment before he slipped his long dark fingers between the other's. "Right now, all I want to hear is how much you love and missed me." He grinned a little softly.

Roxas gave a tiny smile while he kept his eyes closed. His hand was quick to squeeze Axel's own back, making sure that the contact was real and the Heartless was never going to leave his side again. "I love you, Axel, more then anything. And I missed you so very much." He pressed a lingering kiss down on Axel's forehead before he settled himself back down to try and get some rest just as he had been told, curling up against the Heartless under the blankets.


	63. Chapter 63

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 63

It was near morning on the beach that had seen its fair share of battle and still most of the occupants were trying to get as much rest as they could after what had transpired. They deserved the long break and even the king was sleeping in much later then he usually would have. It even included the Heartless turned Human in the group that hadn't slept in what felt like forever in his own mind.

Of course one room in the salvaged inn was soon filled with loud cries as the two remaining occupants awoke to find that their friend was no longer where he had been sleeping. The bed was empty and it left Donald and Goofy in a state of shock as they tried to figure out just where the teen had disappeared to. It didn't take long for them both to hurry out into the hall with loud footsteps, making sure to knock on Mickey's door first of all with quickened beats to try and wake the mouse. That was if their own terrified shouts hadn't done the job of waking everyone first.

Ikurx squeezed his eyes shut trying to block out the screams and shouts. His mind couldn't handle anymore worry or panic, not when just yesterday his world had fallen to jagged unsalvageable pieces only to be taped back together again to a makeshift whole. But it wasn't so much himself he fretted; it was the sleeping figure beside him. Demyx had slept long and deep, never tossing never turning, making up for all the sleep he'd ever missed in his lives. Ikurx himself never found a wink of sleep, disturbed that if he shut his eyes something terrible and dark would take Demyx away again; like it always did.

Still even the shouting outside didn't seem to wake Demyx from his deep sleep. Ikurx forced his dark rimmed eyes open and slunk as carefully as he could closer to Demyx and placed either of his hands over his friend's ears. It was all that he could offer, and perhaps it was selfish to keep in bed whilst not investigating what had everyone so upset, but for all that happened Ikurx couldn't help but feel jaded.

Over time the loud voices on the other side of the door only got louder and seemed to intensify as more joined in. There was obviously something important going on that had everyone in such a fuss so early in the morning, but with Ikurx's help Demyx still slept on. He had no real care in the world for the moment and only made a small movement as he took the sudden warmth given and curled in closer to the Nobody as he threw an arm around the teen.

A soft sound of surprise left Ikurx but he didn't move. Demyx was so much warmer as a human. Ikurx let this realization don on him once again as he could feel the warmth of skin under his palm and fingertips. It amazed the Nobody, nearly as much as he was amazed that Demyx could sleep on with so much panic yelling outside their door. But in a way Ikurx doubted it concerned him, or either of them. He, personally, as an entity outside of Riku, wasn't in that circle; not without Sora. And being with Sora had caused the catalyst that brought what had originally mattered first and most in Ikurx's life to end.

Gently Ikurx rested his forehead against Demyx's, but the Nobody still found no calm. The noise outside didn't help, and for the moment Ikurx refused to give acknowledgement to the real world. So as soft as he could, giving a swallow to loosen his tight throat, Ikurx began to hum the first melody he'd ever heard, on that tainted beach; when life seemed simpler despite its obvious complications.

It was near the middle of the gentle melody that another voice began to join in. The voices outside were still as loud as ever, but the soft hum could be heard since it was so close. In only a few seconds Demyx was soon opening his eyes and gave a small smile to Ikurx to see the Nobody so near and hear the same sweet noise come from the teen. It meant a lot in a way and for once he didn't seem to mind being so close to Ikurx. He was forced to stop though, and moved his free hand up to remove one of Ikurx's own from his ear, frowning when he heard the racket outside the door. "Hey, everything okay?"

Ikurx stopped the soft humming as well, though he kept his eyes on Demyx's; blue green, green blue, like leaves of palm trees reflecting on the water of a clear skied day. "I don't know," he answered very quietly, "is it?"

"From the sound of things I'm not entirely sure." Demyx moved around a little so he could finally sit up and turn his attention towards the door. He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but none of the voices sounded very happy that was for sure. He looked back down at Ikurx and frowned in concern for the situation. "Do you know what's going on?"

Ikurx gave a small shake of his head. "No," the single word left him even more quietly. "I haven't moved since yesterday."

Demyx turned worried eyes back on the door. He hoped it wasn't anything serious, especially after everything that had gone on so far. With a sigh he moved a little more to free himself from the bed and stand on his feet. "I guess we should check it out." He turned around and looked back at Ikurx. "Or you can stay here and I'll look. You can get some more sleep if you want." He smiled a little, trying to stay cheerful for Ikurx's sake.

Ikurx gave another shake of his head, and he crawled free of the bedding to stand up on unsteady bare feet. Still it didn't stop him from staggering over into Demyx, gripping tight to the man's shirt. He kept his eyes on the floor as he pressed his cheek to Demyx's side.

Demyx was quick to wrap his arms around Ikurx to keep him steady. "Whoa, be careful, okay?" He gave a quiet laugh and lifted one hand to ruffle a few fingers through the teen's hair. With one arm still around Ikurx he started to lead them both towards the door, petting his hand through pale hair the entire time. Once they were at the door he was forced to let his hand fall away to twist the knob so they could both look out into the hall.

Donald and Goofy trundled down the hall whisking by Demyx. Either animal ran opposite ways in their panic, shouting something about Sora. They stopped at either ends of the hall looking around before they were quick to zoom back down the hall. At one end of the hall King Mickey looked deep in thought, tapping his temple with a finger while tapping the floor with an impatient foot.

Zax, was still wrapped in tight bandages, despite the cures he'd taken he still shouldn't have been up and about with his wounds, but he walked up to the king anyway. He shook his head. "Cloud and I checked the spare rooms top to bottom, he isn't there."

That caught Demyx's attention and he pulled Ikurx completely out of the room to walk out into the hall. Since he was no longer a Heartless he no longer felt a fear of the people surrounding him, but he still felt a little hostility for the way he had been treated in the past. It was pushed aside though in favour of curiosity. "What's going on? What are we looking for?"

Cloud, who looked no much better then Zax but was up and about anyway, turned from his spot near one of the extra rooms where he had just been checking. Much like Zax had stated though, there was nothing to be found and it was left empty as his gaze drifted over to Demyx and Ikurx. He didn't even hesitate for a second as he spoke up on the subject that had most of them running around in such a panic, "Sora is missing."

"S-Sora?" The name was loud with surprise from Ikurx. He staggered forward from Demyx. "W-when?" Ikurx used the wall to keep himself upright as he tried to hurry towards Zax and Cloud though his feet felt as cumbersome as if they were made of cement.

"We're not sure. Donald and Goofy just woke up and he was gone from his bed." Zax glanced at Cloud unsurely. "Someone should check outside. Even the battle ground." He didn't need to say another word, that was enough motivation to have Ikurx running from the wall to head towards the inn's exit. Ikurx knew all that motivated him wasn't his own, but still, Sora had been something akin to a friend. To have Sora missing, it meant nothing good for them all; the storm hadn't truly passed then.

Demyx hadn't expected Ikurx to take off so quickly. His eyes grew wide and soon he was looking around at everyone as if he were a deer caught in headlights. Without too much thinking he turned his attention to where Ikurx had run off and went after the teen. There was no point staying around the others and he wanted to make sure Ikurx was kept safe anyway. It was best he helped search outside while he kept an eye on the person he said he would protect.

As soon as Ikurx's feet met the unsteady ground of sand he fell hard on his knees. But he didn't stop; he clawed across the sand to push himself back up on shaky legs to continue his search. He couldn't see Sora anywhere, not huddled near the inn to find some solitary solace. Ikurx pushed forward to the water's edge, following it and the sight of the yesterday's destruction in the distance. His feet splashed in each wave that washed up on the shore, muddying the bottoms of his pants as he walked.

Something in Ikurx told him that if Sora wasn't at the sight of such horrible memories, then Sora wasn't here on this world at all. He had a feeling he knew what exactly happened, the truth scratching at the back of his mind in all obviousness though never letting on to the exact truth. The battle ground was the least of places he ever wanted to step foot near, but it was the most likely place where Sora would have wandered off to given the situation. Even if it was a terrible and traumatic place to be, Ikurx prayed he found Sora there; he didn't want him to be gone.

So far the battle ground was bare with nothing but the aftermath to show for what had happened. Because of Ikurx's previous fall Demyx was given the chance to catch up and only had to take quickened steps to stay a few feet behind the Nobody. He wasn't used to losing his breath after so long and actually cursed the sudden need a few times. "Ikurx, wait up," he spoke the words once he was sure the boy could hear. He couldn't see any sign of Sora at all and frowned at how useless the search seemed to be.

Ikurx's steps did eventually stop, near enough to see the chaos of what had happened stretch forth before him; the shambles of the inn was far worse seeing it a second time, a mangled half hazard coffin for those who never escaped the Heartless' attack.

Ikurx hugged himself, rubbing his arms as he swept his gaze to try and find Sora; a dot of brunette hair, a flicker of scarf, anything! But there was nothing. No Sora. Just traumatic memories and horror lying dead still in the sand. It was almost sick how the sun shone so warmly down on the scene, almost pleasantly.

Demyx's own steps finally slowed to a stop a few feet behind Ikurx. He looked around at what remained of the inn they had been staying at before any of the chaos had happened. He couldn't believe that Sora had just up and disappeared, but it certainly seemed that way. Demyx turned his eyes away to look over at Ikurx and he walked a little closer to the Nobody to place his hand on his shoulder, hoping to help him calm down as he spoke up gently, "Ikurx, I don't think he's here."

Ikurx was quiet for a long moment, staring at what had been happier memories now in ruin. "... I know," he quietly acknowledged through a tight throat.

Demyx frowned at the few words spoken in answer. His hand moved up to pet fingers through Ikurx's hair to try and sooth the teen, but he doubted it would work at all. "Hey, listen, he could still be around somewhere. You never know. This beach is pretty big. The others are still looking around, so they might find him." He felt it best to stay optimistic for the time being.

"No," Ikurx quietly corrected, "you're right: he's not here. He isn't anywhere." He turned his head a little, trying not to disturb the fingers through his hair, to look at the ocean. Somewhere along the beach he and Demyx had stood together and hummed that familiar melody, and further down he could remember kissing Sora and feeling some sick sort of rightness about it. Too many happy and horrific memories melding together, it made Ikurx sick to think about. So he kept his gaze on the glimmering ocean, somewhere in the back of his mind, wishing it was black.

A soft sigh left Demyx and unlike Ikurx his eyes stayed on the beach at where the battle had recently been fought. "Maybe he just left," it was the worst thing he could possibly say, but there was no point in beating around the bush. "He seemed worried about what Axel said and it might have caused him to leave." The memory of the intense standoff was still fresh in his own mind and it had Demyx shaking his head to finally turn his gaze out towards the ocean.

"To find Roxas? Riku?" Ikurx rested his hands at his own cheeks which felt hot under his palms. "Sora had let them go. He'd given them his blessing to go and be happy. Now that Sora's okay- he went and took it all back." He shook his head slowly, lowering his hands back to his sides. The same would soon happen to him. It all dumbed down to halves needing each other to be whole; chaos was ensuing because everyone was a loose cannon without their other piece. Sora needed Roxas but Roxas needed Axel and Axel needed Roxas right back, but if it hadn't been for himself, Ikurx, Roxas wouldn't have left Sora. If he, Ikurx, hadn't of left Riku, Riku wouldn't need Sora so badly to keep him sane, yet it was a piece of Riku that kept Sora the world's light. It left Ikurx daft, weight down since all of it eventually lead back to him and his true self; Riku.

"I'm sorry," Ikurx very quietly apologized as he turned suddenly to look up at Demyx. "It's nice to finally meet you." His smile was hollow, happy yet sad.

"Huh?" Demyx quickly looked down at Ikurx at the sudden switch in the conversation. He was confused for a second at Ikurx's words since they had known each other for a good while so far. It was the empty smile that was on the teen's face that caused Demyx to try and pull himself together, giving a slight laugh at the words that had been spoken. "What are you talking about, Ikurx? You already met me. There's no reason to say that again." He dropped his hand away from the boy's head to lift his chin a little instead so he could get a better look into Ikurx's eyes.

"No," Ikurx quietly corrected, "not the whole you." He pointed at Demyx's heart. "Heartless." He then pointed at Demyx's forehead. "Nobody." His smile softened and yet the sadness spread. "I've been wanting to meet you for a very long time. To see your eyes." Ikurx let his hand fall back down to his side. "I'm glad I was able to see them."

The realization dawned on Demyx after Ikurx spoke and he smiled as best he could. "So am I." He grabbed Ikurx's hand and held it within his own to keep captured for the time being. "I wish it could have been under better circumstances, but I'm glad you're okay after everything that happened." His other hand reached up to push back a few strands of hair from Ikurx's face while he continued to speak, "Thank you for bringing me back, Ikurx."

The Nobody gave a gentle shake of his head unconsciously messing the strands of hair that Demyx had fixed. "Don't make it sound like it was something spectacular or new. I was going to do it for you before, just, so many things got in the way." His smile faltered a little as he kept his gaze on the sand. "Everyone needs to be whole it's instinctual. Be it done with love or violence." Ikurx closed his mouth to stay in silence as an ocean breeze blew by them. Ikurx shut his eyes and lowered his head with a sad smile. "I've learned so much on my own I think it's time _he_ knew it too."

"Ikurx..." Demyx trailed off with just the Nobody's name spoken after hearing such a thing. He was able to feel a lot more now then he ever had as a Heartless, so every emotion was trying to hit him hard. He wanted to just force it all aside and focus on the person in front of him instead as he ignored his own worries. "What's wrong? What are you saying?" He dropped his hand once more so he was lifting Ikurx's head up by his chin once again. He leaned down a little to be face to face with the teen, making sure to get his attention. "Talk to me."

Ikurx stared at Demyx's face; there was such sweet real emotion there. He rested his free hand on Demyx. "I can't ever be like you. I can't ever become what I give others. I'll never be whole without _him_ and _he'll_ never become whole without me." His hand tightened around Demyx's at his chin. "I have his compassion, his kindness, and he has my passion, my emotion." Ikurx slipped his hands free to place them on either of Demyx's cheeks, a gentle action that seemed almost aged with patience. "I'm just a promise he forgot." Ikurx tried to smile but something hurt too much inside. "An empty promise that he needs to remember again."

Despite the hands on his face, Demyx was still able to shake his head a little in response to words spoken. "No, Ikurx, you are your own person. You don't need Riku at all." It felt strange to say the other's name when Ikurx had been avoiding it so far, but Demyx couldn't help it. "I promised you things and to take you away from all this. How am I supposed to do that if you just go off to find someone as dangerous as him?" He placed his hands on top of Ikurx's own and squeezed gently. "You don't need to. You're just fine without him."

Ikurx felt as if he were floating, as if every nerve and sense were suspended making everything seem so unreal. It wasn't like him to be blunt, but all that he'd experience; perhaps it had been the breaking point to make him jaded. Like _him_. "I don't love you," he spoke the words quite clearly. "I won't ever love you." Ikurx blinked as casually as if he were speaking about the weather. "No matter how much you love me, no matter how much you want me to love you back, I won't. I can't." Ikurx's fingers curled tighter around Demyx's cheeks. "I've given you everything I'm capable of; more. But, I can't be what you want me to be. As much I want it too, and I do, Demyx, to heaven and hell I do. But I can't." Ikurx's hands went slack. "They're beautiful lies, and I wish I could give in. But it wouldn't mean anything. Not like you deserve." Ikurx knew he was shaking now, he could hear it in his quieting voice. "You deserve to hear 'I love you' in full heartfelt meaning."

Every word spoken made Demyx feel as if he had been stabbed straight through all over again. Ikurx's try at soothing him with those last few words didn't help at all and Demyx was certain that rejection was a far worse thing as a human then when he was Heartless. He had been happy for only seconds it seemed only to have it all come crumbling down. It caused him to pull away from Ikurx as if the Nobody were something harmful to touch and looked down at him with sad eyes that he didn't even mean to express. It was just so hard to get a handle on emotions that had been locked away for so long. He was speechless and could only look away out towards the ocean as he kept silent, trying to find some thing to say, but nothing would come to him.

"I know 'sorry' will never mean enough. Sorry is the last word I ever heard from your Heartless." Ikurx didn't know what to do with his hands so he hugged himself. Who knew warm flesh and blood could feel so cold and meaningless. "And it's a word I never want to hear again. But I know that's all that's going to be said from here on out between all of us." Ikurx wanted to fall to the sand, crumple up and give in to the empty inside; numb. But Demyx deserved more. "You've meant more to me than any person I've met. More than Sora. I'm so grateful for you. It was wonderful to finally complete my promise to you. But now that it's been accomplished. It's over." He weakly rubbed his arms though he felt no cold. "It needs to be finished."

Demyx flinched for a second at that and after a few seconds his gaze finally moved back to the boy in front of him. In the back of his mind he knew it had probably been a big mistake to fall for the Nobody, knowing what he was used for as well as who exactly he was, but Demyx just couldn't help it. He didn't find himself wanting to treat Ikurx like a tool and maybe that had been his biggest mistake to start with. His moment of happiness was over before it began and he needed to realize that. If Ikurx wanted to return then he had no right to keep him held back. "How will you find him?" The question was spoken so very quietly.

Ikurx raised his hands to clasp the small star shaped Promise hanging from his collar. He squeezed it, holding it tight. "I'll," he started just as quietly as Demyx's words, "I'll follow his heart. It's mine too." It was strange to have regret when you felt no guilt; friendship with no love. Yet he gave a smile to Demyx, even if his friend didn't want any kind sentiment, let alone much of anything else from him. "Thank you, Mister Demyx." It was the best heart felt sentiment Ikurx could give without having one. He meant it, with every fiber of his being, everything from Demyx had meant so much.

Ikurx looked at the sand. "Someone once told me," he faltered, no, it had been Riku, but that didn't matter now. Ikurx gently shook his head and smiled sadly once more. "Someone once told me never say 'goodbye', for 'goodbyes' mean we'll never see each other again." He chanced a look at Demyx, needing to smile at his dear friend. "D-do you think-do you think if I don't say 'goodbye', I'll see you again somehow?"

Demyx chewed at his lip after the question as so much hesitation piled onto him in that second. He kept silent, not knowing what to say to such a thing. This was a person that he cared a great deal about and he was about to let Ikurx go just so he could become a whole being with a person that cared for someone else entirely. Just thinking about such a thing pushed all that hesitation away and as quick as he could, Demyx stepped forward to finally pull Ikurx into a quick hug. The Nobody was caught in his arms while Demyx leaned down to bury his nose in pale hair. "Of course, Ikurx. I'll wait forever for you if I really have to."

Ikurx couldn't keep the small sad sound in him. He let go of his keychain to throw his arms around Demyx tightly. He hugged his friend close, nearly clinging. It wasn't fair, all of this; it wasn't fair at all. "I'll miss you so much," he could barely manage the whispered words.

"I'll miss you too," Demyx spoke just as quietly. It was all for the best and he knew this if he thought rationally about things. Without Ikurx then things would possibly settle down a bit more. The other members of the group wanted Ikurx to become whole again. Of course Demyx didn't want to think rationally, he just wanted to keep Ikurx near for as long as he could, but it seemed the Nobody's mind was made up.

Slowly Demyx pulled back from the tight embrace, giving a wet sniff as he did. He looked down at Ikurx with sad eyes, but soon he had at least a small idea that he hoped would help cheer the Nobody up in some way. "Here, watch this," he spoke while he kneeled down to the boy's level. He grabbed both of Ikurx's hands to put them both palms facing up and made sure he kept them like that after he let go. When his own hands were free he splayed them out and the tiniest sound of trickling water could be heard from the ocean nearby as he called forth his element. The small rush of water came forth in a bubble in front of them both and stopped, but Demyx wasn't done with it yet. With a bit of concentration he began to shift it around until it took the familiar shape of a heart. He pushed the water forward so it rested right above Ikurx's hands as if the Nobody had control over it instead of Demyx himself. "If you were able to I'd let you take this with you wherever you go. A piece of me. A symbol of my heart. I wish I could give you more, but until you leave this is all I have."

Ikurx stared at the heart with certain awe. His head lowered a little as his shoulders shook with something akin to a silent sob. The sincerity in the gesture was over whelming to say the least. Very carefully he closed his hands over the water heart and huddled near it, as if it were truly something as precious as his own heart personified. Ikurx almost felt whole with something so simple.

"Thank you," Ikurx barely whispered. He knew those words weren't enough but he meant them with just as much sincerity.

"Hey," Demyx was quick to speak up as he watched Ikurx. He made sure to keep his own concentration over the water so that Ikurx's actions wouldn't disturb the heart that the Nobody held so tightly. "I didn't mean to upset you or anything." He laughed a little, although it was shaky. One hand reached out to pet through Ikurx's hair. "I'm glad you like it though, and you're welcome."

Ikurx gently shook his head; nothing Demyx had done had upset him. He opened his hands a little to peek at the palm sized heart inside, delicate and frail under Demyx's control. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to be selfish just this once. He closed his hands over the heart again, tightening his hands around it. Ikurx borrowed a sliver of his gift upon the heart, making an emotion, a symbol, complete. When his hands opened again the heart was smooth and solid as polished stone, the oceanic colour still stayed like crystalline causing the light that hit it to shine off like the streams of light hitting the ocean floor. Demyx didn't have to use his power to keep it whole; it was as real and solid as either of them which stood there.

The sight before him caused Demyx's eyes to widen a little. He felt his power over the water cut away as soon as Ikurx had taken control and the new form of the heart turn into what they saw before them both. It was a little unreal to see something such as that in front of his own eyes without wanting to corrupt it for once. He looked up into Ikurx's eyes, but remained speechless over what the Nobody held in his hands.

Ikurx clasped his hands tightly over the heart now with no fear of destroying it. "It's the closest I'll ever have to something real." He held it to his chest as his gaze down casted almost shyly. "Thank you, again."

Demyx finally managed a smile at such words. He scooted forward on his knees in the sand so he was closer to Ikurx and reached his hands out to place them on Ikurx's cheeks. With barely a touch he lifted the teen's head so they were eye to eye. "You don't have to keep thanking me. I do it because I care, just keep believing that, okay?" Without waiting for a response he moved forward to press his lips to Ikurx's own despite earlier words spoken by the Nobody that had hurt him deeply. He refused to stop feeling.

Warmth spread across Ikurx's cheeks; it was so much different than when Demyx was a Heartless. Ikurx couldn't keep the shy smile off his face, so he toyed with Demyx's hair while he kept the heart closely clasped in his other. "But-but I'll have nothing else to say in return. You won't know how much it matters if I keep silent." Ikurx met Demyx's eyes shyly.

Demyx shook his head while he tried not to disturb Ikurx's hand. "You don't have to say anything, Ikurx. I can tell how much it means to you. Words are just that, only words. I can look at you right now and know that what I've done means something to you without you saying a word and that's enough for me." He trailed fingers down the side of Ikurx's face and smiled a little more at how shy the boy looked. "You may not love me, but at least I can try my best to make you somewhat happy, and as long as I can accomplish that then it's alright with me."

Ikurx gave a very soft laugh. "You make me very happy." He let his fingers slide down to rest on Demyx's cheek. "You taught me how without a heart; how to be happy. And how to be me. How to be Ikurx." He leaned down a little unsurely at first before finally finding the bravery to touch a warm kiss on Demyx's lips; a silent thanks.

Demyx wasn't expecting such a thing at all. He couldn't remember Ikurx being the one to kiss him to be quite honest. That fake copy that had been Zexion didn't at all count and he still hated himself for believing such a manipulative lie. Still, this kiss wasn't unpleasant. It felt nice even though it was hesitant. Demyx made sure to press back to try and reassure the Nobody of how much his enjoyed it while he wrapped his arms around the teen once again.

Warmth spilled down Ikurx's cheeks as he shared a rare gentle kiss with Demyx. It felt so right, yet he didn't know why. Most times Demyx had ever kissed him Ikurx felt a torrid hollow and guilty worry, but now things felt okay. Ikurx pulled a breath away from the kiss and smiled sadly. He felt the tears rolling down his cheeks, so foreign; he could taste on his lips. He couldn't help the small soft laugh that left him over it as he wiped the back of a hand across a cheek. Now, of all times, his tears decided to show themselves; wonderful yet terribly sad at the same time. Maybe it was the makeshift heart giving a sad little miracle but Ikurx didn't question it. If anyone deserved his tears it was Demyx. Ikurx wanted to say something but Demyx's words stopped him. Demyx didn't want to hear any 'thank you's or 'I'm sorry's, his silence was all he needed. So Ikurx kissed Demyx again, perhaps with more feeling he'd had since his entire existence.

Demyx didn't shy away from the kiss at all. He was quick to respond much like he had before and pressed into it eagerly unlike a few times before. His hands didn't shake nor did his body. Instead he held Ikurx closer to keep him near. It had surprised him to see the Nobody crying when never before had Ikurx been able to, but he was happy to know that Ikurx could finally show some emotion and didn't mind at all when there were a few tears mixed in with the kiss. It just made it all the more real what the Nobody felt.

Ikurx soon pulled from the kiss, shrinking away shyly before he hid his face against the side of Demyx's head keeping near. He sniffled quietly but didn't bother to wipe away the tears, not when he had longed for them nearly his whole life. Ikurx wanted to thank Demyx again but he knew his friend didn't want it. So he just slipped his free arm around Demyx's neck and hugged him best he could. New tears fell down his cheeks; he didn't want to leave now.

Demyx continued to keep one arm tightly around Ikurx, refusing to let him go for the time being. His other moved up to stroke through the teen's hair to sooth him as best he could even though the tears were nothing to be too concerned about. He could feel the wet streaks against the side of his neck, but still he clung to Ikurx, humming quietly until he felt the need to finally speak, "Are you alright?"

Ikurx gave a small nod. Better than he had in a long time considering. Everything was as perfect as they could be, yet eventually it would be over and goodbyes would happen again. Ikurx had never had a problem with goodbyes; his life had always been about come and go. It had Ikurx tightening his grip all the more, grasping onto Demyx's shirt with his one hand.

The tight hold didn't bother Demyx. He didn't want to let go anytime soon either and kept his own tight grip. If any of the others decided to come out looking for them they would see an odd sight of the two clinging in such a way, but Demyx learned not to care. Especially if Ikurx had really decided he would leave at some point. This was the last real chance they had near each other in such privacy, so he wanted to make it last.

"I don't want to miss you," Ikurx barely whispered, "but if I don't go _he'll_ do far worse to everyone without me." He sniffed but tried to keep everything light and optimistic like he always did. "He needs his conscience back. He's gone rather amuck without me to keep him in line." Ikurx finally let go of Demyx's shirt in favour of toying with the long hair that fell at the back of his neck. "Maybe if I go back -so will Roxas. Or maybe if I go back Sora won't need Roxas because he'll have Riku to keep him whole. Everyone can be happy. Everything will finally be over. There won't be anyone to keep bringing back the evils of the worlds." Ikurx let out a tired breath against Demyx's neck. "The living, halves and dead will exist just as they have before my existence." Ikurx moved just enough so his and Demyx's foreheads leaned against each other. "But I'll still be with you connected to here." He tapped a finger over Demyx's heart before he rested a hand there. "Because now I have my own heart to keep you in."

Demyx placed his hand over Ikurx's own. He smiled sadly, knowing that what Ikurx said was true, but still not wanting to let go. "You're right. I'll always be near you in my own small way, but I'll still miss you all the same. I know you have to do what you feel is right, but I hope you'll be careful. Riku is a dangerous person in his own right, and despite you being his other I doubt he'll have a care for your well being." His attention strayed back towards the ocean as he pulled back only a little. "Maybe this will solve everything, but I still worry, you know?"

Ikurx smiled more despite the tears. "Don't worry about me you have a career as a great musician to start planning. A band. You should already be writing your first hit song now." Still holding the crystal heart Ikurx brushed a few long strands of hair from Demyx's forehead. "You'll be great. Better than great. People will come from all worlds, far and further away, just to come hear you play." Ikurx's smile seemed to become more cheerful despite the wet streaks down his cheeks. "And some how, some way, I promise to come see your very first big public performance." He gave a soft chuckle. "I hope you'll still remember me by then."

"Of course I will." Demyx glanced back at Ikurx. He moved a hand over to wipe away traces of tears from the Nobody's face and his smile grew a little. "I'll miss having the opportunity to have you in my band. I was really looking forward to it." He laughed a little as he went on, "Maybe by some miracle Riku can be talked into it. It's doubtful, but stranger things have happened." He shook his head after such a thought, but was still slightly amused.

Ikurx gave a soft giggle. "Tambourine, right? Maybe." He rubbed his own cheek with his arm warmer. "You're right, stranger things have happened." He smiled just a little. "And I'm glad they have." He touched a small playful kiss on Demyx's nose. "I'm glad for a lot."

Demyx gave another soft laugh at the quick kiss. "Heh, me too." He touched a few fingers to Ikurx's lips, tracing them over in a small line before he finally moved to stand back on his feet. "Do you plan to let everyone else know you're leaving? They're going to miss you too once you go." Much like before he returned to petting fingers through the Nobody's hair, finding the action soothing for the both of them.

Ikurx gently shook his head, half guised as a reason to nuzzle the hand through his hair. "No. It's best I leave without a sad goodbyes. I couldn't bear it if Mister Cloud and Zax asked me to stay, or worse, asked to come with me to find Riku." He slipped his hand up through his own fine hair to grasp onto Demyx's wrist so he could still his hand to rest his cheek in his palm. "For once in my small life I feel brave enough to do this on my own. To stand up on my own." Ikurx gave his usual wide optimistic smile. "See, I told you I'd protect you. It isn't like everyone else, but in my own way- I'm protecting everyone. Heh, from _myself_."

Ikurx slowly nuzzled his cheek against the warm palm, pressing his cheek nearer as he held tighter to Demyx's. He knew his expression was falling, but he ached so terribly in his chest missing Demyx already while he hadn't even left yet. Ikurx nearly buried his face in Demyx's hand, letting his pale hair fall over the rest of his face.

A troubled expression came over Demyx's face while he watched Ikurx take comfort in each little touch. His smile fell and even though earlier affection had already been shown it didn't stop him from reaching out to pull Ikurx closer. It was only meant to be a small hug, but Demyx couldn't help the need to pull Ikurx just a little closer to give the other boy as much comfort as he could manage now that he was able to. "Please be careful, Ikurx."

A nod could be felt against Demyx's chest, and Ikurx fought not to bury himself there. In the end he gave in and hugged Demyx back and between them it became a sad and desperate cling.

"I will," Ikurx quietly squeaked out. "You be careful too, Mister Demyx. Take care of everyone; especially Mister Cloud."

"I'll try my best. I think they're all warming up to me by now." Demyx finally managed to pull himself back, but still he kept a hand on Ikurx's shoulder for just a moment. "Heh, all it took was for me to finally become human again and all was right." He lifted his hand to smooth the back of it over Ikurx's face for a moment before he finally pulled it away and let out a sigh while he tilted his head. "How will you leave the island?"

Ikurx stepped back a few steps before he turned aside. With one hand keeping the crystal heart to his chest he summoned his keyblade with his other. It was almost second nature to raise the winged blade, sparkling illumination leaving its end, and gesturing forth the bright light swirled dark and formed a dark portal.

That was enough to cement it for Ikurx.

"Deep down, at my core, I'm still Riku." Ikurx turned an impassive expression on to Demyx but as quickly as that cold gaze owned by his Somebody had taken him his expression softened. "But, I'd rather you remembered as I existed; as 'Ikurx'."

Demyx turned his eyes away from the portal and back to Ikurx. "I don't think I could ever really forget." Soon a light hearted expression came to his face and he couldn't help the quiet laugh that left him over the situation. "It will probably make for awkward conversation later on down the road if such a thing is to ever happen." His smile turned a little sad and without much hesitation to the action, Demyx lifted a hand to place it near his lips to kiss his fingers, blowing on them towards Ikurx after he was done. It was a silly action, but it made the entire situation a little easier to let go of. "Good luck..."

Ikurx reached out a few fingers from the heart he held and 'caught' the kiss. He soon held both to his chest again protectively. A new smile spread across his lips and for a moment Ikurx swore he could feel a happy heart beat in his chest. "Goodbye, Demyx," he cheerfully spoke as if it wasn't as finale as probably was and stepped into the portal disappearing with it.


	64. Chapter 64

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 64

The sky changed from blue to bronze, the clouds from white to gold. The entire town was coloured in the warmth of twilight from which it had been given its name sake. Everyday was a brilliant and beautiful sight from start and then at its end.

But not today.

The sight was shunned with the curtain hanging in the doorway of the small hangout claimed by four teenage friends, now three; four with the addition of Seifer. But it wasn't the same. Nothing was the same without Roxas. Ever since the event in the gym and the disappearance of their friend, there was nothing but somber worry. No fun. No laughter. No anything. It was as if the world was standing still and waiting for that missing piece to finally come back to complete it; and all of them.

The soft thud of a ball bouncing off the wall was the only thing that filled The Usual Spot. Hayner idly tossed it while he lay on the worn out couch with Seifer claimed as a pillow. Olette sat on a few crates with her head in her hands running everything through her mind over and over again to try and unravel just what was going on. While Pence leaned against the wall going through their old photos. It was easier to reclaim some semblance of their old friend by looking at him in each photo taken and remembering those happier memories. Pence could only hope that wherever Roxas was he was doing alright.

There was only so much silence that one person could take and soon Olette was starting to reach her breaking point. The large amount of worry that was starting to pile up didn't help matters and soon she tapped her fingers against her cheeks until a heavy sigh finally left her and she sat up straight. "This is ridiculous. We shouldn't just be sitting here wasting time. We should be out- out _somewhere_ looking for him! Something had to of happened. We can't just sit here and wait around like this." She looked around at the others, hoping they would understand her point.

"There's nothing we _can_ do." Seifer finally lifted a hand as soon as the ball Hayner was throwing was on its way back down and caught it before the other boy could. "Hayner and I looked all around Twilight Town and even as far as the trains would take us outside. He's not around here or anywhere close." Instead of giving the ball back, Seifer started to throw it against the wall this time, deciding to have a turn at it to occupy himself. "If that new kid at school really did have anything to do with this then they're probably long gone by now."

"But where could they have gone?" Pence finally spoke up. "A neighbouring town? Back to the city?" He set the pictures he held down since there were no answers to be found there. "We wouldn't know where to start. Where to look."

"Maybe he doesn't want to be found," Hayner cut in. It caused everyone to look his way but Hayner didn't give anyone a glance, he just stared at the wall where Seifer now bounced the ball.

"Don't say that, Hayner." Olette frowned at such a thought. "We all saw the gym and heard the racket. The only two people missing were Roxas and that Riku student. You even told us yourself that Roxas was acting strange when that boy was around." She chewed at her bottom lip in worry for a moment before she finally looked back down. "I'm worried about him. He's been so upset since Axel left town and now this."

Seifer caught the ball one last time and tossed it aside on the couch. Without caring to how much Hayner would fuss, he reached down to yank what used to be his own hat off the other boy's head so he could mess with Hayner's hair. "Well, maybe we could pool some money together and go farther outside of Twilight Town. Maybe out into the city. Does anyone even know what city the squirt was talking about?"

Hayner grumbled while he ran his hands through his hair to fix the damage done. "No. He never said what city, just 'the city'."

Across the room Pence blinked and rubbed his lips in thought. "Hey, does anyone know what city is closest to Twilight Town?" And soon silence filled the room.

"Of course," Hayner was quick to be the first person that spoke up. "It's- uh." He faltered and glanced aside as if the far wall would have the answer; but there was just a poster advertising the struggle match of last year. "Um, it's-Godamnit, Seifer, gimmie my hat!" Hayner yanked back the hat Seifer stole.

"The World that Never Was." Amidst the struggling that diverted the eyes in the room the curtain had opened to allow two bodies to walk in, or at most, limp in a little ways. It had been the familiar voice that everyone in the room had been looking for that spoke up and there in the doorway Roxas stood with his arms around Axel, helping the other to stand the best he could in his weakened state. He gave his friends a shaky smile when every wide eye was on him and saw it fit to speak up again. "That's what it was called. The city I was talking about. I don't think it's much of a city anymore, though. It's long gone by now."

Hayner was the first up on his feet, standing so fast he staggered from his eagerness. His first instinct was to tackle into Roxas and hug his best friend tight; he thought he'd never see him again. But when he caught sight of Axel he stopped himself. Axel looked different, pale skin, black hair with red tips, unnatural eyes; he looked like he belonged in some Goth heavy metal band. It had not only Hayner confused at the sight.

"R-Roxas," Hayner sputtered. "You're okay. And wow, Axel, you look like hell."

"Tch, consider yourself lucky I do," Axel snerked. "Otherwise you'd be toast." He snapped his finger causing a spark. "Like _that_." That certainly had everyone stunned.

Roxas was the only one unfazed by the act and shifted around a little instead. "Hey, can one of you guys give me a hand. I want to get him over to the couch. I don't care how skinny he looks; he's still not all that easy to carry." He was quick to tease Axel with those few words before he looked back to his friends.

"Uh, sure." Seifer broke out of his shock just enough to move off the couch and over to them both. He would have had to move anyway since the seat would be needed and helped Roxas out by placing one of Axel's arms over his own. The first thing he noticed the moment he touched Axel was how cool his skin was. It shocked him and made him wonder why Roxas wasn't fretting over it, but he didn't have too much time to think on it since they were already walking to the couch and helping him to sit down.

"Thanks." Axel leaned back, it certainly felt better to sit after limping through town. "Man, this couch brings back memories." He ran a hand over the seat before patting it.

"Right." Hayner looked back to Roxas. Suddenly he felt awkward, he had a hundred questions going through his mind and yet his mind decided to blank out with anything intelligent to say. So Hayner did what he always did; he blew up. "Damnit Roxas! Where the hell did you go?!" He pushed hard at Roxas' shoulder while he gave him an angry glare. "You disappeared again without saying anything! What the hell is going on?!"

Roxas took the angry shove without giving one back for once. There was so much on his mind and finally he could get everything out. The heart he had was beating wildly in his chest because of his nerves and he felt sick to his stomach. He only hoped he didn't look as pathetic as he felt at the moment. "Sorry," he mumbled out after a few minutes while he looked down to the floor. "I couldn't help it. I was kidnapped. I guess that's what you could call it."

Olette let out a small gasp at that and soon walked over while shoving Hayner out of the way just to make sure she could get a good look over of their friend. "Oh, Roxas, are you alright? We tried so hard to look for you. Really we did. Who did it? Did they hurt you?" She didn't really give him time to answer and was soon throwing her arms around his neck for a tight hug.

"It was that Riku bastard," Axel filled in since Roxas was in the process of having the life squeezed out of him by Olette. "He knew I was gone from town and came down here to get at Roxas." Distaste and anger crossed his face and everyone swore that his eyes were glowing. "I guess you could say Roxas and Riku go way back." Axel glanced aside. "Further back than Roxas and I."

Pence's brow furrowed and he finally stepped from the wall to his friends. "But, how can he? Roxas, you grew up here. That doesn't make much sense."

"A lot of things don't make much sense because there are a lot of things you guys don't know about." Roxas finally managed to free himself from Olette's tight grip on him and backed up enough to sit down beside Axel. "It's all really complicated and confusing. I'm sure half of it you guys won't understand. I never thought I would even have to tell you about it. When I came back here I just wanted to live a normal life here with Axel and things were supposed to be fine." He let out a heavy sigh and reached up to run his hands through his hair. "Now with Riku showing up things are really screwed up."

"I think that's putting it mildly." Axel slung an arm over Roxas' shoulder and tugged him nearer. He wasn't about to let him suffer through this alone.

Hayner growled his frustration. "So tell us already! Tell us what's going on. Explain it to us so we know what's happening with you. Damnit Roxas, we're you're friends! You can't just leave us in the dark like this. We want to help- but it's kind of hard when you keep disappearing without saying a godamn thing!"

"I don't think that's going to help, lamer." Seifer reached a hand out to place it on Hayner's shoulder and pulled the other boy back a bit. "Most people don't enjoy being screamed at when they're trying to give explanations." He turned his attention back on Roxas while he made sure to keep Hayner nearby. "He's right, though. You tend to have the overwhelming ability to disappear a lot and none of us know what really goes on with you."

Any other time Roxas would have found it funny to hear Seifer saying those things instead of his other friends, but he was too worried to really care at the moment. He found it extremely helpful that Axel was willing to give him some type of comfort despite his own lack of energy and leaned near to his friend in order to gather more courage. "It's all easy for me to explain, but you're going to be confused." He took a deep breath and finally let everything out. "I was originally a person, a thing that was described as a Nobody. Not in the way you guys are thinking. That's just what beings like us were called. We were born without hearts from people that had turned to the Darkness."

That certainly earned a great many blank stares; Roxas' prediction was right, they were all confused.

Hayner screwed up his face. "Roxas, are you high?"

Axel burst out laughing and groaned soon after at the mild pain it caused throughout him. He wiped at the corner of his eye. "Oh boy." He patted Roxas' chest. "You're starting in the middle, best to start at the beginning. If you're going to crash the system you might as well do a thorough job of it."

"This could take forever." Roxas let out a sigh and slumped a bit. If his friends were confused over just that bit of information it was going to be worse to start from the beginning. He tried to think of anything that could help him and soon looked to the side at Axel with a worried frown on his face. "Do you think you would be alright giving one of them back just for a few seconds?"

"Sure thing, Roxy-baby." Not one to pass up showing off, not even in his weakened state, Axel lifted one of his hands to bare the black chakram tattoo on his palm. It took a little more concentration but soon black fire curled round his palm and he closed fingers around it to quell the flame. When Axel opened his hand again there was a black chakram keychain and no tattoo underneath. "Here you go." Axel dropped the keychain in Roxas' hands.

All three and Seifer stared, at least two of them rubbed their eyes to make sure they saw right.

"W-what was that?" Pence stuttered.

"I'll explain it in a bit." Roxas held tight to the keychain and concentrated on willing it into its complete form just like usual despite having his friends so nearby. There was the usual quick flash of flame and soon in place of the chain one of the blades he had been given by Axel was in its place. He gripped it tight by the handle and looked back up at his friends. "This is a keyblade. It's a special weapon that only a select few can really use. The only reason I can use it is because the person I used to be linked to was the Keyblade Master. His name was Sora. Heh, my name was just an anagram of his own." Roxas lowered the weapon a bit. "A few years back Sora died. Or, he became a Heartless actually. They're these creatures that feed off people's hearts and become corrupt. Once that happened I was born, just like I told you. Sora was brought back to the light and because of that I remembered bits of his life and who I was." He shrugged a shoulder. "That's mostly the beginning."

"There's an eternal battle going on, one I'm sure everyone's familiar with," Axel continued after Roxas. He'd fill in the gaps that Roxas missed from his nerves; anything to help him finally tell his friends, to clear his conscience. "It's what every child's story and fairytale is about. The battle of Light and Dark; Good and Evil." Axel shrugged his hand. "But not everything is so black and white. There are shades of grey. Shades that shouldn't exist. These shades are the Nobodies. It's whatever is left over when someone's heart is taken by the Darkness. That's what Roxas was."

Axel lifted his hand and manipulated as he spoke. "In his life he joined a group of thirteen Nobodies called Organization XIII. A group who sought to find their hearts again." With a swipe of his hand thirteen small cloaked figures appeared in the air each with their assigned number underneath them. "I was number VIII." Axel pointed to his image. "Roxas was number XIII." He pointed to Roxas' image. "As Nobodies we don't know who we were or how we came to be. So Roxas left the Organization to find out just why the keyblade chose him."

Axel hesitated but continued with a sigh. "We all knew. We all knew who he had been; that's why we made him join. Everyone wanted him; to use his power. A Nobody who had the power to wield the keyblade. While others wanted to reunite him with Sora to make him whole again." Axel shook his head. "I didn't care. The keyblade, the Keyblade Master, our hearts, Kingdom Hearts; none of it mattered to me. I cherished his friendship more. So I did everything in my power to keep Sora from Roxas. To keep Roxas as Roxas. I manipulated the members of Organization XIII; I even killed them. I made sure the Keyblade Master killed number XI." Axel pointed to Marluxia. "Who planned to take over Organization XIII with the power of the keyblade." Axel flicked Marluxia's image and it dispersed. He then flicked Vexen, Lexaeus, and Larxene.

Axel stared at the remaining Nobodies before he looked to Roxas' image at the end. "I was sent to retrieve Roxas and bring him back to the Organization. But before I could someone else got a hold of him first and, well, he was brought here." He tapped Roxas' image on the head and the cloak changed to the normal attire he wore around town. "To Twilight Town. His memory was erased and rearranged. Hm. Everyone's memories were. Tch, Naminé is to thank for that. Heh." Axel leaned back and rubbed his lips. "Roxas wasn't crazy. Two forces were standing behind the curtain fighting for Roxas' life." He twirled a hand. "The rest is, how you say, history." He snapped his fingers and the rest of the Organization members disintegrated. "Long story short the Keyblade Master defeated us all." Sora's image appeared holding a keyblade. "And Roxas returned to Sora. Balance was restored, and everyone lived happily ever after. The end!"

Dead silence filled the room then after. No one knew what to say to all that, it was a lot to take in all at once. They were kids from a small town, nothing exciting ever happened to any of them.

It was Hayner who stepped forward. "Alright. This is a lot of bullshit to swallow. And if I wasn't seeing some pretty crazy things right now in front of me I'd punch you right in the face right now, Roxas, for this whopper of an excuse. But." He let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know. You're here right now. And none of that explains that Riku bastard."

"Oh, right, Riku." Roxas dismissed the keyblade and handed the chain back over to Axel. He wasn't comfortable with keeping it just yet when the entirety of markings on Axel's body had yet to even return. "Well, Riku is a friend of Sora's and over time he became more than that. When I returned to Sora I was forced back in Sora's mind in a way and I guess it could have been considered an invisible wall I was placed against inside Sora's body. I knew everything going on I just couldn't react to it. Over time it hurt to see Sora happy when I could never feel those things. He had Riku and I had nothing."

Just the thought of what Roxas was about to confess had him looking away. Everything else compared to this really was simple stuff. He despised Riku and didn't want to remember any of the moments between himself and the other boy, especially not after what happened recently. "Axel is a Heartless now. He came back to this world just to get me back. He triggered something inside Sora that urged me out and for a while I was able to use Sora's body to communicate at least. It really ticked Riku off because in his eyes I don't exist. I'm just Sora. A part of Sora that doesn't love him and it's something Riku can't stand. But, something happened recently that caused Riku to have his own Nobody and now he's even more hateful and spiteful than ever."

"This is so very confusing." Olette moved a hand to the side of her head as if all of it really was giving her a horrible headache. "So, that new boy at school was someone that hates you because you're that extra part of the person he cares about?"

"Actually, he doesn't really hate me. He's just pissed off that I hate him." Roxas was just as frustrated with the entire thing himself. "He wants to care about me, but only because he wants me to be Sora. I hate him because he tried to force me to become Sora too many times. When I was a Nobody he and I fought in the city that I lived in. It lasted a while and at the end of it I lost and this is where he sent me with no memory of who I was in the Organization. I forgot everyone and recently he did the same exact thing pretty much."

"Organization XIII is back. More pissed off than ever and every man for himself. They're all Heartless now." Axel gestured forth and Sora's image disappeared and the line up of thirteen came back but this time as Heartless. "Sora killed our leader's Heartless long before." The self proclaimed Ansem exploded into nothing. "I killed V." Lexaeus' image then dispersed. "And during this war of revenge and retribution, a good many of us has died. For good this time." Marluxia and Luxord disappeared from the lineup, but Demyx's image changed into his Somebody. "But we're all after the same thing: the fail safe. The one thing that Organization XIII could count on if we were all defeated. A last resort. Retrieving it would mean unleashing something worse." Axel dragged a hand through his hair. "What you saw in the gym is only a tiny insignificant fraction of what that 'worse' can do."

Pence waved his hands. "Wait wait, Riku? Riku is the 'something worse'?"

Axel nodded. "The fail safe plan was kept from Roxas. Because anything Roxas would know Sora would know if the two were ever to be cemented together again." He ran lithe fingers through Roxas' hair. "We all have our own innate abilities. Sometimes those abilities come out when we're born as Heartless or as Nobodies, or thanks to the embodiment of all things evil, or when we're given a giant key." Axel shrugged loosely and brought up two figures. "Sora has light, and jealousy strayed Riku into dark." Axel pointed beside Sora and a new figure appeared. "Roxas has the duality of light from Sora." Beneath the three boys Axel brought a female figure and next to her a blonde girl to match. "Kairi, miss love triangle friend, her Nobody Naminé can control memories. You can thank her for the amnesia and twist of memories. A lot of this messed up stuff was possible because of her. Heh, she did all of this because she didn't want to be alone anymore. It served the Organization's purpose."

Riku was the only one of the three friends who didn't have a Nobody standing by them and that's the space Axel pointed to next. "The fail safe; Riku's Nobody." A more somber tone took Axel's voice. "Ikurx. The Nobody with the ironic ability to make people whole again. Riku always walked the fine line between light and dark thanks to Sora; it made sense his Nobody did as well. Pushing him into Darkness left his Nobody free for us to use. But the cost, Riku might as well be the Darkness in carnet. And he's out of control."

"So, uh, if this Riku guy has his own Nobody does that make him one of those Heartless things too?" Seifer wasn't sure why he even bothered questioning any of it. It all sounded way too farfetched for his own tastes, but he had managed to come this far. Might as well go all in, though he suddenly wondered what he had gotten himself into as far as friends went.

"Well, that we're still not entirely sure of." Roxas shrugged his shoulders. "To have a Nobody a person does have to be part of the Darkness for a little while. But, like we said, Riku isn't really a Heartless. He's just completely controlling the Darkness even better than someone like Axel or any of the other Heartless are doing. When he kidnapped me he used his ability to turn me into a Heartless in order to shift me into some twisted version of Sora." He nodded his head to the side towards Axel. "The only way I escaped was because of Axel coming to get me. Riku disappeared somewhere, but he had me trapped in some world he made up in the Darkness and it nearly killed Axel trying to get me out."

Pence scratched his head as he tried to absorb so much, Olette beside him was fretting, but Hayner soon crossed his arms with a tilt of head skeptically. He marched over pushing friends out of the way so he could yank Roxas up by the front of his shirt. He didn't care if people stared at him as he pressed an ear to Roxas' chest and listened.

Everyone was silent.

"Sounds like you're full of crap." Hayner stood up and scowled at Roxas. "You have a heart. I hear it." He tapped Roxas rather hard on the chest.

Roxas had to stop himself from stumbling back at how hard Hayner decided to push at him. The words would have been oddly touching coming from his friend had Roxas not known the real truth of how he got that very heart in his chest. "Mmm, yeah, I know. But, I didn't always." He reached up to rub at that very spot on his chest and soon frowned. "Ikurx took half of Sora's heart and gave it to me. I felt it was only right that it should be mine. I deserved it and after that Sora turned into a Heartless. A lot has happened since then, though."

Hayner frowned and his gaze down cast. "All this happened while you were gone? Even before. You didn't grow up here." He slowly looked back up at Roxas' face. "So, how much of our memories are fake?"

The question actually frightened Roxas for a moment. He didn't want to tell his friends the truth. That they were some stupid computer program made just to trick him and keep him in one convenient spot. It was horrible and he wanted them to stay happy and somewhat sane. There were some truths that just needed to be kept omitted. "J-Just the parts about me being raised here. We were still friends. None of that changed. It's just all of this other stuff that you guys never knew about."

Hayner didn't seem all that assured. But soon he was shaking his head to push the doubt away from his mind. This was no time to think pessimistic. "Forget it. Who cares about the past, right? Even if some of our memories are fake, our friendship is real. That'll never change. No one can alter that." He reached out and rested a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "We may not understand what you said, hell, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it, but, y'know what? I believe you Roxas. Everything. Heartless, Nobodies, all that crazy stuff; I believe you. And," Hayner squeezed Roxas' shoulder as he finished more sincerely, "I'm sorry. Sorry I got so pissed off at you for leaving and all that, I didn't know. I didn't know you went through all this crap."

"After hearing about it all, I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to talk about it," Pence added.

"Yeah, it does sound very trying." Olette still looked rather worried and troubled over all that had been said. "We're glad you're alright, though. You and Axel, both. We were so worried and even if the story you told us is rather out there, at least it's something to go on and we don't have to keep guessing."

All eyes soon went to Seifer since everyone else had spoken their own consoling words, expecting him to at least attempt to do the same. Seifer blinked his eyes and soon held up his hands in defense at being put on the spot and scowled. "Tch, yeah right, I'm not that whipped quite yet to be giving out speeches on friendship."

Roxas rolled his eyes at that, but soon smiled anyway and looked back at his friends. "Well, thanks you guys. I know it's a lot to take in, but it means a lot that you listened." His expression turned sad once more and his eyes soon fell to the ground. "But, that's not all that I have to tell you. I needed to get all of this off my chest for a reason."

"What? Why?" Pence's brow furrowed.

It was Hayner that caught on, he knew Roxas well enough to know exactly why. He stared at Roxas' forlorn expression before a sad sigh left him. "It's forever now, isn't it?"

Roxas didn't want to answer that question since it felt so final. His hands clenched down at his sides and he couldn't help the need to keep his head bent low. "Riku knows where this place is. I escaped that world he was keeping me in and by staying here I'm putting you guys in danger. It was bad enough he found me here before. I don't want it to happen a second time. Not while he's in such a dangerous state of mind."

Hayner kept his hand on Roxas' shoulder, he almost feared that if he moved it his best friend would disappear right there and then. "That's why you came back this time. That's why you're finally telling us everything." He gripped Roxas' shoulder. "... To say goodbye."

Roxas shook his head a little at first to what was said. "To be honest I didn't even think I would be coming back at all because of what happened. But, now that I'm here I can't stay. I don't want to put you all in the middle of it." He finally lifted his head to look back at Hayner, finding some type of courage to do so after such a long time of looking at the ground. "So, I guess it is a way of saying goodbye."

"And nothing we can say will change your mind." Hayner swallowed hard. "You're doing this to protect us, the town, and our home." He scoffed. "It's brave sure, but also kind of stupid." He tried to smirk but it was still sad. "You've always been pretty selfish, Roxas, and thick headed."

Roxas laughed a little nervously at that. "Yeah, so I've been told." His own amusement soon died away once again and he looked back down. "I'm really sorry, Hayner. I never meant to keep you in the dark like this time and time again. There's just so much that Axel and I need to take care of before we can even try to have some kind of normal life. We still want to try and come back if it's possible." Soon he grinned and glanced back up out the corner of his eyes. "And hey, at least you got a boyfriend out the entire ordeal, right?"

Hayner blushed a dark colour and let go of Roxas in favour of punching him in the shoulder. "Smartass. Don't you go and turn this around into some messed up positive." But he didn't go and deny it for once; there really wasn't any point to bother anymore. And Hayner hoped no one noticed.

Roxas rubbed at his shoulder with a laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. It really was too easy." Before he could speak anymore he was suddenly tackled into from the side by Olette who clung to him as if he were her last life line.

"Oh, Roxas, we'll miss you so much!" The girl was already near tears while she had her arms tight around her friend's neck. "Twilight Town is never the same when you're gone. This place is so boring without you around. And Hayner is always so mopey and aggravating."

Hayner gave a flat look. "Gee, thanks, Olette."

There was a flash and everyone looked to see Pence holding the camera taking hold of the new Polaroid. He grinned. "Might as well capture the moment. It's been a while since we've taken pictures together." He handed the picture to Roxas. "And you can take a few pictures with you. That way you'll always have us with you wherever you go." Pence laughed as he tapped the picture. "Olette's right, Hayner. Just look at your face." Hayner looked positively scowly in the picture.

"Heh, he can't help it. That look is permanently attached to his face." Roxas kept his eyes on the picture, glad for the memento he would be able to keep with him. The thought of taking many more just for memories sake caused him to smile just a little and soon he was looking up again and reaching out to nab up the camera from Pence's hands. "Alright then. All of you get together. Hayner, drag Seifer over if you have to. And make sure you guys leave room for Axel."

Pence pulled Olette to the couch. "C'mon. Let's all pile on here so Roxas can take a picture."

Hayner grumbled but grabbed Seifer by the arm and shoved him onto the couch to sit on the other side of Axel. He may have forgiven Roxas but that didn't mean he wanted to sit by Axel in his weird state. Seifer made a much more comfortable seat anyway. "There. Happy?" He stuck out his tongue.

Axel brandished his middle finger. "How's this? Hm, maybe there's a timer on that thing. A group photo isn't complete without a Roxas."

"Uhh, there might be." Roxas searched around on the camera and soon found just what he was looking for. "Ah, here it is!" He set the timer for a certain amount of seconds. Long enough for him to set the device down on one of the boxes nearby and hurry over to the couch and take over Axel's lap. The light started to blink wildly to signal how close the timer was going off. While his friends started to give random poses, Roxas took the opportunity to lean over and catch Axel's lips with his own and grinned when he felt Olette nudge him in the side just as the flash went off.

There was laughter soon after and a good amount of shoving and accusing of each other making faces or rude gestures. Hayner crawled over Seifer to poked Roxas in the head. "Hey, c'mon, you're supposed to smile at the camera not into that guy's mouth."

"Yeah," Axel mocked with a smirk. "Smile at the camera." He casually pulled Roxas' shirt up to tickle touch up along his front.

Roxas couldn't stop himself from laughing a little bit. The touches were ticklish and made him forget about his earlier feelings of disappointment he had while speaking with his friends. "Axel, cut it out. You're only going to piss Hayner off worse." He sent the boy a quick look before he wrapped his arms around Axel's neck. "Not much of a difference, though. At least I was smiling."

"Oh, I have an idea!" Olette bounced up from the couch before anymore arguments could continue and hurried over to the camera to grab it for herself. "I'll take a picture of both you and Axel. It's only right you should have a photo of the both of you together, right? One with the person that makes you so happy." She fumbled with the camera since she rarely ever used it. It was Pence's and he was the only one that ever really messed with it. "I'd do the same for Hayner and Seifer, but I have a feeling they'd denounce it even existed." She looked up with a smile, but soon it turned nervous. "Uh... hmm... Axel, do you um... do you actually show up in photos?" She suddenly felt silly for asking and flushed red. "I mean, you know, it's not one of those weird apparition things is it?" Her eyes narrowed and she glared at Roxas when the boy laughed.

"Heartless are vampires, didn't you know, Roxas?" Axel then proceeded to playfully chomp down on Roxas' neck. He didn't have the strength to keep a hold of Roxas while he squirmed so the boy ended up falling on Pence dragging Axel with him. The scene was amusing so all three shouldn't have been so startled when another flash went off.

"Well Pence, now it's a threesome." Hayner smirked and for once actually laughed.

"Heh, sorry about that, Pence." Of course Roxas didn't seem as sorry as he said since he could only hold in a few bits of laughter that wanted to escape. He did manage to squirm down to give his friend his extra space back while he kept hold of Axel and turned his head in Olette's direction. "I think you screwed it up, Olette. Have you ever even used a camera before?"

"Oh, hush!" Olette fiddled with the buttons on the piece of equipment. "It doesn't matter since I got one anyway. Besides, it doesn't have to be perfect. These are just pictures to remember each other by, so it's best to have some fun with them." With that in mind, Olette was quick to go ahead and turn the camera a bit and catch both Hayner and Seifer in the lens' sight, clicking the button she had found before either boy had a chance to object. She soon realized that was a very bad idea. "Awww, Seifer, you were yawning."

Seifer closed his mouth quick while he tried to blink away the last bit of light the flash had caused around his eyes. "Well, I didn't expect you to just up and take some random picture. Most people get fair warning before they make a fool of themselves in photos."

Hayner waved a hand. "No amount of warning will save you from making a fool of yourself on film."

That comment earned Hayner a hit to the head from Seifer in retaliation before he proceeded to shove him off his lap and onto the floor.

"The more things change the more they stay the same." Roxas looked down at Hayner from where he had been dumped on the floor. "You're both hopeless." He looked up at the others and soon thought of something. "Actually, I was thinking if maybe we could all have one last struggle match. Just for the hell of it, you know? Axel never even got to try it out. Hard to say if he'll really have the strength for it now. And Pence and Olette rarely ever played with us. It doesn't even have to be anything serious. Just something enjoyable."

"Beat each other with foamy swords?" Axel laughed. "How novel. What a way to say goodbye. I don't think I'll be much of a challenge though."

Hayner scrambled back up onto his feet and tried not to look as embarrassed as he actually was while he gave Seifer a punch to the shoulder. "I think it's a good idea. We could grab some sea salt ice-cream after, sit up on the clock tower. Heh, it'll feel like old times."

"That's a great idea. We haven't been up there in a while." Olette set the camera aside since picture time seemed to be over and walked back to the couch to try and find herself a place to sit. "At least not to just hang up there and eat ice cream. Too much has been going on to really spend time like that up there anymore. It really will be nice."

"Tch, I've never even eaten that stuff. I don't get the whole fascination you all have with that stupid ice cream anyway." Seifer shrugged a shoulder at just the thought. "Besides, that place is where you guys hang out. No reason for me to go up there and be a tag along during something like that. Not with all this stuff going on. Might as well deal with my own loser friends."

"Don't be ridiculous." Olette would have none of that and shot a stern look towards Seifer. "You're coming with us. You may have been a jerk a while back, but at least you're somewhat decent now. The fact that you tried to help us look for Roxas is a start. Not to mention Hayner really likes you. No reason for you to just up and leave just because we all want to spend some time together." She turned her head to shoot that same stern look at Hayner. "Right?"

Roxas had to fight the urge not to laugh at the entire situation, but he failed. A small amused noise left him while he looked at Hayner with a smirk. "Yeah, Hayner, right?"

Hayner blushed a dark colour for the second time now. "Oh just shut up!" He glared at Roxas. He then looked over at Seifer and glared at him. "You shut up too. You're coming along," he growled, "because that's what boyfriends do." He blushed harder but that didn't stop his scowl. "You're just as much apart of this group as that guy." Hayner pointed over to Axel who waved with a grin; hi! "So deal."

There was a large bout of silence in the room aside from Roxas' need to hide a few more noises against Axel's shoulder. Only after a few moments was it Seifer who broke it with a sigh and reached out to grab hold of Hayner's arm to pull the other boy back onto his lap. "A simple 'please come with us' would have done just fine, lamer." He shut up any other embarrassed words Hayner had to say to that by leaning forward for a kiss. Once the crisis was over Roxas finally let out the bit of laughter he was holding in next to them on the couch.

Hayner was sure he was going to pass out from just how dark he was blushing now. Being kissed in front of his friends combined with Roxas' loud laughter was just about his breaking point. He held up one finger in front of Seifer's face. "Hold on one moment, I have to beat my best friend into a bloody mess." Hayner then launched himself from Seifer's lap to tackle into Roxas which caused them both to fall off the couch. "Laugh at me will you?! Hypocrite!" He gave Roxas playful jabs.

"Hey, I'm no hypocrite!" Roxas lifted up his arms in defense, but still he couldn't stop laughing. He grabbed Hayner's wrist for a quick moment just to get the other boy to stop. It gave Roxas enough of an opening once he let go to give a few playful punches of his own in return. "At least I don't get all girly and embarrassed when I kiss Axel. You're such a sissy, Hayner," he teased.

"I'll show you who's a sissy!" But before Hayner could attack another flash went off and both boys turned their attention to see Pence grinning over the camera.

"Such wonderful friendship." Pence wagged the Polaroid as it developed.

Roxas and Hayner shared a quick look and soon both boys grinned. It only took a few seconds for them to scramble up and charge after Pence in order to tackle into the other boy and make him part of the sudden pile as well on the floor despite the piece of equipment he still held.

"Ah, be careful you guys," Olette warned for them. She knew it would go unheard and let out a sigh. Her attention was soon on Axel who was still on the couch next to her and once again she couldn't help the need to be curious even though it had led to overall embarrassment last time. "So, uh, how do you do that neat fire thingy you did earlier, Axel?"

"Hm?" Axel looked from the free for all to the girl beside him. He crossed one lithe leg over the other as he tilted his head. "What, this?" He raised his hand to snap his fingers and as it sparked a small black flame ignited and danced above his fingers. "Like I said before, we all had an innate ability. Being a Heartless amplifies it, but at a terrible cost."

Hayner scrunched up his nose at the sight and paused in mid battle to speak. "But, it's so small."

"Hey hey, it isn't size that matters." Axel waved a finger from his free hand. "It's what you do with it that counts. Heh, right Roxas? Oh, and by the by, Roxas' element is: being a selfish brat."

Hayner scoffed as he glanced aside. "Yeah, I'd believe that."

Roxas decided it best to punch Hayner in the shoulder for that remark since he was closest and Axel was across the room on the couch. "Very funny you guys. I'm not as bad as I used to be. Just be grateful I'm telling you any of this at all. I could have just left again."

"Well, wait, if you can do all this weird fire stuff how come you're freezing cold, man?" Seifer finally found reason enough to speak up on what he had felt while helping Axel to the couch. "Shouldn't that kind of ability make you like really hot or something? You kind of feel like death walking."

Axel blinked at the question before smirking. He let the fire snuff out and wiggled his fingers. "Heartless are naturally cold. It falls along that metaphorical of being the living embodiment of all our hearts negative emotions. But, yeah, being a fire Heartless I should be naturally hotter." He gestured towards Roxas. "Saving that brat's ass I kind of over did it. Not much fire left in me now. So I suppose at my core I just feel like any Heartless now."

"We're kind of hoping some of his power will slowly return," Roxas cut in while he sat up a little better on the ground after the bit of rough housing was over. "That's why I gave him back those keychains. They were originally made from his own bit of power. After he saved me he had nothing really left and would have needed to corrupt whatever hearts were around otherwise in order to even stay alive and feel anything at all."

Olette let out a sad noise. "That's terrible." She looked from Roxas and back to Axel once more. "I mean, to know that you were that seriously hurt. But, we're all really glad to see you're alright." Another question came to her mind because of all that had been explained. "What about the person you're linked with? Is it the same as Roxas and this Sora person? You said you were once a Nobody too right? Does that mean you can be normal too?"

"I had a Nobody. Hm, he's dead now." Axel leaned back more comfortably on the couch. "I'm all that's left of my Somebody. Sora, Riku, Kairi; they're the only ones to ever continue existing while their Nobodies ran free." He paused and then grinned at Olette. "I had a chance to be a Somebody. But I gave up my turn to Roxas. So he could be free from Sora." He loosely shrugged. "That's why I left originally from here. To find Ikurx and become a Somebody. I thought Roxas would be safe here." Axel shook his head. "Thanks to circumstance I doubt I'll have a chance now. But, I'll take all the pain being a Heartless over the numbness of being a Nobody. It's easier to love while you hate, then to pretend to love while feeling nothing at all."

Olette soon frowned once more over all that was said. The entire ordeal sounded so sad to her. "Well, you said that someone else was able to become a Somebody once again. Maybe you really will have a chance again. Can't always think that all hope is lost."

"It depends on if we can find Ikurx again. He's kind of been tossed around all over the place and with me and Axel trying to avoid Riku at the moment there's even less of a chance we'll see him." Roxas stood up and walked back over to the couch in order to settle himself on Axel's lap much like before. "It's never made any difference to me what Axel looked like or who he is, but like this we know that he's immortal while I'm not. It's why he left town. To search for Ikurx to become Somebody. Now things are a lot more difficult."

"Immortal?" Pence rubbed the back of his head. "Forever is a long time to live. Man, all of this is really crazy." He walked over to stand in front of Roxas and Axel. "Hm, can't say I've ever met anyone immortal."

Axel waved with a smirk. "Hi. Nice'ta'meetchya. Again."

"It's really too bad that we can't do anything to help." Pence's expression went helpless. "Unfortunately we don't have magical powers." He wiggled his fingers.

"Funny you should say that." Axel cuddled Roxas close placing a kiss on his forehead which elicited an 'aww' from Olette. "We want the exact opposite. I think we're plenty sick of magical powers. A mundane boring life was what we came here to sign up for." Axel smiled some. "Never seen Roxas smile much before he came here."

"Well, I don't think what he really did around us in the past could have really been considered smiling." Olette ignored the look Roxas shot at her for such words. "More like pouting or something a little weaker. He's only really smiled since just recently ever since he came back with you. I guess since this whole heart business. Splitting up from that Sora person must have had an impact on your feelings I guess."

"You could say that." Roxas got over his annoyance quick enough to answer such a thing. "It was hard for me to really feel much at all when I didn't have a heart. I was always very withdrawn and most of the older memories given to me about this place were lies, so of course I felt a sort of fake happiness about them. Still, I cared about you guys as best I could and I always regretted what I did to Axel."

"Oh, you mean," Axel read off and counted on each finger, "Ignoring the only person who gave a crap about you. Leaving the Organization for your own selfish reasons. Over looking the fact that I kept the Organization from actually killing you; trying to keep you free from Sora. Forgetting all about me in favour of living a normal life. Fighting me, once, twice. Ignoring my help and warning. Going back to Sora anyway. Never saying goodbye when I died even though I sacrificed my life to make sure you'd survive in one form or another." He shrugged out his hands. "Sure. It's no big deal."

There was a sudden silence through the hang out after all of what Axel said and most of the eyes in the room turned on Roxas. The boy shrunk down a bit at the unwanted attention, but soon scoffed despite how put on the spot he felt. "Yeah, I know I was a bastard. We've been through this a lot." He looked away after all the staring soon became a bit much. "The past was just a bit different from now. Everyone in the Organization thought it best to lie to me and keep me in the dark about a lot."

"If we told you you'd leave a lot sooner. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about telling you. I almost did. The day you left." Axel kept his eyes on Roxas even if the boy decided anywhere else was a good place to stare at. "But then we'd both be dead." It was Axel's turn to glance aside. "But I doubt anything would have stopped you from leaving." He smirked sadly. "Nearly died twice, three times for you now, Roxy." Axel rested his head on the wall and turned his gaze back onto Roxas. "That's a pretty uneven score."

"Never asked you to, impulsive idiot," Roxas spoke back stubbornly. It was obvious he didn't mean such words, though. He let out a heavy sigh and turned his head back around, giving not a care to his friends being in the room in order to catch Axel's lips up once again in a kiss. It was softer and less playful than the last during the camera shot. This one held more meaning since Roxas wanted to show once again how sorry he was without a care to what his friends thought. He was sick of caring about opinions.

"Ahh, look! Isn't it sweet, Pence?" Olette reached over with her hands to tug on her friend's sleeve in an eager way. Despite all that had been said she was back to her normal self and ready to gush over the entire scene as if all were right once again with the world.

"You think everything romantic is sweet, Olette." Pence smirked. "You even think Hayner and Seifer are sweet."

"I sure as hell am anything but 'sweet'." Hayner crossed his arms. He sent a glare to Roxas and Axel. "Alright you two, let's keep everything PG rated. That couch is for sitting not for making out."

But Axel already dumped Roxas on his back on the couch. "Shows what he knows. Didn't he and the thrift store homie do the exact same thing here?"

Seifer blinked his eyes and seemed to realize a little too late that he had been insulted. He turned his head to glare at Axel, but there was only so much he could do to intimidate someone that he suddenly knew had the power to take him down pretty damn easily. "Tch, sorry that some of us don't have the fashion sense of a Goth band."

Roxas didn't seem to take notice of the sudden back and forth. He was too busy trying to force the mental image out of his mind of walking in on Hayner and Seifer that he had tried his best to bury deep down locked away. "Oh god, you're right." He covered his face with his hands. "It's still so traumatizing."

"Hey- we walked in on you first!" Hayner growled. "So don't give us that! The first time I see you after a long time and you're getting kinky with city boy over there."

"Hmm. He's just jealous that we thought of it first." Axel didn't think twice about pushing up Roxas' shirt to give a quick swipe of tongue across his ribs.

The intimate action nearly caused Roxas to squeal. He had to force the noise back down before it had a chance to come out. "Axel, cut it out!" Despite what he said he didn't really attempt to try and push his friend away at all and only squirmed underneath the Heartless.

Olette gave a sad smile while she watched the bits of back and forth. Soon she let out a gentle sigh while she clasped her hands behind her back. "I'm going to miss this," she finally spoke up. It seemed to grab everyone's attention and she only smiled a little more. "All of us together like this. Our gang together like this. All of us."

Pence nodded in agreement. "Yeah. For the first time in a long while our group is complete." But Pence refused to look on the downside. "But hey, the goodbyes won't be forever. I know somehow everything will be alright in the end and both Roxas and Axel will come back."

Of all people to agree it was Hayner who nodded. "Yeah. As bad a habit Roxas has of leaving, he also has a habit of coming back." He dismissed the negative thoughts with a wave of hand. "This goodbye won't be forever." A flash startled him and he looked to Pence who was grinning back at him.

"Sorry, I had to capture the moment: Hayner being sincere and optimistic." Pence waved the Polaroid. "I think this one's a keeper."

"Better store it somewhere safe. It's liable to never happen again." Seifer reached over to wrap his arm around Hayner's neck and lug him over so the other boy fell onto his lap. "He has worse mood swings than a woman." He didn't seem to notice the look Olette gave him for that remark and only went about rubbing his knuckles of one hand along the top of Hayner's head.

"Tch, do not." Hayner swatted Seifer's hand away and captured it instead. He was still nervous about affection in front of his friends so he nervously toyed with the other boy's fingers. "You just have the emotional range of a rock underwater."

"Says you," Seifer shot back while he got a little more comfortable with Hayner settled on top of him. "I'm the one that's usually stuck hauling your ass out of whatever rut you're in all because you're too stubborn to admit you're a complete hot head." He allowed Hayner to keep hold of his hand, having the same laid back personality towards the entire situation that he always did and even leaning in a bit so he could better look at Hayner's face. "Need I remind you that I was always the one that had to talk you into patching everything up with Roxas?"

"For some reason I don't find that as surprising as I really should," Roxas spoke after what was admitted. It was no shock that Hayner tended to overreact during his bouts of anger. His friend had a horrible temper. The proof of that had been put to the test the moment Hayner had punched him that one day. To know it had been Seifer that stepped in to get Hayner to talk again wasn't much of a shock since the two had gotten a lot closer. "At least someone around here can maybe make him see how childish he can get." There was no anger in the words. Only a bit of teasing.

"Great, the one thing you two agree on and it's that I'm stubborn." Hayner pushed Seifer back against the couch so he could flop back himself and use Seifer as a more comfortable seat. "Thanks." He crossed his arms. "Good to know I'm bringing unity to the group some how."

"Heh, I remember that time," Axel spoke up off handedly. "Roxas kept chasing Hayner while Hayner kept avoiding. Yeah, that ended well." He nodded with a wide sly grin. "You remember, don't you, Roxas?" He snuck his cool hands up the front of Roxas' shirt. "You could barely walk after."

"Kind of hard to forget." Roxas started to squirm once again and soon reached down to place his hands on Axel's wrist. "Axel, I told you to cut it out." He didn't sound as forceful with his words as he did last time and had to stop himself from leaning into the touch.

"Well, a lot has changed lately. Especially with all we know now." Olette seemed less bothered by her earlier worries since the boys had tried to make things a little better with their words. "Never thought our little gang would grow this much to be honest. I just thought it would always be the four of us. Well, the three of us the day you disappeared, Roxas, that year ago. But, I'm happy that we've grown and we can finally learn the truth."

"Hm. Yeah." Axel ignored Roxas' warning and toyed with Roxas' ear with his teeth making sure to be a pest even in his weakened state. "At least it's good to know I've finally been accepted by your peers, Roxy."

Hayner rolled his eyes. He didn't need to watch Axel paw Roxas. So Hayner decided to pester Seifer instead. "From three to six." Hayner reached back and pat Seifer on the cheek. "Sorry, you've failed as a rival."

"Hmm, guess so." Seifer caught up Hayner's hand with his own to hold onto. He didn't care much about the other boy's embarrassment and only saw fit to hold Hayner closer. "Doesn't matter much. Wasn't really getting me anything other than a headache anyway."

"Well, come on you guys." Olette reached a toe out to nudge the couch a little. She felt excited over the thought of spending some last remaining time with Roxas and Axel before they had to leave. "Let's have a match just like we planned. We don't want it to get too late do we? Especially if we want to try and watch the sunset on top of the tower."

"I can barely walk and you expect me to fight with foamy swords?" Axel chuckled while he attacked the back of Roxas' neck with his mouth softly. "Can't I just stay here and molest Roxas?" He dragged Roxas' shirt up further. "You're all welcome to stay and watch if you like."

Olette knew she was blushing, but she tried her best to still look stern at the same time. "No, you can not." She put her foot down on the subject and reached out to tug one of Axel's arms away from Roxas as best she could without really harming the already weak man. "You have to come with us. The both of you since you'll be leaving us. We want to spend time with you, so that means you can't just stay here while we go out and have fun."

"Aww," Axel whined, "but this _is_ fun." He wiggled his fingers while Olette restrained his hands. "Molesting Roxas is a good past time. You should try it sometime."

Hayner reached over as best he could in Seifer's hold around him and smacked Roxas upside the head. "C'mon, control your horny boyfriend."

"Ah, geez!" Roxas lifted his hand up to rub the back of his head and looked over to scowl at Hayner. "It's not my fault he's like that." He seemed to think such a thing over and soon glanced away again. "Alright, maybe it is." He soon reached out to take Axel's arm away from Olette. "Come on, Axel, she's right. I want to spend time with them before we leave. It's only fair given all the time apart, right?"

"Alright alright. I'm just teasing." Axel slipped his arms around Roxas this time for a hug, as tight as he could manage. "We'll go so you can beat your friends up with foamy swords. Just drag me along and plop me on a bench."

"Deal." Roxas stole up a quick kiss since Axel had decided to cuddle so close. As soon as the bit of affection was given he moved off the couch and helped Axel up as well. "Alright then you guys. Let's go be violent in our last few moments with each other."

"Now you're talking!" Hayner leapt from the couch dragging Seifer up with him. "It's gunna be great going up against each other again. Just like before." He stuck out his arm towards Roxas. "But this time I'm going to kick your ass. I have yet to show you the new moves I've learned while you've been gone."

"Yeah right, you wish." Roxas reached out to hit his arm against Hayner's own. It was that action alone that let Roxas know everything really was alright. "You're going to need more than a few new moves to beat me. It's going to take that and your boyfriend if you want to even touch me." He grinned after the bit of teasing.

Before Hayner had a chance to fluster and attempt decking Roxas for what was said, Seifer was already pulling at the back of the boy's vest to yank him away towards the curtain. "Alright, lamer, let's go before you blow some type of fuse."

As Olette and Pence followed them out with no real control to their amusement, Roxas stayed behind and watched. It didn't take him long before he turned his head to look at Axel next to him and smiled. With his friends gone he had a chance to be alone with the other and speak up his mind about all that happened. "Thanks, Axel, for being there. For helping me. Not just for that, but for everything."

Axel draped an arm around Roxas and he toyed with the blonde hair that rested on his cheek with a few fingers. "You should finish that thanks with those three little magical words." He leaned down enough to rest his head against Roxas'. A quick kiss was placed on Roxas' nose and a smile was soon to follow. "And make this moment perfect."

"Heh, well then. I love you, Axel." Roxas stole up a kiss of his own since the Heartless was so close. The smile never once left his face and soon after he was shifting a little better to help Axel walk while they moved towards the curtain. "Now, let's go so I can kick Hayner's ass. He has no idea just who he's messing with."


	65. Chapter 65 Part I

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 65 Part I

After lunch had been eaten the boys left Riku's home late in the afternoon to head towards the island. Sora had yet to forget about the promise of ice cream and had tugged none too gently on Riku's arm to urge him towards town before they actually made their way towards the boats. Even though he had just gotten his fill of sandwiches his stomach was a bottomless pit that could handle sweets any time they were promised and soon he had an ice cream cone in hand to lick up once they left the shop to finally head towards the island.

The piece of land that served as the boys' home away from home was just as perfect as Sora remembered it. Somewhere amidst that horrible dream he had feared never seeing their island again. As soon as Riku settled the boat enough for Sora to make his way off he was hurrying up onto the bridge, chewing up the rest of the cone he still held while he took in the sight around him. The air smelled of salt water and Sora had such a strong urge to kick off his flip flops and run bare foot in the sand once he was off the bridge.

"Feels like forever since we've been here." Sora blinked his eyes and tore them away from the sight ahead to look back at Riku who was still tying up the boat. He soon looked a little sheepish at his own words and laughed at himself. "Heh, I guess that's kind of silly. Huh, Riku?"

Riku dusted his hands off as he stood up. When he walked over to Sora he lifted the other boy up by his waist and spun him around with a laugh. He set Sora down on the sand and laughed again when he saw how dizzy he'd made him since he was tipsy on his feet. "School keeps us busy. It can't be helped. But, no more stupid talk like that." Riku tugged Sora nearer by his hips and gave him a quick kiss. "Let's just enjoy ourselves, alright?"

The smile couldn't be kept off of Sora's face after all of the attention he had been given, even though he still felt a little dizzy after the quick spin. "Yeah, you're right. We can make the best of the break we have. There's a lot we can do while we're here." He turned around while still in Riku's arms to look back at the island and found his earlier excitement coming back once again. "It even looks like we have the place to ourselves." Sora dropped his hands to grab both of Riku's own, tugging his friend along across the bridge and across the sand.

Riku tried his best to keep up with Sora, but the other boy seemed to get an extra burst of energy from some reserve he kept stored away. But, Riku couldn't argue with it, not when he saw just how happy Sora was. He couldn't remember a time when Sora smiled and laughed so much; it felt like years ago.

"Heh, so what did you want to do, Sora?" Riku indulged his friend, letting him pick what they did. "And where did you want to do it?"

Sora stopped for just a moment to kick off his shoes just like he had planned and soon turned to look back at Riku after the question. "Uhhh, well, I guess I didn't think much about it." He was soon at a loss, but it didn't stop him from smiling and still he kept hold of Riku's hands as his eyes traveled around the island. Compared to much of the day so far he doubted there was anything he could come up with that could top it. That thought alone caused his face to flush, but he hid it well as he turned his head a little to look across the sand. "To be honest I think I'm just happy to be here doing anything with you. I'm just really glad you're here with me on our island, Riku." He finally glanced back at the other boy despite the bit of red still on his face and squeezed their hands. A playful look came over his cheeks soon after. "But, if you want, I could always kick your butt with a wooden sword."

Riku rolled his eyes. "You never could before, and I doubt you could now." He glanced over to the small area that they'd often used as a place for sword battles. The same little island where the paopu tree grew in its lazy bow. A place where all three of them spent all their evenings watching the sun fall into the ocean while bathing the sky in soft colours. "I remember we used to do all kinds of things when we were kids here. Swimming, fishing, climbing trees and making forts. We'd play all kinds of games: racing, sword fighting. Heh, I remember all the times you made us play pirates. And we'd pretend the fort up in the trees was our ship." Riku ruffled Sora's hair good naturedly. "You were such a goof, Sora."

"Was not!" Sora was quick to shoot back with while he pouted the best he could. He lifted his hand to fix his hair, though it tended to fix itself all the time. The smile returned to his face just as quick as it had left and his gaze moved towards the tree where he soon took a few steps near. "Well, who says we have to stop? Just because we grow up doesn't mean we have to stop enjoying life, right?" He took one quick look back at Riku and grinned before he was turning his attention to the tree once more, and hurrying his steps along across the sand. "Besides, I like being a pirate!"

Riku smirked while he watched Sora run off, he stuck his hands in his pockets and followed at his own leisure. "I would have thought you got your fill of a pirate's life on Port Royal! Besides, you're far too nice to be a pirate. You couldn't steal one munny from someone without feeling guilty and giving it back."

Sora didn't stop until he was right next to the paopu tree and jumped up to hang from a branch with his feet dangling below while his shirt road up to his middle. "Oh yeah? Well, I bet you'd suck at being a pirate too, Riku." He twisted around to use his legs to hang from and was soon upside down while he looked across at Riku. "You wouldn't be able to steal if you knew it would upset me, so you'd never be a very good pirate either."

"Then I'd have to steal things without you knowing it wouldn't I?" Riku smirked at that. "Sneak out at night while you're asleep and steal my bounty." He shrugged. "You'd be too dense to realize just where all the jewels came from. You'd be too distracted by all the shiny jewelry. So, I'd be a much better pirate."

"Yeah right, you wish." Sora seemed to think over all that was said and his eyes were quick to narrow while his cheeks puffed up. "And I'm not dense. That's not a nice thing to say, Riku." He tried his best to seem upset over and huffed as he looked away, crossing his arms despite his upside down position on the branch. "I bet I could be a really great pirate. I've had way more practice than you. Been on a real ship and everything."

"Doing good deeds and saving a world does not a good pirate make. Even if you were on a real pirate ship." Riku stepped over to the paopu tree so he could lean against it while Sora hung from it. He crossed his arms. "Heh, anyone ever tell you that you look like a puffer fish when you're angry."

Instead of getting upset at such a thing, Sora laughed and swung himself up to sit on the branch. "Nope, only you." He made sure to balance himself and was satisfied when he was settled on the very top branch. His eyes turned to look out across the ocean for a few seconds, but soon dropped down to the fruit that was part of the tree. He knew the silly little myth that the three of them would always talk about regarding the paopu and for some reason it felt even more important now than ever before. Sora reached out with one hand to pick a piece of the fruit off and twirled it around carefully. "Hey, Riku? Do you really think a piece of fruit can keep two people together forever?" There was genuine curiosity in his voice and afterwards he looked down to where Riku still stood.

"We're still together aren't we?" Riku crossed his arms as he relaxed back against the tree. "Besides, with you no one is in danger of being lost. You obsessively tracked me down like a blood hound. You moved heaven and earth just to find me. Heh, you're better than any paopu, Sora." Riku looked at Sora up in the tree. "You're my little star."

The uncertainty left Sora's face to be replaced by a smile. Instead of answering right away he kept hold of the fruit and slowly shimmied his way down from the branch to land beside Riku. "That might be true, but aren't you curious?" Sora reached out to grab hold of Riku's arm, forcing his friend to uncross them both so he could take one of his hands. The paopu was placed in Riku's palm and Sora settled his hand on top. "We've never actually tried it. It certainly feels like we have for how much we've gone through together." Sora looked up to meet Riku's eyes and smiled. "You're the one that told me all about the myth to begin with and so I want to share it with you."

Riku's expression faltered as he glanced down to the paopu in his hand. When he looked back at Sora he reached out and pulled the other boy nearer by the back of the head. It was on Sora's forehead that Riku placed a kiss. He rested his brow on Sora's forehead and sighed softly causing the plush brown hair to ruffle. "Why, after all the amazing worlds we've seen, is home the perfect world?"

Sora was a little confused at first because of Riku's sudden change in demeanor, but the kiss caused him to relax despite what was said. He settled himself against Riku and made sure that the fruit didn't get squished between them. "I don't know, Riku. Maybe it's because this is our home and even though the other worlds have their beauty and interesting sights this is still where we grew up. Even the End of Worlds couldn't keep us from our real home."

Riku's fingers ran through Sora's hair at the back of his head. A small smile spread on Riku's lips. "All of it, those worlds, those beautiful sights, they all pale in comparison to you."

Sora's face flushed at such a bold compliment. It was rare for Riku to be so sincere with his words, but lately he had put a lot more meaning into what he said since they had woken up. It made Sora's heart flutter to know so much was out in the open. "Heh, that's so corny, Riku." Sora gave a small sniffle, making it obvious that it wasn't all as corny as he really said. "You know, you seem a lot different today. Happier maybe." He pulled back a bit to look up at the other boy, reaching his free hand up to push back the bangs from Riku's eyes. "I'm glad to see it."

"Heh. It can't be helped. You make everyone happy, even a lost soul like me." Riku leaned down enough to brush his lips against Sora's. He smiled even more being so close to Sora. "You make me very happy, Sora," he quietly whispered.

"You make me happy too, Riku. I'm glad I could have a friend like you." Sora's face reddened just a little more and his eyes fell down between them. "And a boyfriend. You've always meant a lot to me. It's why I was so lost without you when you disappeared." He touched his fingers over the fruit that was still settled in Riku's palm and soon glanced back up as the troubled look from such memories faded from his expression. "But, that's all over. We're okay now and we always will be." He soon felt a little nervous over what he was about to ask next. "So, will you share it with me?"

Sadness briefly went through Riku's eyes but he never spoke up about it. He ran his fingers through the soft spikes of brunette hair that fell against Sora's cheek. "It'd be the perfect end to a perfect day." He lifted the paopu to offer it to Sora. "Here. I'll finish what your lips start."

Sora took the offered fruit and the small fluttery feeling was quick to return as he dropped his gaze from Riku down to the paopu. They were really going to share the special treat that was said to link destinies. Sora hoped it really was true because for some reason he feared losing Riku to the Darkness even more than he ever thought possible again. He didn't need to rethink such a decision and soon moved in to take a bite out of one of the pointed sides down to the very middle. It was sweet and just a little tangy and even a tad familiar, but Sora couldn't pinpoint just how. He gave up and soon looked back up at Riku after he had taken his turn.

Instead of handing the fruit over right away, Sora leaned up on his toes and pressed a rather fruity tasting kiss to Riku's lips and finally handed the paopu over at the same time. Only then did he break away and dropped down to his feet, licking his lips and smiling. "Your turn, Riku."

Riku instinctually licked his lips and tasted the paopu there. Without hesitation he took his bite where Sora had ended. "Mm, now I guess I'm stuck with you, Sora." He leaned down and stole up Sora's lips for another kiss; he wanted to taste the fruit on the other boy's lips. It complimented Sora well. Riku enjoyed the taste of the paopu much more on Sora's lips than his own. It was hard to resist kissing the other boy again and again because of it. "Mm, tough luck I guess."

Sora couldn't help laughing between the affection because of what was said. "You couldn't have gotten rid of me if you tried." He reached up to place a hand on Riku's cheek to make sure he could look into his friend's eyes. It was one of the parts he loved most about Riku. "Remember, I'll follow you everywhere. No matter what happens I'll always make sure I get you back because you're mine and I'm yours." He let out a small amused noise and dropped his hand around Riku's neck. "And destiny kind of has a hand in it now too."

"I think destiny always had a hand in it. Paopu or not." Riku licked the corner of Sora's lips where a tiny piece of paopu resided. He grinned a little after that was done. "But, I suppose this cements it." He lifted the paopu back up and took another big bite, but instead of eating it he pressed his lips to Sora's to share it more intimately.

A startled noise was muffled from Sora's lips as soon as the fruit was shared between their mouths. It was unexpected, but after the overall embarrassed feeling, Sora couldn't help the need to feel a little giddy all over again. He kept his arm around Riku's neck and indulged in the sudden kiss while biting down on the small half that had snuck inside his mouth. Somehow the paopu tasted even better when shared in such a way compared to seconds ago, biting on it all his own.

Sora was backed up into the trunk of the paopu tree and while the taste of the kiss remained sweet and tangy it became more heated. A trickle of the fruit juice trickled down Sora's chin and Riku pulled a breath away to lick it clean. He went back to Sora's mouth to capture it again, leaving Sora flushed and breathless when he ended it. "I want to share more, Sora," Riku murmured in a low silky tone. "Right here. Now." He smoothed his hand over Sora's cheek to gently cup them while he slipped his fingers through soft brown hair. "I want us to be here together while we watch the sun set. Then wake up together to watch the sun rise."

The kiss had certainly left Sora breathless and even after everything he was still easily flustered. Just the way Riku had spoken the suggestion had him trying to hide his eyes beneath his bangs. "Riku…" He had hoped the other boy's name would sound a bit like a scolding, but it only sounded like a whine. Sora knew it wouldn't get him anywhere, but in the end he didn't care. The intimacy is what made it all sound sweet which was always what hooked him so easily. Slowly, he reached up to place his hand on Riku's own and lifted his gaze. "That sounds perfect." He smiled shyly before he lifted up on his toes to press his lips to Riku's once again.

Sora could feel Riku's smile against his lips, a smile that wasn't so rare anymore between them. He kept the kiss soft and endearing, giving in to that loving gentle side that Sora had. Riku wanted to think of nothing more than all the sweet words, memories and hopeful promises they'd given each other, today, and in the past.

Being together was the only thing that mattered now.

From dusk to night, until sleep would finally take them.

-

When Riku's eyes finally slipped open it was near twilight. The sun peeked bathing the sky in a greyish palette. He could feel Sora's breath against his collar bone. Taking a peek down Riku couldn't find the heart to wake Sora just yet. With his dark lashes peeking from closed eyes under a mess of plush brunette hair, Sora looked as if he'd found his peace in a world of worlds. Riku found himself softly kissing Sora's closed eyelids, Sora's restful expression was irresistible for small little loving kisses. No one else could make Riku feel like this, like love was more than just some word like any other.

The tiny little kisses caused Sora to snuggle closer to Riku in his sleep. They were ticklish touches that made him give out a few noises against his friend's neck as his arms tightened around Riku's waist. It was when a few of the kisses touched his nose that it scrunched up and he couldn't stop the sudden sneeze that finally awoke him. He was startled by his own racket and blinked his eyes open while he sat up a bit, keeping an arm around Riku.

"Morning," Riku greeted quietly. He made sure to lean in and plant a kiss on Sora's lips now that the other boy was awake albeit barely. Riku was still groggy himself but stretched out more comfortably near Sora on their patch of grass beside the paopu tree. "Just in time for sunrise." His hand followed down Sora's bare back, he distantly hoped that after yesterday that the other boy wasn't too sore.

"Oh?" Sora lifted his hand up to rub at his eyes while he stretched a bit into Riku's touch. He was still waking up little by little, but it didn't take long for his attention to move from Riku across the water where a thin patch of sun could just barely be seen. It was enough to get him sitting up a little more to try and get a better look. He couldn't remember the last time they had actually watched the sunrise together. "Wow, look at that, Riku." His hand fell down to grab the other boy's own and clasp their fingers.

Riku sat himself back to lean against the bowing trunk of the tree pulling Sora nearer to lean against him. It felt so good to have Sora in his arms while they watched the sun rise. He could feel Sora's heart quicken under their clasped hands. "We've been so busy. I nearly forgot how beautiful this was."

Riku rested his head near Sora's and softly nosed his temple. "And the sunset is kind of nice too."

Sora was won over by such sweet words all over again and cuddled back against Riku. "Riku, that's so sappy," he spoke with a smile on his face. He turned his head to press a light, little kiss to Riku's lips. Everything between them had been so gentle lately. He felt as if Riku was trying to protect him from the world and for some reason, Sora was just fine with that. "Maybe if we're lucky we can have more moments like these away from school and home for just the two of us, especially now that everyone will know about us."

"Luck will have nothing to do with it." Riku smoothed back Sora's tussled hair. "I'll make sure it'll happen." He admired how the copper colour of sunrise warmed Sora's tanned skin. Riku couldn't help admiring with gentle strokes of his fingers along the curves of Sora's sides. "This is our special place. Our little world within our world."

Sora squirmed a bit in Riku's hold since the touch was a little ticklish and had to hold in a giggle. It would have ruined the sincere moment. "The island and the cave. They've both been special places for us." He turned his eyes back towards the sky to watch the sun as it continued to rise little by little. "It feels so good to be with you like this, Riku." Sora fiddled a little as a nervous feeling came over him with what he was about to say. "I'm glad we can be together like this. More than just a few hugs and kisses."

Riku sent Sora a glance. "Sora," he spoke the boy's name in slight surprise. But soon he slipped his arms around the other boy to keep him near. He agreed with Sora's sentiment, but Riku couldn't help teasing Sora on what he said. "How bold of you to say." He chuckled quietly. "I never figured you the type to say things like that."

Sora was quick to grow more flustered at Riku's teasing and nudged his friend in the side with an elbow. "Because I'm not the type, but I figure it couldn't hurt after all we've done now." He turned his head to glance back at Riku once more. "I love you, so I might as well tell you the truth about how I feel, right? I'm glad we finally took some kind of extra step. It sort of felt like we were in a bit of a loop." He smiled sheepishly and shrugged a shoulder. "I mean, not that it was a bad thing. Either way, I like doing anything with you, Riku."

Sora's lips were caught up before he could say much more. The kiss was kept soft and endearing, after Riku smiled more with his oceanic eyes than anything else. "I love being close to you," he whispered near, "with you, in you." He brushed his fingers through the hair that rested near Sora's cheek. "We should have been together sooner. I'm sorry I kept everything silent for so long."

Sora shook his head at such a thing. "We both did. There was too much going on for much to be said anyway." He turned to press a quick kiss to Riku's palm. "But, now we have plenty of chances and plenty of time." He turned to look out at the water again and marveled at the sight. The colors melded together in such a beautiful way. He was glad he had let Riku talk him into staying at the island even if it meant having to come up with a good excuse for his mother when he went home. "We should do this more often, watching the sunrise. Maybe bring Kairi along sometime or at least once. It would be a little sad to leave her out."

"It's been even longer since the three of us have just stood here and watched the sky and water." Riku pulled Sora's head near to place a kiss on his forehead. Sora was much too kind hearted, even when he was happy he thought of others. He wanted them to be as happy as he was. Riku couldn't feel his usual jealousy; if anything he felt the same excitement he knew Sora felt to hang out with Kairi just like when they were kids.

Riku placed another loving kiss to Sora's cheek. "You can tell Kairi about us. I'm sure she'll be happy that you're so happy."

"I hope so," Sora muttered quietly. He couldn't help still fearing the dream he had been in the other night. He never wanted to hurt Kairi in such a way as he had then. It made him nervous. He knew there were some things that he could miss and not realize. Riku was usually a lot smarter than him about such things. "Mmm, Riku, do you think Kairi ever liked me? I mean, more than just friends. Sort of like how the two of us like one another."

Riku blinked a few times then shook his head with a slight laugh. "Oh, Sora. You can be so dense sometimes." He nudged the other boy encouraging him to get up. "C'mon, let's go get washed up and dressed while it's still early and no ones here."

"Hey, some people would consider that avoiding the question." Sora got up anyway much like he was urged, but turned in an instant to look back down at Riku. "Besides, I'm not dense. I can't exactly read Kairi's mind." He pointed to his own head as he said such a thing before he dropped his hand to help Riku to his feet.

Once Riku was up he slipped his arms around Sora. He enjoyed the comfortable feeling between them. That they could stand there without the worry of anything, even clothes. "Really, Sora." Riku drew his hands up into Sora's hair and smirked softly down at the other boy. "Makes me wonder how you even had a clue I liked you."

Sora walked his fingers up Riku's chest while he kept a smile on his face. "Because it's not everyday that someone can say their best friend would brave the darkness just for them. Just like I searched worlds for you." He stopped his hand to wrap it around Riku's neck. "If that's not love then I'm not really sure what is. If we never owned up to it after all of that then we were only fooling ourselves."

"I'm pretty good at doing that myself." Without warning Riku scooped Sora up into his arms. "Now c'mon! Let's get clean!" He didn't even bother grabbing their clothes as he turned around and headed down the bridge that lead to the main area of Destiny Island where the fresh water spring was. "A nice cool dip will be refreshing."

"Riku!" Sora hung on tight to Riku's neck while he kicked his feet. "You forgot our clothes." He hoped that would be enough for his friend to put him back down, but it didn't seem to work. He knew better and decided to just give into the fact he wasn't getting out of his situation so easily. "One day I'll be able to do this to you. Just wait," he spoke up with a pout.

Riku laughed. "I highly doubt that, Sora."

Undeterred Riku carried Sora off to enjoy a cool dip in the water. Naturally the relaxing moment in the pool ended in a water fight. What usually was a rare moment for Riku to let loose seemed to become habit forming after yesterday. It would have been shocking to Sora had he not enjoyed the last few days so much more after such a terrifying dream. Their lives were changing, for once, for the better.

After getting cleaned up Riku and Sora pulled on their shorts and let the sun that was finally over head dry their skin. A pleasant breeze rustled leaves and the ocean lapped gently at the breach. This was paradise. There was no other word for it.

It was the grumble of Sora's stomach that had Riku up and kicking a palm tree to catch a coconut that fell from above. He tossed it with a smug grin over for Sora to catch. "Here, breakfast. Gnaw it open."

Sora caught the coconut with no real trouble and proceeded to do just that. The skin was rough and a few of the small stringy pieces tried to get caught between his teeth. So far Riku's advice wasn't working until a sudden fist landed on top of his head which caused his teeth to slam down much harder. The coconut split in an instant and Sora was left dazed until he realized he had two halves. "Hey, it worked!"

"No thanks to your own methods, Sora," a female voice spoke behind Sora. When he turned to look Kairi was all smiles while she placed both her hands behind her back. "I figured I might find the two of you here. Although, I didn't think I would have to search so early."

"It's not like we'd be anywhere else," Riku spoke up while he took one of the halves from Sora. He drank down the coconut milk and wiped his mouth with the back of his arm. "We decided we'd camp out here." With a hard yank he tore the half in to two which made the inside of the coconut easier to get at with his mouth. "I'm sure Sora's mom has already guessed we're here."

Sora was up and about in an instant with his half of coconut still in hand. He wanted to make sure Kairi really was there and she wasn't just some piece of his imagination. He flung his arms around the girl as quick as he could for a tight hug. "You're really okay!" Such a thing most likely sounded odd to the girl, but he was just so relieved to see her and pulled back only a little after to smile nervously. "Well, of course you're okay. I just had this really weird dream and I've been worried about everyone lately."

Kairi gave a gentle laugh. "Must have been some bad dream. Here, this should fix it." She pulled Sora in for a warm hug of her own. After, she held Sora out at arms length and smiled. "There. The best remedy for bad dreams is to forget all about them."

"Riku has been helping me out really well with that." Sora realized a second later just what he said and flushed red. He hoped that his words were at least a little subtle, but pulled back to take a small sip of the milk in his coconut to attempt hiding his face just in case. He turned to flop back down on the sand next to Riku and glanced back at Kairi. "Either way I'm okay now. I've gotten my mind off it all, especially the worst of it." He patted the spot next to them on the sand for Kairi to join and sit. "What have you been doing these past couple of days?"

Kairi smoothed down her casual summer dress behind her before she sat down beside Sora. She smoothed the fabric over her legs and hugged her knees as she smiled over at her friend. There was no pang of jealousy in her eyes as she looked at him. There was no tension between all three of them like it had been in the dream. "Mostly studying. Selphie and I went shopping yesterday. I bought this new dress and sandals." She wiggled her feet to show them off. "What do you think?" Kairi leaned back so Sora could get a better look. "How do I look?"

The lack of tension made Sora want to answer the question instead of hide away. He didn't feel Riku glaring holes in the back of his head or at Kairi which meant everything was perfectly fine just as it should have been between the three of them. "I like them." He reached out to poke at Kairi's wiggling toes. "You look really nice, Kairi, but you always do," he answered honestly and without any real fear. "Riku and I went out for ice cream yesterday." He nudged his best friend a little and leaned against Riku's side after the playful push, taking another sip from the coconut.

Kairi's mood was perked at Sora's compliments, she couldn't have looked happier. Even Riku was at peace with Sora after he had complimented the girl. Normally Riku would shove Sora away or make some snide remark if Sora paid anyone attention or kindness save for himself. But Riku continued to eat the coconut in comfortable silence.

Then Riku made the bold move of draping his arm over Sora's shoulder. Normally that would mean a disaster in the making. In Sora's dream his relationship with Riku had ended in tragedy and a tormented end for Kairi. A simple affectionate gesture like Riku just made could mean the end for their small moment of happiness between them.

But Kairi didn't even bat an eye. Her smile didn't falter. "Ice cream? How nice. Selphie and I bought a fruit smoothie. It was really good. It's was from that new place that opened up near the beach." It was as if Kairi didn't even notice Riku's arm.

Sora had been the only one to tense up at first with the sudden affection, but when all was well between the three of them he couldn't stop himself from leaning even closer against Riku. He felt content and as if this was the way things really should have been. "Selphie told me about that place one day. I want to go there and try something." He turned his head to look at Riku with a bit of a pleading look on his face. "Maybe we can go later, Riku? Mom did give me a little munny to spend."

"Maybe," Riku answered while he tossed the remains of his coconut for the gulls. "Depends."

"Maybe?" Sora frowned at such an answer since it hadn't been what he expected. He sipped up the rest of the milk in his coconut and set it aside so he could focus his entire attention on Riku. "What could it possibly depend on?" He turned under Riku's arm to better face his friend.

"You." Riku tugged on one of the plush spikes of Sora's hair. "You said you wanted to get something out. So, now's your chance."

Sora freed his head from the rough touch. He reached up to rub at his head while realization dawned on him. With Kairi around he would finally be able to tell the girl just what was going on between himself and Riku if the girl hadn't figured it out herself because of Riku's need to cuddle. "Oh, right." He turned to face the girl and chewed at his lip as he tried to think of the right way to word everything. In the end he dropped his hands to his necklace to fiddle with the trinket as a way to calm his nerves. "Kairi, I need to tell you the truth about something." He couldn't look the girl in the eye, knowing that what he would say might hurt her. "About Riku and me, we've been more than just friends for a while now. After we got back home from our last adventure."

Sora was nudged hard by Riku. "You could have a little more tact than just blurting it out like that, Sora."

Kairi blinked a few times startled at the news she'd heard. "Our last adventure? Wasn't that a year ago?" She leaned forward to try and catch Sora's line of sight. "You two have been going out a year?"

Riku bopped Sora on the head, since now it just sounded bad the way Sora had put it. "Way to go."

Sora stopped fiddling with his necklace long enough to reach up and rub his head. He shot a look towards Riku for the abuse. "Well, what else was I supposed to say? There's no real nice way to put it." He looked back at Kairi and once again his face fell. "A year, yeah. We just didn't know how to tell you. Riku wanted to keep it from everyone and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable so I was okay with it. Besides, I didn't want to make you feel left out around us."

Kairi huffed and reached out to grab Sora's cheeks to pull and stretch them out. "Moron. By not telling me you left me out. We're supposed to be honest with each other. Something like this is huge!" She squished Sora's face making his lips pucker like a fish and it caused her to laugh. "You two have been keeping a secret from me for a whole year! I'm surprised, you can't even keep a secret for five seconds, Sora."

"Hm. True. That is kind of amazing," Riku added rather amused.

Sora shook his head to get his face free and tried his best to look put off. He only succeeded in a pout. "Hey, I'm very good at keeping secrets." He thought about that for a moment and let out a sigh. "Alright, so maybe I can't. Still, I wasn't trying to be mean about it. I just didn't want to hurt anyone." He gave Kairi a questioning look. "So, are you alright with this? With the two of us being together?"

Kairi glanced over at Riku then back at Sora. She stood up and dusted the sand off her dress. "Sora, come with me." She offered her hand to him. "I want to talk to you." A small smile spread on her lips to try and assuage Sora's fears of what it could be about.

Sora could feel butterflies suddenly fluttering around in his stomach. He should have expected Kairi would want to talk about such a sudden revelation, but he didn't know she would want to talk alone. "Alright." He stood onto his feet and grabbed up his shirt to pull on. As soon as he was fully dressed he turned to Riku and gave the boy a small smile to reassure him. "I'll see you in a bit."

Riku gave a simple wave. It was strange not to see a look of jealousy in Riku's eyes nor suspicion that the two were going off to talk alone. It was hard to believe, but Sora suspected Riku trusted him alone with Kairi, even if there was a chance that the girl would have feelings for him. Perhaps things really would be okay, especially between them; from here on end.

Kairi took Sora's hand in hers and pulled him along across the sand. "You make it sound like I'm going to steal you away, Sora."

"N-No, that's not it." Sora laughed nervously while he tried to keep up. He had left his flip-flops somewhere on the island and had never bothered to look for them, so he tripped up every once in a while. "So, what's up? There's nothing wrong is there?" A concerned look crossed over his face as he looked at Kairi.

The girl returned Sora's look with a slight grin. "C'mon!" Kairi pulled Sora along until they reached the entrance of the secret cave. She gave Sora's hand a squeeze before she led the way inside. The rocky walls were covered in childish sketches that they had made over the years. A few recent additions had been made, pictures of their adventures away from home. Riku had teased Sora that his drawings looked just as childish now as they had when he was little.

"I love this place," Kairi spoke up softly. "This was the first place I went to when you restored all the worlds; our home." She pointed to the picture of their faces they had drawn, feeding each other paopu. "That was the first thing I saw. You feeding me the paopu and so I added me feeding it to you." Kairi looked back to Sora. "I knew about the competition you two had. That the winner would share a paopu with me." Her smile softened. "When you won Riku said it was just a joke. Kind of funny, don't you think?"

Sora walked forward so he could reach out and touch the picture himself. "I suppose so." In truth he had nearly forgotten about that one little bet they had between them. It had been so long ago and there had really only been one person he wanted to share the fruit with. "Riku and I shared a paopu yesterday," he blurted out and immediately flinched afterwards. Maybe he really was bad at just blurting some things out, but he couldn't help it. He was so much better at just saying how or what he felt than hiding it all. "I'm sorry, Kairi." He turned to look at the girl with an apologetic expression without dropping his hand from the wall.

Kairi came to stand beside Sora and ran her fingers over the picture as well. "Why?" Her gaze finally met Sora's. "You think I didn't know?" She softly chuckled. "We both liked you Sora. Riku and I." Her expression became more solemn, not sad, but one of remembrance. "When I first met you and Riku the first thing you did was smile at me. The first thing Riku did was narrow his eyes at me because you were smiling at me, and not him." Kairi looked from Sora back to the picture. "I knew then that he loved you." She smiled a small smile. "You've always been special to me. You've always been special to everyone you meet."

"I hear that a lot." Sora rubbed the back of his neck while he laughed weakly. "I guess I just never realized the truth. It didn't take me long to know that I felt something for Riku after all that had happened on those other worlds, but it was harder for me to know how you felt." He shook his head at his own stupidity. "Maybe I'm dense or maybe I was just too focused on keeping Riku safe and away from the Darkness when we finally came back. Nothing else mattered to me." He let out a sigh and turned to rest his back against the wall. "Right now I feel really relieved that you're okay with everything. This all kind of feels unreal."

Sora's hands were snatched up in Kairi's. "Sora, I love you, as a friend, like a brother." She squeezed his hands in reassurance as she smiled. "I want all three of us to always be friends, to always be together. But, more than anything I want you to be happy. After all we've been through, after all you've done, and what Riku went through; you two deserve to be together after such hardships." Kairi leaned forward making sure she gave Sora a stern look. "But, that means no more secrets between us."

Sora looked down at their hands as he listened to such heartfelt words. They brought a smile to his face and were all he needed to hear to forget all his worries. "I promise, Kairi." He leaned forward with their hands still clasped and pressed a small kiss to the girl's cheek. He really did treasure her friendship and was so happy that she was okay with everything.

Kairi threw her arms around Sora to give him a warm hug. She wasn't about to let him escape a hug after such a sweet kiss. If they were going to make amends between them they were going to do it properly. "Good! I'm so happy for you. And Riku! I never thought I'd see the day where he'd actually look in good spirits. I don't know what you did, but don't stop. He doesn't look angry with the entire world anymore."

Sora was glad that Kairi couldn't see how red in the face her words made him. "Y-Yeah, I'm sure he won't let me stop anytime soon." He slowly pushed Kairi back, but grabbed up her hand again while he smiled at his friend. "Let's head back. Now that I told you Riku owes me a smoothie. You can come along with us and we'll all hang out. It feels like forever since we've done such a thing."

"That's terrible that Riku has to bribe you with food to get you to tell," Kairi playfully scorned Sora. She kept a hold of one of Sora's hands as they moved toward the entrance of the cave. "But, those smoothies _are_ pretty good."

As they walked to the entrance the howl of the cave could be heard, the wind had picked up making it sound as if they both stood in the belly of a dying monster. It was then they noticed a figure standing in the cave's entrance, a slender female figure that never should have been standing there, ever. It was impossible, she was holding his hand. There in front of Sora, in the entrance, stood Kairi.

"Sora," she uttered in a broken hearted tone.

Sora stopped instantly which caused Kairi to stop by his side, or at least what he had thought to be Kairi. That voice was the same voice of the girl he was holding the hand of. Sora took a small step back, wondering for a moment if he was going insane and let go of his friend's hand to reach up and place it on his forehead while he shut his eyes. He remembered the few times his mother would do it to try and feel for fever, but he felt nothing of the sort. "I think I've been in the sun too long. Maybe I should just go home," he mumbled quietly.

The Kairi at the entrance held her hands clutched tight to her chest, but at those words her hands fell hopelessly at her sides. "You've forgotten."

"What's wrong Sora?" The Kairi at Sora's side spoke up curelessly. She obviously didn't see what Sora did. Perhaps he really was suffering sun stroke. "Aren't we going?"

" _He_ 's made you forget everything," the other Kairi muttered low with bitter sorrow shaking her voice.

Sora wasn't sure who to answer. Either way wasn't he speaking to Kairi? But, one wasn't the real thing. It was so confusing and he was certain he was only seeing things. He didn't want to worry anyone. "I don't know. I think I'm sick or something." He was afraid to open his eyes and even drop his hand away from his head, but morbid curiosity got the better of Sora and little by little his eyes slid open only to see Kairi across from him just the same as she was beside him once again. "I don't understand." The words were more to himself than to either of the girls around him.

Kairi stared across at Sora with a hopeless expression in her blue eyes, so unlike the Kairi that stood beside Sora with all the love and acceptance that Sora had always wanted from the girl. The hopeless Kairi in front of Sora, her eyes grew glossy with tears as her brows furrowed.

"... Ikurx brought me back," she quietly whispered.

Those words were enough to force Sora into dropping his hand out of shock. He knew that name, but it wasn't supposed to be real. His heart had quickened in his chest. "But that was a dream," he whispered quietly. Sora felt as if he were suddenly in a panic to make both himself and the girl across from him believe such a thing. "None of that really happened. There is no Ikurx and you're fine." He shut his eyes tight once again to try and force it all away. "I'm just a little sick, that's it."

"Sora?" Kairi's voice spoke up at his side.

Silence. The other Kairi's voice didn't speak up. With a pounding heart Sora opened his eyes once more, praying for the nightmare to stop haunting him.

There was no more Kairi at the entrance of the cave.

Kairi at his side walked around to peer at his face. "You're so pale." She rested a hand on his forehead. "You're scaring me." Her brows knit together with worry.

Sora was startled out of his thoughts by the touch and words. He looked to the side at Kairi and tried to give what he hoped was a reassuring smile to the girl. "I'm sorry. I think the sun is just making me see things." He reached up to grab her hand tightly and kept it close to his chest as if the girl would suddenly disappear. "I need to lie down for a bit or something. Let's just get back to Riku and maybe we can hang out at my place instead."

Kairi gave a small sad smile back and nodded. With Sora's hand in hers she followed with him to exit the cave. Much to Sora's relief there was no sight of another Kairi outside the cave.

In the distance Sora could see Riku. He stood on the far island connected by the bridge. He stood near the bowing paopu tree watching the distant waters. It wasn't long before Sora and Kairi walked along that bridge to that smallest island. But, as Sora walked closer, each step across the planks of wood that brought him nearer, he could feel something off.

It was Riku, but it wasn't Riku.

"Destiny Island," they spoke up, their voice so much gentler than Riku's. "I've always wanted to experience it. All those memories, I wanted one for my own of this place." He turned to glance back at Sora with those same oceanic eyes; same face, same eyes, but it wasn't Riku. "But not like this, Sora. I'm sorry."

Sora was quick to let go of Kairi's hand once again as soon as he saw the familiar boy from what was only supposed to be a dream. "Y-You're not supposed to be here." He almost sounded desperate, but he couldn't help it. Things had been going so well, his dream wasn't supposed to be a reality. "You're not even supposed to be real." He seemed to forget that Kairi was right beside him. All he wanted to do was put space between both himself and the boy from his dream as he stepped back along the bridge.

"I know," Ikurx quietly agreed. "I'm not supposed to exist."

Ikurx's expression grew sadder, not just because Sora backed away; it was who Sora soon backed into. A familiar someone, who Sora knew right away as soon as his back met their front. Riku leaned forward and wrapped his arms over Sora from behind.

"That's why I'm here," Ikurx went on sadly.

"There's no one here," Riku whispered in Sora's ear while his hold on him grew more possessive.

"To finally set things right." Ikurx stepped from the tree to face Sora from the small island. "Otherwise..."

"He'll destroy you and everything else, Sora!" Kairi screamed from behind Sora on the other side of the bridge.

Sora wanted to take comfort in Riku and pretend that none of this was happening. They had been so happy just like normal teenagers. That's the way it should have been from the start. Kairi had been okay. She had been alive and had been so happy for them. Everything had been just the way he had always dreamed it could be. The perfect life. But, the perfect life had been the lie and the dream had been reality.

"You lied to me," Sora spoke softly to Riku from within the safety of his arms. He couldn't stop his body from shaking so suddenly. He felt such a great sense of hurt. No matter what both he and Riku had gone through they had never lied to one another. Not even through the worst.

Sora suddenly struggled to turn in Riku's hold. It wasn't a difficult thing to do when his body was on such an emotional high. As soon as he faced what had always been his best friend he raised a fist and slammed it against Riku's face as hard as he could manage. "You lied to me about everything!"

Riku was forced sharply to one side with the punch and his hold on Sora almost faltered. His hands slipped to Sora's shoulders where he grasped Sora's shirt tightly. He didn't say a word to the accusations.

"Sora, stop!" Kairi, the one he'd been holding hands with, rushed forward and grabbed the arm he'd punched Riku with. "Please," she pleaded, "stop."

Sora did indeed stop, but only to turn his fierce stare on the girl that was pulling his arm. "You're not even real!" He had spoken such hurtful words before and was suddenly speaking them again to the girl he considered his friend. For a moment he choked on unshed tears and turned his focus back on Riku and reached up to push both of the hands off his shoulders harshly. Sora had the urge to lash out again at Riku, but managed to keep his fists balled up at his sides once they fell. "Is any of this even real? The island or our friends? My mom? Did I even really get to see her, Riku? Was anything you said to me the truth the entire time we've been here?"

A dangerous look crossed Riku's eyes. Sora was questioning all his sincerity, all the kind things he'd done; for him! It had all been for Sora- and he accused him of lying. His feelings weren't fake.

Riku stepped back with bitter contempt for Sora. This had been their chance to get away, to finally be happy. Riku turned sharply around to face the real Kairi. It was her! She was always there- taking Sora from him. Like it was her god given right to live happily ever after with Sora; the Princess of Heart and her heroic Keyblade Master.

Kairi summoned up her floral keyblade; she was ready to stand up to him, to fight for what she cared about. This time she wouldn't give in; she'd fight, with all her heart.

With a snap of fingers Riku dashed those hopes dispelling Kairi's keyblade. He had made that keyblade for Kairi so he took it away. The look of shock and fear in those pretty blue eyes of hers, the terror that flitted through her heart, Riku drank it all in. "You should have stayed dead."

Sora rushed over to be the blockade between Riku and Kairi. The words spoken were enough for the bright flash of light to appear as Oblivion was soon pointed towards Riku. "Don't you ever say that again." He kept the blade as steady as he possibly could. "She's our friend. I forgave you before for hurting her because it wasn't your fault, but if you hurt her again I won't be able to forgive you a second time, Riku."

Sora turned to look at each and every face that was around. The fake girl that had been passed off as Kairi. Ikurx who was still watching the scene from near the paopu tree. Then there was Riku in front of him. The one person that Sora suddenly had his blade drawn on and for some reason felt no regret for it. He was just so sick of forgiving every little thing his friend did wrong. There was only so much forgiveness he could spare for the boy.

"What happened to you, Riku?" For just a moment the anger drained from Sora to be replaced by the hurt from moments ago. "Have you let the Darkness take hold of you so much that you just don't care at all?" He swung out his free hand toward the ocean. "Our friends are in trouble. They need our help and you took us away from it all. Kairi is back with us. She's alive and okay and yet you stand here and say such horrible things to her." He dropped his eyes down towards the sand while his grip tightened on the keyblade. "You bring me here and make me think everything is normal when in reality nothing ever will be."

Even if Sora couldn't see Riku he could feel the other boy narrow his eyes on him. Sora could feel the bitter cold in Riku's gaze.

"Is that it?" Riku asked coolly. "You think I lied and brought you here to just _fuck_ you?" He gave a rather apathetic shrug. "Fine, believe what you want. I suppose I am that selfish."

Sora lifted his eyes back up quickly to narrow them on Riku much the same as the other boy. "I never said such a horrible thing, Riku. I just think it selfish to forget about everyone else back on the other world that is in trouble just to think of ourselves. I know better than that now." He had no fear of stepping up to be closer to Riku despite the anger that melded between the two of them at the moment. "You can't just take us away from it all and think it will solve everything. It doesn't work that way. The Heartless. The Organization. They're all still out there and I still have Roxas just like you still have Ikurx." To prove his point he pointed towards the Nobody nearby.

Riku turned to look at his Nobody. His very own Nobody.

Ikurx; the 'fail safe'.

He had shed that last pathetic part of his sanity to free himself. Cleansed his soul in Darkness. All for the sake of saving Sora from Kairi, their so called child hood friend. A cunning conspiracy from the reminisce of Organization XIII.

Even still it was hard to believe that kind, feeble Ikurx-

Weak, pacifistic Ikurx was _his_ Nobody.

Ikurx simply existed as a tool. For the light as well as the dark.

It was pathetic. Nauseatingly so.

Riku raised his hand pointed towards Ikurx. Immediately an immense dark ball of energy gathered at his palm and fired towards Ikurx before anyone had a chance to speak or stop it.

Ikurx's eyes grew wide and he instantly called up his winged keyblade to block the attack made. He was sure he heard his name screamed out, by who he couldn't tell. Though something inside him seemed to know it was Sora.

Sora.

Ikurx squeezed his eyes shut.

 _He wasn't going to be useless._

Ikurx held tight to his weapon pushing back against the vicious dark energy.

 _He wasn't going to give in like all the other times._

 _He was finally going to be the better half he should have been._


	66. Chapter 65 Part II

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 65 Part II

Ikurx gripped the handle of his keyblade and with every ounce of strength he whirled it around to throw the energy back at Riku. There was shock from all as the dark energy flew from the Nobody, no one ever expected Ikurx to take a stand; least of all Riku.

Riku's eyes grew wide and he threw out both his hands to summon a dark shield. The attempt was near useless; the violent blast from the impact took out the bridge and threw him back along with splinters of wood, crashing into the main part of the island.

Sora had used his own keyblade as a shield against the sudden impact that the attack had caused for not only himself but Kairi as well. He skidded along the sand to come to a stop a couple of feet away and looked back and forth between Riku and Ikurx, but was soon running over to the former to make sure he was alright.

"Riku, are you crazy?!" Sora bent down on his knees to check on his friend. As angry as he was that didn't mean he wanted his friend's death. "Whether you like it or not Ikurx is your Nobody. You can't do such stupid things."

From behind Sora, Kairi watched on with the same sad eyes. The fake had long been expelled with the force of the blast and no real will to keep such a lie in tact. "Sora, he's not himself. He's not the same person we knew as children." She kept her distance behind Sora, knowing that with Riku's power over her keyblade there wasn't much she could do. All her real power had been used to safely transport herself and Ikurx to the island. "He's changed and it's not likely he'll ever really be your true friend again and he'll never listen to reason."

Slowly Riku's vision came back into focus as he blinked his eyes a few times. He could feel Sora's hands on him, feeling over the wound, his chest, to make sure he was okay. It was confusing to Riku, seconds ago Sora was confronting him with such anger and now- he was concerned for his well being. It didn't make much sense in Riku's mind, the Darkness still muddled it; worse than before.

He could feel the vehement dark trying to claw its way back in through his pain and anger. Riku lifted his hand from the sand, he needed to feel something solid, some assurance; his light. When his hand touched Sora's something burst through Riku's mind, a memory, tearing through his mind like a devastating shot through his heart.

Riku's eyes snapped wide. "You kissed him."

Sora snapped back and took a few steps away as if he had been burned. For a moment he wasn't sure how to respond. It wasn't something he had ever really planned to speak up about, at least not so soon while Riku was always in such a state of mind. "Riku... I..." Sora wasn't sure how to finish what wasn't even a sentence. He took a few more steps back and finally hung his head in shame. "I did. To me it was you I was sharing that kiss with. I just missed you so much, Riku. You were gone to look for Roxas and I was worried."

Kairi soon looked much more shocked at such a thing while inside she felt the same hurt she had the moment she saw both Sora and Riku together. It seemed as if she really didn't have a chance to win Sora's heart any longer as even Riku's Nobody had won over the boy's affection for a brief time. "Sora," she whispered her friend's name quietly to herself.

Riku pushed himself up, shaky on his legs at first but with his anger to fuel him he soon stood firm. "Obviously you weren't worried enough if you were kissing someone else!" The shadow about his feet wisped out curling around him and he thrust out a hand and summoned Way to Dusk. "Shoving your tongue down someone's throat doesn't qualify as worry for someone else, Sora! That makes you a cheating whore! -and you call _me_ a liar!"

The words struck Sora straight through to his heart. It hurt something fierce to be called such a degrading name when nothing had really happened aside from a simple kiss out of desperation. "How could you say such a thing?" He gripped Oblivion tightly while he stepped back from the dark tendrils. "After all that happened between us. You know that I would never hurt you intentionally, Riku." He glanced back up and glared at the other boy with wet eyes. "You've done so much worse than me."

Riku shrugged out his other hand causing his shadow to curl higher around him. "So go ahead, Sora." He gestured for Sora to near with two fingers. "Grow some balls and 'do worse'." The corner of his lips curved up with a rather malevolent expression. "Don't I deserve it?"

It was as if something in Sora snapped with just the little bit of pressure Riku had placed on him. Never before had Riku said such horrible things to him. Their arguments had never become so heated. "No, you don't. I may be angry with you. I may think you shouldn't have lied, but you never deserve the worst." His expression hardened. "But for once I don't really feel much like giving you the benefit of the doubt, Riku." He decided to take the first shot and moved toward Riku, side stepping the dark tendrils to swing his blade at what was his best friend. The darkness took the blow and Riku retaliated with a swing of his own which met Sora's blade.

Riku leapt up, his feet skidding along the wood along the tall wall of the fort as he back stepped higher. He swung back Way to Dusk to throw a charge of dark energy down to Sora. But Kairi was quick to grab Sora into a tight embrace intending to shield the boy with her body. The blast hit them both kicking up dirt and dust.

"Sora! Kairi!" Across the water on the island Ikurx shouted. His eyes widened further as the dust cleared; they weren't hurt! A bright illumination emanated from Kairi, her light blocked the attack.

Sora flinched from behind Kairi, expecting the worst. When he opened his eyes to see Kairi in front of him his worry mixed with his anger and he pushed Kairi aside in an instant. "Don't get in the way," he snapped out without any real thought. He didn't have time to worry about the girl while he was fighting with Riku. She had already lost her life once and that was enough.

Kairi let out a startled sound as she fell in the sand. She'd never seen this side of Sora before. Not even during his time away from home fighting the heartless, the nobodies, Sora had never been that _vicious_. That was Riku, not Sora.

"You never could handle anything on your own, Sora," Riku out right mocked. "You use everyone as a crutch! To fight your battles for you! To take the hit for you! I should have figured you'd fuck someone else!" He flipped out from where he had been perched to cut through the bottom of a tall large palm tree. He twirled round and kicked the tree fiercely to hit Sora.

Sora was ready for the large projectile and raised the keyblade towards it, shooting off a flame to turn the large tree into ashes. He left Kairi behind in the sand as he used what bit of smoke there was as cover to make his way towards Riku. Instead of running in head first much like last time he stayed as hidden as he could for the time being. "And you're too stubborn to even bother asking for help, Riku! Being alone isn't a strength. Neither is thinking you can do everything on your own. You're not invincible and you'll never be able to control the Darkness. It controls you!" He lifted Oblivion high and willed strong beams of electricity out from the fading smoke.

A dark shield was summoned above Riku just as the thunder crashed down. Sparks littered down around him from the impact. Riku could taste the electricity on his tongue. Magic, summoned with such strong anger; Sora was meeting him toe to toe. So far. It took some strength to keep the shield up until the thunder ceased.

"The same could be said for you and the Light, Sora," Riku shot back. "You're a slave to the Light, the keyblade! You save hundreds of worlds- over and over again, but you'll never be done!" The energy of the shield tore round Riku as shadow from below swept up to join it. "People expect you to solve all their problems for them! You'll never be happy." Riku leapt back to stand high on an upper balcony of their tree fort on the largest tree of the island. Already the dark energy around him was tearing into the wood sending shavings and splinters. Riku pointed down at Sora with Way to Dusk. "You can kiss a normal happy life goodbye. You'll be a slave to the Light forever, Sora." The dark energy whirled round cutting into the planks of wood yanking them free. "Because you can't have light without darkness!" Riku spun Way to Dusk round, the fierce energy followed before it was thrown down toward Sora along with the jagged pieces of the fort.

Sora was forced into ducking and rolling away from the sudden debris as well as the dark energy with no other real way to avoid it. He made his escape towards the side of the tree only to stumble into the small pool nearby when the last little bit of wood sailed inches passed him. He glanced only for a moment at the sharp bit of wood that could have been his end before his eyes hardened and he turned to look back towards the tree. Soon he was leaping out from the water to grab onto what was left of the wooden planks so he could lift himself up and make his way towards Riku.

"You're wrong, Riku. I'm not a slave. I'm just one of the only few that can help the worlds and protect them." Sora stopped in his hurried steps across from Riku on the only few planks that were left on the tree. "Do I wish that I could be normal? Sometimes, yes. But I would never put my life before others that I care about. You've lost sight of all of that just because you enjoy all of this power way too much, Riku. You're becoming just like the Organization. Nothing more than a Heartless." With so much said Sora summoned the wind around him to act as his shield while he stared Riku down.

Riku seemed amused. "That's right. There my Nobody is," he pointed to Ikurx who now stood protectively near Kairi, "so that does make me a Heartless." He shrugged out his hands and the shadow below him wisped up clinging around his person. It swept over his body, coiling round and spreading over his chest, up shoulders and down arms forming clothes. "I might as well look the part, right?" Finally a long wisp of dark rose up to slip over his eyes and tie behind his head. The blindfold; as long as he didn't see the horror he was creating, demolishing his special place and tormenting his little star. Riku wasn't going to hold back now, not for their home and certainly not for Sora. "Just remember Sora, you wanted to stay at The End of the World just like I did. You wanted to leave _all of it_ behind." He pointed towards Sora. "You've been a Heartless," he then pointed at himself, "just as I am."

"Not of my own free will," Sora spat out while he watched what Riku slowly became on the outside. "I was forced to become one of them, but remember what you did for me? You made me whole again. You brought back my Light." He took just a few steps towards Riku and stopped near the edge of the broken ramp. "I was stupid to think that we could have forgotten everyone and everything. None of this will ever be fixed unless we do something about it ourselves. Just like you'll never be fixed until I learn how to really save you. Bringing you back from the Darkness just wasn't enough and I guess it never will be."

Sora didn't wait for any type of answer to his words and jumped across the ramp right away with his defense still in place. A bright light shone all around Oblivion as he leapt across Riku to land behind him. His heart was beating twice as fast as normal with the knowledge that once again the two of them were fighting against one another, but it didn't stop Sora from lashing out with the brightened keyblade.

Much to Riku's chagrin the light cut through the dark, which rose up from his shadow in defense, as easily as if it were air. Beneath the blindfold Riku's eyes widened, all he could see was white. The intensity of it overwhelmed his mind as well as his body and he was thrown back from the impact. He smashed into branches and remains of the fort.

Riku bore Way to Dusk into the large tree. The blade dug deep into the flesh of the tree dragging along slowing him to a final stop. Riku held his far side; the darkness had taken most of the hit and receded where Sora's keyblade had hit baring pale skin up his side.

"Heh." Riku smirked to himself. "You forgot, Sora. You made me this time. You put the blindfold on me and cast me into Darkness." He tore Way to Dusk from the tree and leapt back a few steps along the tree raising his weapon up in one motion. "I'm your Darkness, Sora!" Riku swung Way to Dusk fiercely. The demonic blades shot forth towards Sora sparking and gathering vicious dark energy, the force of it tearing down the tree's side as the edges of blades trailed deep gashes.

Sora had no real way to avoid the hit from where he stood high above. He could only hope that what defense he had would take some amount of the damage and braced for the impact that it would cause as he held Oblivion up as well to help as a shield. The moment the dark blades reached him they collided head on with his defense and forced him to skid along the last few planks of wood. The wind slowly diminished as it took the heavy damage and only Oblivion was left to shield Sora. The force of the attack continued to push him back until he was near the edge of the wood. The light around Oblivion brightened and allowed him to smack the darkened blades aside just as he lost his balance, catching onto the plank with one hand to hang.

The entire time the fight continued Kairi watched from beside Ikurx with wide eyes. She had listened to Sora's demand of staying out of the way, but it didn't seem to be doing the boy any good much longer. Riku just wasn't Riku and soon Kairi's attention was on the Nobody at her side. "You have to do something!" She reached out to give a small shake to his arm in a near panicked state. "They're going to hurt each other. Riku is going to hurt Sora if you don't do something."

Ikurx tore his eyes from the battle to look at Kairi. She was right. He couldn't stand here and let Riku lose himself again, lose himself to his darker side and destroy all he cared about. Sora. Destiny Island; so many special memories that Ikurx wished he could covet for his own.

They hadn't come here to start a fight. Sora and Riku had looked so happy before they had interrupted their solace and ended their beautiful lies.

Ikurx's mind swam. Love, violence; Light and Dark constantly at war. He just wanted peace; for everyone, for himself.

Ikurx pulled from Kairi to run ahead towards the battle. There wasn't much time; he was still a good ways away. In a flash of light he dispelled his keyblade so his hands would be free as he gave it his all to sprint forward.

He wasn't a fighter, he didn't have the thirst for destruction Riku did, but he did share his Somebody's strength of determination. His only edge was his sympathy.

Ikurx skidded across the sand just as the plank holding Sora's weight snapped. He caught Sora in his arms falling back with the impact. On impulse he summoned his keyblade raising it just in time to block Riku's decent upon them. Sparks were thrown as dual keyblades fought against each other in crossing. Ikurx's eyes held wide in shock as he stared at his other. Riku's presence was chilling, but Ikurx refused to give. He kept a protective hold around Sora.

Sora had been shocked to say the least the moment he was caught by the Nobody. For a split second he had hoped it was Riku that had saved him and that his friend had a change of heart somewhere deep down, but when he had looked up to see the blades clash he knew such a thing was hopeless to believe. Riku was insane to attempt harm on Ikurx. Without the Nobody alive it would keep him in continuous Darkness. There would be no peace for Riku.

In a quick instant, Sora lifted his own arm to force his blade between both Ikurx and Riku's. The sudden intrusion on light and dark caused the sparks to become worse, but Sora held steady until he could shove Riku's away the best he could from where he was still resting near Ikurx.

"You would harm your own Nobody just to get to me?" Sora kept his blade at ready by his side while he glared at Riku for what had nearly transpired. "Not just that, Riku, but you would harm the both of us and for what? To prove some kind of point? That you're better off in the Darkness? From what I can tell it's only eating you alive inside. It's only making you hurt the people you care about and everything that matters to you."

"So- what?" Riku snapped back. Seeing Sora near Ikurx, in his arms, it spiked a vehement anger. "Already planning to replace me with that _thing_?!" He gestured out sharply to the world around them. "I did this for _you_ , Sora. I brought us here to finally be happy. I wanted to give you more than just pain-" Riku's shoulders slumped and his head fell forward as the energy drained out of him. A sad sarcastic laugh left him shaking his fallen shoulders. He tapped the sand with Way to Dusk; it felt far heavier now in his hand. "I can't even make you happy without hurting you."

For the moment it seemed as if Riku was calming down. Maybe now he was reachable. Ikurx chanced letting go of Sora to move a little closer to Riku. Had he a heart it would have been beating wildly. This is what he had come for, what he had left his friends, and Demyx, for.

"I'm willing to give it all up, Riku," Ikurx quietly spoke to his other half. "To put all the hurt between us aside. I'm willing to give up my chance at life to fix this, to fix us." He reached out a hand towards Riku with a pleading look in his similar eyes. "Please, please, I want us to stop destroying everything that matters to us."

He felt Riku's 'gaze' lift onto his face and follow down his arm to his hand. There it lingered. The air grew tense and Ikurx expected Riku to swipe it away, he could feel Sora hoping that Riku would for once give in and listen to the voice of reason.

Ikurx watched Riku raise his free hand and he grew tense ready for the slap away. What he didn't expect was for Riku to grasp his hand. A sense of relief flooded through Ikurx, and everyone else watching.

He had done it!

It was all over!

Everything was finally going to be okay.

Ikurx could feel Riku grip his hand, and then, without warning, he was suddenly yanked forward by it. Way to Dusk was plunged deep into his chest.

"Ikurx!" Sora watched in horror at what was happening right before his eyes. He had hoped to get through to the other boy somehow, but it seemed as if his words had the opposite effect. "Riku, stop! Please!" Tears gathered in his eyes and he moved across the sand to try and reach the two, but it seemed to be too late.

" _Goodbye_ ," Riku whispered near Ikurx's ear and then pushed the blade in deeper. Even if there was no blood the sound of the blades tearing into flesh and bone could be heard.

Those words. They were the same thing Riku had said when he'd near killed-

"... Demyx," Ikurx barely managed. He clutched tighter to Riku's hand. No heart. No pain. His body tried desperately to remember, to synthesize something, anything, in such a moment of devastation.

But there was nothing. He was empty.

He would die as he lived; with no true existence.

 _'I'm sorry… Demyx.'_

Ikurx slumped, soft white wisped from his person as he fell forward fading away as he fell onto Riku only to disappear.

Sora ran over the last few steps, but was much too late. He fell to his knees in front of Riku and touched the sand with his fingers where Ikurx had once stood just seconds ago. The Nobody had saved him and even brought Kairi back to life. He had been so kind. Everything that Riku wasn't.

"How could you?" Sora nearly whispered the question. It was doubtful that Riku even heard him. Sora couldn't even hear himself over the pounding of his heart. It hurt so bad inside to know that the one person he had trusted and loved could actually kill so mercilessly. How could they ever trust one another again?

"He only wanted to help us. He wanted to help you be yourself again." As Sora spoke there was a slow change occurring. The form that appeared back at the beach began to take hold once again as his emotions heightened over the tragic loss of both a friend and his loved one's sanity.

Sora didn't seem to notice it himself or didn't seem to care. Black and white took over his outfit while all four keyblades were summoned to his possession. He grasped Oathkeeper and Oblivion tightly and stood while the keyblade that Ikurx had been using only to protect him appeared behind him to float. The last to appear was Riku's blade that was ripped straight from the boy's hands in an instant.

None of this seemed to faze Sora as slowly he began to ascend from the ground only a few inches. The tears still fell from his eyes as he looked across at Riku with only a hateful glance. That one look was soon covered as the cloth that bound Riku's eyes was torn away and given to Sora to hide the blue eyes.

Sora was in a new state of mind. The person across from him was only there to harm and to him that was enough to attack. Without even a thought to regret, Sora criss-crossed both Oathkeeper and Oblivion in front of him and waited as they both shone with a bright light. It didn't take long for him to soon slash both blades out towards Riku, but it wasn't the weapons he was intending to hit the other boy with. It was the beam of light that hurled from the crossed keyblades which headed straight for Riku.

With his eyes exposed Riku's bare eyes widened. Something had shut off inside him, his control on the Darkness, his control on himself. Something had been torn out of him on the inside and now something was tearing into him from the outside.

The light consumed everything desolating the dark that saturated Riku through and through without mercy. He couldn't fight it, there was no fighting it. Riku was thrown back violently, far from Sora to smash through palm trees and found his end crashing into a cabin fort.

It wasn't enough for Sora to just knock the body back a good mile. Part of him wanted so much more after feeling so hurt. He didn't need to see to know where Riku had landed. He had heard the loud crash of wood and could still sense the other boy nearby. It was in such a direction that Sora was quick to glide towards and stopped only a few feet in front of the ruined fort.

For a few seconds Sora kept still and seemed to just 'stare' at Riku's form where it had fallen amidst the rubble. Slowly he lifted Oblivion while Way to Dusk lifted behind him and both pointed towards Riku. Dark fire shot forth from the dark keyblade while fire shot from Oblivion all towards the boy.

Kairi had been standing on the sandy area near where Riku had landed. She watched what Sora had become. This form, Naminé had seen before, Kairi could feel it; almost see the memories as if they were her own.

She watched in horror as the wooden shambles of the cabin fort burst into flame. The area was engulfed in flame, fire and dark fire twisting together almost battling each other for what to greedily consume. Somewhere in all that hell was Riku.

This wasn't right! Sora wasn't like this. Sora wasn't like Riku.

Yet somewhere in Kairi's mind she felt Riku deserved this, and she couldn't help hating herself for such vindictive thoughts.

"Sora!"

From the center of the raging flame it whirled round, weakly at first, then faster before it was thrown out so a battle damaged Riku could leap free of it. Clumsily atop another nearby but much taller cabin fort. He collapsed on all fours atop it, coughing and clutching tight to his chest. He was singed and filthy from ash, the Heartless clothing was gone, and the clothing he had been wearing before in its place.

"H-how?" Riku choked out. He stared with wide eyed shock at Sora, at what he had become. "You shouldn't be able to use the Darkness. Your heart is the most pure of all!"

Sora had turned to face Riku as soon as he realized the boy was free of the debris. A small scowl had taken over what could be seen of his face while the blindfold hid the rest of it. Soon, Sora was up and drifting over to the fort that Riku had attempted to escape to and stopped only inches in front of the other boy. A small smirk took over the annoyance on his expression while he leaned in close towards Riku so the words he spoke could only be heard by the older boy and no one else. "Don't you remember what you said, Riku? You're my Darkness."

Riku's eyes grew wider and he clutched his chest tighter. "M-my-My heart." The half of heart he'd given to Sora; it had done _this_ to Sora? He knew how Sora had used the combined forces of his traveling companions to create new forms to battle with; Valor, Wisdom, Master, he'd seen them all. Never had he thought to do the same with Sora. He never wanted to taint Sora's light. Sharing a heart had been a last resort to save Sora from being a Heartless.

No, with both hearts as one, Sora truly walked the fine edge between Light and Dark.

Zero form.

"M-my heart did this to you?" It was as if Riku had finally grasped absolute clarity. Along with that was fierce guilt and shame. He had pushed Sora to this.

"This is what you wanted isn't it, Riku?" Sora took no pity in such a state. Oblivion was let go to float at his side so he could reach out and place his hand on top of Riku's own. "You wanted the worst of me. You wanted the Darkness and the Light. I tried to help you and I tried to forgive you, but all that you understand is violence and pain." With those last few words Sora forced a dark blast from his palm where his hand still touched Riku's own.

Riku could do nothing as he was forced back smashing through more wooden planks demolishing the fort as he crashed down into it with the dark explosion. Sora succeeded in filling him with new pain, he could taste dust, ash and blood.

He kept prone a moment, buried under heavy wood. Sora had torn his dark ability from him, but hadn't he done that to Sora? Tore away at Sora's good nature again and again, leaving him defenseless; yet Sora forgave him again and again. As Riku lay there he couldn't help but let that conclusion sink into him that he had more than messed up.

There may be no salvaging this.

Or Sora.

That thought alone had Riku forcing himself back up. He threw the planks of wood from him and crawled from the rubble. Flinching he grasped the sharp piece of wood that protruded from his side and yanked it free tossing it aside.

"You're right," Riku rasped out. "I deserve this. I deserve violence and pain." He clutched a hand over his bleeding wound. "But, you don't deserve to suffer because of me." Riku forced himself up, up onto his feet unsteadily. "I don't deserve you. I never have." He narrowed his eyes on Sora with new determination. "But just like I'm your Darkness- I'm your Light as well!"

It was hard to tell if anything that was said actually made an impact on Sora with the blindfold in place. He lowered his hand from where it had stayed in the air after the attack and kept where he was near the ruined fort. After a few moments he gave a careless shrug and turned his head to the side towards the ocean.

"That's funny to hear coming from you." Sora didn't show any real amusement despite his words. "At one time I think I believed such a thing, but there's no real Light in someone like you. Not anymore at least. You killed any Light that you had left, Riku." Sora turned his full attention back towards the other boy and reached over to grab hold of Oblivion again. "It's not worth trying anymore."

"Sora," Riku muttered in quiet sadness. Was it really over so tragically? Had he broken them beyond all help?

It was then something sparked in his heart. Riku grasped his chest doubling forward. He let go resting out his hands to look at his palms. White light flooded the area, not from Sora, but from himself. It swallowed both him and Sora.

-

It was calm here. Endless. A place of solace.

A place beyond Light, Dark, and all things in between.

Sora felt himself descending into it; falling. His landing was feather light onto the center of a wide circular stain glass picture. The colour was dull as if covered by a dark film, but it seemed the light underneath was determined to shine through.  
Across from Sora near the edge was Riku staring out into the endless black. As he turned around Sora realized, no, it wasn't Riku. The eyes were the same, but it wasn't him. He smiled at Sora.

"If you won't, Sora, then I'll try enough for the both of us."

Somewhere deep down Sora felt a strange sense of relief in this calm and peaceful place. He had feared the worst for the person across from him, but there he was as if nothing had happened. "Ikurx," Sora spoke the name quietly.

Just as soon as the name left Sora's lips the smile fell away that the relief had brought and a frown replaced it as he took a small step back. "No, this is wrong. I don't want you to try anything and I don't want to be here." He stopped when there was finally nowhere else for him to escape to and dropped his eyes down to the dimmed circle below. "I gave up on him just like he gave up on me." His hands clenched at his sides. "He hurt me and himself. Nothing is going to change."

Sora's cheeks were gently cupped. Ikurx didn't lift Sora's head just yet; he just wanted to offer the other boy comfort. Comfort long over due. Ikurx could feel the shambles of Sora's heart. It tore at Ikurx that he couldn't mend what truly needed fixing. He didn't have that kind of power.

"I'm not going to do anything," Ikurx softly explained. "I'm just going to stay here with Riku. I'm where I should be." He gently thumbed Sora's cheeks. "I've given him back his sense of compassion. And in return I know what it's like to feel if only a little. Even if it is vicarious." He rested his head down on Sora's. "It's only a small bandage on a much larger wound, I know. But, please don't give up on us, little star."

Sora lifted his head all on his own to look Ikurx in the eyes. It hurt to see that same color that had been staring at him with such hate just moments ago. Still, he couldn't stop himself from lifting his hands to place them on Ikurx's own.

"I don't want to. I never planned to give up, Ikurx, but the hateful things that he said." Sora tensed up as a small sob choked him up. "He lied to me about it all being a dream. We've always been so honest with each other. Did that all change just because of the Darkness?" Sora dropped his hands away from Ikurx's and didn't give the Nobody much time to answer as he was soon lunging forward to hug him tightly around the neck. He needed to feel comfort in some way, but most of all, he needed to feel Riku.

Ikurx's arms wrapped firmly around Sora, and had Sora closed his eyes he would have sworn it was Riku holding him close. Ikurx ran his fingers through Sora's hair trying to sooth the damage that his other half had done to his precious person. How could Riku try to make Sora so happy only to tear into him again like he did?

"He just wanted you to be happy," Ikurx weakly defended Riku. Riku didn't deserve it, but somewhere inside Ikurx knew that in Riku's heart of hearts that's all he ever wanted; Sora to be happy. "His heart is weak. When he finally gave into the Darkness I was split from him. I took his compassion; his kindness." He gently nuzzled Sora's temple. "Riku destroys while I make things whole again. Together Riku can walk the line between Light and Dark." Ikurx held Sora tighter. He hadn't wanted to be Riku, to be associated with that madman, but the cruel reality was he _was_ Riku. A crucial part, without himself Riku was cruel and sadistic. Together they would be the better person they should have always been. "I won't let him hurt you anymore."

Sora wanted to believe everything that Ikurx was saying, but after all that had happened it was so difficult. A small bit of guilt ran through Sora as well as he remembered a time that Ikurx hated the thought of ever being one with Riku. This moment in time was forcing the Nobody to give up on his own happiness and the person Sora knew he had attempted so hard to care about.

"What about you?" Sora pulled back just enough to look at Ikurx once again. "You won't be your own person any longer. You'll never have your own freedom." He dropped his gaze down to the circle that was still so dim under their feet. "You cared about Demyx and I know that you did. Roxas; he hated both me and Riku for having to stay as one with me and never being able to be with Axel. Now look what's happened. Won't you miss Demyx just as badly?"

Ikurx's expression fell even more. He tried to smile but it was still so very sad. "Even if I have no heart I'll miss Demyx. I'll miss Demyx so much it will probably ache." Ikurx's hands slipped to Sora's cheeks again. The action was so natural, but not to himself, it was Riku's gesture. "Along with Mister Cloud and Zax. But, I care enough for them to stay, to protect them from myself by staying here. And by staying here I'll be protected from anyone who wants to abuse my ability." Ikurx bowed his head as he very softly stroked Sora's cheeks.

"I'm sorry." Sora couldn't help but apologize to Ikurx not for himself, but for Riku and the fact this was all things had come down to. "You're such a good person, Ikurx. People tell me that I'm never one to be selfish, but I believe you're the kindest person that I've ever met." He placed one hand on Ikurx's own and finally managed a smile for the Nobody even if it was a little sad. "I've given Riku so many second chances that maybe I'm just scared to try again. I believe that he really thinks such horrible things of me when I didn't mean to hurt him."

Ikurx's brows furrowed, there were so many things Sora didn't know that he did connected to Riku. In all truth Riku didn't deserve a second chance after all the things he'd done, to Sora and especially Roxas. But Ikurx wasn't here to sabotage.

"Riku doesn't believe any of what he said," Ikurx answered truthfully. "He said those things out of jealousy, and anger; all things the Darkness feeds on." He rested his head against Sora's with the smallest of playful nudges. He wanted to nuzzle Sora's nose with his own, offer the affection he could feel the boy craving; but that was Riku, not him. The two of them were becoming hard to tell apart. Had Riku's heart not been halved they probably would have. Even still Ikurx's smile grew a little. "I want to show you something."

It was easy to tell that a small flicker of excitement shone through on Sora's face the instant Ikurx said such a thing. It was hard for him to even attempt staying angry or upset any longer at that point in time. "What is it?" He clasped their hands together and gave them a small shake in his sudden eagerness. "Show me."

Ikurx smiled more at Sora's excitement; it seemed to echo in the hollow of his chest where his heart should be. He stepped back but kept hold of one of Sora's hands as he lead the boy near the edge of the large circle. He summoned his angelic keyblade in one hand and squeezed Sora's with his other. Illumination began to glow around the blade and as Ikurx raised it the stain glass below their feet began to grow in illumination as well, the film seemed to dissipate away leaving the colour underneath bright with life to see. The mural then was easy to see; Riku, and his heart, divided in two along the middle, his other half was Sora himself. Riku's half of the mural was trimmed in wisps of dark, even his half of heart seemed dimmed. While Sora's half was Riku's poetic opposite, light surrounded him instead while his heart remained bright. Above and below either of them: the paopu fruit they shared. It was those two stars where the dark and light interlocked and twined together binding them.

"For Riku, Sora," Ikurx spoke up very softly, "there is no one else but you."

Sora slowly let go of Ikurx's hand to bend down and place that same hand on the mural. It was so warm to the touch and never before since they had actually left the island could he remember such a warm feeling. His fingers trailed up along the lines of the mural towards the paopu and it was then that his eyes stung with new tears.

"I thought he had forgotten," Sora spoke up quietly as he kept his touch along the pictured fruit. "We shared the paopu together before we left Destiny Island for this entire adventure. It was special for the both of us and we thought we really would be entwined forever after doing such a thing." He gave a wet sniff and lifted his free hand to wipe under his eyes. "Heh, I guess it wasn't such a silly myth after all."

Sora kept knelt down near the mural while he looked back up at Ikurx. "I miss him. I want to go back and see him again." He slowly stood back up and didn't bother to wipe his eyes any longer. "We've both done things we're not proud of. Maybe Riku can forgive me just like I've done for him."

Ikurx's smile went sad and he found himself rubbing an eye. Wet? He looked down: tears. Only in this place could he have them; with Riku's heart. How terribly cruel.

Ikurx closed his hand and looked back at Sora. Slowly he shook his head; he was in awe at Sora's change in heart. "Love conquers all."

The world around them then began to grow bright and soon Sora was basked in warm light. The illumination began to fade and he was once again standing on sand. He was back on Destiny Island, and there in Ikurx place, stood Riku.

The form that had taken over Sora faded away in an instant along with each of the keyblades. The moment the blindfold left Sora was forced to blink hard as the darkness left his vision and he landed more comfortably on his feet. His gaze instantly landed on Riku and instead of feeling the anger he had earlier on a great deal of panic set in for the state he saw the other boy in.

"Riku!" Sora hurried towards his friend to be by his side. He hadn't known that so much damage had been done during their fight. Was all of it really his fault? His hand moved just inches from the horrid gash near Riku's waist where blood still ran before he glanced up at Riku, searching for something in the boy's eyes that would tell him everything was really okay between them. "I'm sorry, Riku. I never meant to hurt you like this."

Even though the blood dripped from Riku's side dying the sand red at his feet, the pain from the battle didn't seem to register in Riku's mind. Nothing at all mattered to him save for the fact Sora was back to being Sora; his Sora.

Riku reached out to grab Sora's shirt and yanked him nearer to hug tightly. "Shut up," he quietly hissed. "You didn't do anything." He clung tighter to Sora keeping the boy captured in his arms. "You've never done anything wrong."

Sora was shocked the moment he had been grabbed, but it was the words that surprised him the most. "But, I hurt you." He rested his head near Riku's shoulder and soon wrapped his arms around the other boy gently to be careful of his wounds. "Not just physically, but I hurt you emotionally too. I pushed you towards the Darkness again."

"No Sora." Riku buried his face in Sora's hair and shook his head against the plush spikes. "No, I've done terrible things. I should have fought back against the Darkness. I should have been strong away from you."

A pained sound left Riku as his wounds finally got the best of him and he released his hold on Sora as he fell to his knees. Riku leaned his head against Sora's stomach as he weakly clung around Sora's middle. "Sora, I'm so sorry. I'm weak without you. I'm weak on my own." He grasped tight to Sora's shirt as he crumpled against the other boy. "You're my light that keeps me from Darkness. You're my strength." The guilt was over whelming, the shame of all he'd done hit him hard like a punch to the gut. It caused Riku to shake. "You, Sora."

Sora placed his hands on Riku's shoulders and tightened his fingers. So many chances he had given to Riku and so much forgiveness. He wasn't even sure how many times it would be now, but he couldn't stop himself from trying just one more time. It was just in his nature and he loved Riku too much to cast him aside.

"It's alright, Riku. You were only trying to protect me and bring us home, right?" Sora gave a small understanding smile. "Even though I wish you would have done it a little better than you had I guess I shouldn't have snapped at you. We got so much time to ourselves. The lies, that's what hurt the worst." He released one hand from Riku's shoulder to call back Oblivion and lifted the blade up high above them both. In seconds petals of green rained down upon them and fell down to rest on the worst of Riku's wounds, healing them.

Sora released the keyblade as soon as he was sure Riku would be okay and dropped to his knees to be level with the older boy. "I still love you and nothing will change that. I also know that you need me just as much as I need you. Otherwise you never would have tried to save me from being a Heartless." He reached up to place a hand on Riku's cheek and stroked his thumb towards lips. "But, don't worry because everything is going to be better for you now."

Riku didn't know how but he was more than willing to put his faith in Sora, especially if the boy was willing to keep his faith in him. Even after the loving lies he'd made and the terrible battle they'd just had.

Riku's eyes drifted half shut as he gave into Sora. The comfort, the love, he'd missed this. Why had he fought so hard to ignore it? To destroy it? He was more than lucky to have someone like Sora. It was a miracle Sora even had any love left for him. How could he turn his back on this?

"I love you," was all Riku could whisper. His throat was already tightening as a choked sound threatened to leave him. It was safer to leave it at that as he leaned forward a soft kiss of affection to Sora's lips.

Sora was hesitant at first, but it didn't take long for him to press back just as eager for affection as Riku. His hand trailed back from Riku's cheek to tangle in the boy's hair in order to keep him close and make sure he was really there with him. He broke the kiss only to nuzzle his head against Riku's in a sweet show of love for his friend while he kept near. "I love you too, Riku. We'll be fine now and maybe we can even defeat the Organization a little better and _really_ come home."

"Some of the things I said while I was here," even close Riku made sure to look Sora in the eye while he spoke, "they weren't influenced by the Darkness. I meant every word. The things I said about telling everyone about us finally. About loving being with you. Everything but the dream and Kairi, were true." Riku's hands slipped down to Sora's back holding the other boy with a desperate sort of affection. "Even if it was selfish, I don't regret our personal time here together."

Sora smiled in a sad sort of way. Not for what was said, but because he really did wish deep down that they could have stayed in such a perfect world. "Neither do I. Everything I said and everything we did meant just as much now as it did at the time." He leaned in just a little to touch a simple kiss to Riku's nose and smiled shyly after the silly action. "Even the note will read just the same and have the same meaning, so you should always keep it with you to remember our time here."

That put a smile on Riku's lips, an actual sincere smile. It was strange, he actually felt happy. It was as if a heavy weight that had latched itself to his heart had been lifted. Like it had been years since he was happy. It was so liberating.

"Of course. I love my mysterious 'S'. Riku leaned in to kiss Sora, showing him rather than telling him how much it meant. But, as his lips touched Sora's the two of them were shoved apart.

Kairi.

She pushed Sora back and clung to him with such desperation Riku couldn't help but feel bad for her rather than jealousy.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, tears streamed down her face. "How can you just shrug everything off like that? H-he killed Ikurx! He nearly killed you!"

Sora had been thrown for a loop the moment he was pulled aside. He looked from Riku to Kairi and frowned at the girl, feeling bad for her sudden sadness. "We both tried to hurt one another, Kairi." Sora lifted a hand to wipe away her tears. "If you condemn Riku for such a thing you would have to condemn me as well." It hurt him when any one of his friends were so upset, but this back and forth for his affection was the most frustrating.

"Besides," Sora continued on quietly and managed a small smile for Kairi, "Ikurx isn't dead. I spoke with him. He eased my fears and was the one that made me feel better."

Riku as well as Kairi was taken aback. Riku rested a hand on his chest as he tried to feel deep within him. "Ikurx is back?" He quietly whispered. It was true, he could feel it. The reason for his sudden clear state of mind, his new understanding and serenity within. Ikurx had pushed the dark away and put him back in balance.

After all he'd done to his Nobody, Riku was surprised Ikurx would surrender his very existence to complete him. It was then that Riku realized that he wasn't as twisted a person as he had thought, there truly was light within him.

Now he had to live up to that selflessness and forgiveness. If not for Ikurx, then for Sora.

While Kairi tried to argue against Sora, Riku walked over to the both of them. It was Kairi though that Riku embraced.

"I've hurt you," Riku quietly whispered to the stunned girl, "I've hurt you beyond repair. Our jealousy has made us rivals; it's made us rivals from the very beginning." He hugged the girl a little tighter. "But, I don't want to hurt Sora anymore. I don't want us to fight each other, anymore. Ikurx gave us a second chance. A second chance that in reality we shouldn't have." Riku rested his head atop Kairi's. "If it means giving Sora up, I would." He could feel Kairi's quiet gasp and he slowly shook his head. "It would be devastating, but I care too much about all three of our friendships. Our childhood friendship. Our home." Kairi loosely clung to Riku's shirt as he spoke. "I never thought someone as special as Sora could love me. That's why over the years I've been so cruel. But, having Sora's love has lit up my life. Just knowing he's there helps me walk the line between light and dark."

Riku leaned back so he could look down at Kairi, even if the girl wouldn't look up at him. "Knowing how you feel we should have said something instead of going behind your back. We were close enough that we shouldn't have feared talking about it. It was my fault, I was selfish. I wanted Sora all for myself and all Sora wanted to do was spare your feelings." His hands fell to her shoulders and he gave them a gentle squeeze. "I don't want anymore secrets or suffering. All three of our friendships mean just as much as defeating the Heartless Organization. Without it we won't be able to beat them."

Such a strong sense of relief ran through Sora to see his two friends embracing and attempting some type of closure. The horror was over and maybe they could all finally find some form of happiness between them. He knew he should have let the two of them have their moment alone to sort so much out, but he couldn't help himself and ran forward to fling his arms around both Riku and Kairi to hug them tightly. It was just such a joy to see Riku as his old self and Kairi at least attempting to listen.

"Riku is right. We've always been much stronger together than we have been alone. Now that there's no ill will among any of us then we'll stand a much better chance against the Organization." Sora turned his full attention on Kairi and smiled at the girl to try and cheer her up and ease any of her lingering fears. "We both love you very much, Kairi. We never want what happened in that cavern to ever happen again. Jealousy took hold of our group. We can't let it happen again."

"Sora," Kairi quietly whispered, "Riku." She wasn't sure what to say. She still had lingering worries and doubts. It was hard to trust someone who killed you; that sort of thing just didn't happen. And it still hurt to know that the one she loved would never return her feelings. She just didn't have the same trust Sora did for Riku, she never did. She had even warned Sora before the very beginning of their first adventure from the island.

Kairi lowered her head and her gaze. "I- I don't know."

Sora turned his full attention on Kairi and dropped both his hands to grab up the girl's own. "Please, Kairi. I know that Naminé felt bad for all that happened. The attack in the cavern that sparked all of this. She never wanted it to come to that which means it's not what you wanted either." He dropped his eyes down to their hands since he wouldn't be able to look the girl in the face for what he would say next. "I will never be able to love you like I love Riku. Still, that doesn't mean I want you and me to ever stop being friends. I went through so much to try and retrieve you and your heart years ago. At least understand that you're still precious to me."

Kairi's eyes widened at that. Sora had indeed risked life and limb to save her. He traveled many worlds and even battled against Riku to restore her heart. Sure he had saved other people and worlds but it had been her that he had been truly looking to save. It was then after that Sora went to do the same for Riku.

Kairi looked up at Sora and smiled very sadly. She pulled her hands free and stepped back. "It's-It's going to take time, Sora." She clutched a hand to her chest and continued to step back. "It's going to take time to heal our friendship."

Riku glanced at Sora before he looked to Kairi. "I understand." He didn't expect a quick fix, just a second chance to rebuild what they had. At least it was something.

Sora wished things could be so much easier between them, but he did understand what Kairi was trying say. "I suppose so." He smiled weakly and soon turned to face Riku. "We'll need to leave the island either way, Riku. The others are still back at that beach. They might not even know that I'm missing yet." A worried look came over his face. "There was a huge fight while you were gone and most of the Organization came to try and steal Ikurx. After it was all over Axel came trying to find Roxas, but I had no clue where he was. It was just a huge mess."

Riku gave one passing glance to Kairi; the girl was already leaving most likely heading home. There was so much to let sink in. As Riku passed a glance over the shambles of their special place he felt his heart sink further. He reached across and grasped Sora's hand holding it between two of his own.

"Sora," he started quiet and somberly, "there's something I need to tell you." Though Riku's memory was fuzzy on the time between when he left and when he returned, he needed to tell Sora about the twisted things he had done. No more secrets. No more working against each other, no more taking things solo.

Riku drew Sora close needing his love and light nearer. "... About Roxas."


	67. Chapter 66

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 66

The door to the home that Sora lived in away from Destiny Island and away from his adventures slowly opened to let the boy in. His hand drifted down from the knob as he turned it around to close the door with a soft crack behind himself. His face was red and splotchy from the tears he had shed after so much that he had been told.

Sora had given Riku his one last chance and suddenly he wanted to take it back. How his best friend could do such a thing to the person that was Sora's Nobody; it all hurt to hear. And yet Riku had the nerve to call him such a vile name while they had been fighting. After all had been said and done Sora hadn't even said a word. He had shrugged off Riku's touch and run off as quick as he could. It was only on the way home he had begun to cry.

Sora needed comfort and he wasn't going to get it from the person he usually attempted to get it from. Instead he walked straight towards the living room where he heard the television running. Some cheesy soap that his mother always watched on a daily basis even when she had no idea her son was out saving worlds.

The moment Sora was near the couch he didn't speak a word, but climbed onto the cushions instead and crawled over to where his mother was sitting. In an instant he was buried against the woman's side and hugging her around the middle as he began to choke up on tears all over again.

His mother was certainly surprised to say the least. "Sora, what's wrong?" She immediately asked with great concern. Her son was a sensitive and sympathetic boy, prone to a few tears now and again, but usually he would put on a smile and push forward. After Sora turned fifteen somehow he had grown quite a bit; stronger, wiser. He hadn't cried this bad since he was a little boy.

Sora always had a big heart; it would take something quite big and tragic to break it. His mother didn't wait for Sora to answer as she pulled her son into her arms to hug him with all the love and protection a mother could offer. "What happened, darling?" She softly asked as she pet her son's hair and let him cry against her. She listened to Sora's little whimpers and fails at speaking. Her mother's intuition easily picked up what could hurt her son so much. "It's Riku, isn't it?"

Sora's grip on his mother's shirt tightened in an instant. He didn't want to be a crybaby and rat Riku out like a child, but he felt justified. So, he gave a small nod of his head since his voice was failing him otherwise. There was nothing he could tell his mother about what had happened or the truth that had been spoken. She wouldn't understand any of it and would pass it off as something silly.

There was one thing Sora could tell her though that he still felt was suddenly hypocritical of Riku after what had been brought to light. He wasn't sure he would have been allowed to say such a thing, but needed some kind of comfort and slowly pulled back. Sora kept his eyes down on his mother's lap and a tight hold on the woman as he thought over how to explain things. "R-Riku," he slowly hiccupped, "and I fought. Th-Things were said and he called me a horrible name."

His mother's brows furrowed. Sora and Riku were known for their tiffs, their rivalry, but the last few years they had been so close. They were beyond that now, given their friendship was so much deeper. But, that was probably why Sora was so upset. "Names hurt more when you really love someone," she gently sympathized. His mother took Sora's chin to lift his head so she could look into his eyes, offering kindness as she began to wipe the tears away. "What did you two fight about? What did he say?"

Sora's heart pounded in his chest at the question. Could he really tell his mother what Riku had said to him? He certainly couldn't tell her what Riku had done. It would just go into too much else. He braced himself and lunged forward to bury himself against his mother again. It would make everything much easier if he couldn't look the woman in the face while he said such a terrible word. "He called me a whore." Sora clung tighter after the word left his mouth.

The air grew considerably quiet and tense. His mother went absolutely slack jawed. Riku was foul tempered and foul mouthed, but to use that word against her son, she was absolutely appalled. "W-what?" She shook her head as if that would deny what she heard. "Why? Why on earth would Riku say something like that?" She rubbed Sora's back to try and comfort him now that she knew some of what was going on.

Sora unburied himself to better be heard as he thought on how to explain the situation. He would need to be vague because there was no way he could say it all started on the circumstance that there were Nobodies and Heartless. "Because he saw someone kiss me and got jealous." Sora shook his head in sudden anger while his hands balled up in his mother's shirt. "He did so much worse, though. All I've ever done is care about him and love him." Sora didn't realize or even seem to care how much he was really telling his mother about himself and Riku's relationship.

Even if Sora did let on his mother didn't speak on it. She was his mother; she knew things even before Sora told him. She had always hoped Sora would find his happy ending with the other boy. Riku had always seemed like he'd needed someone like Sora, to balance him out and love him. But, right now she felt no sympathy for Riku, for saying such horrible things to her son. She wanted to piece things together to figure out just what was going on.

"What did Riku do that was so much worse?" The woman continued to rub Sora's back. She couldn't help but wonder. "Was it Kairi that kissed you?"

Sora was quick to shake his head in defense of the girl. "No, not Kairi." He tried to think of the best way to talk about Ikurx and came to a small conclusion. "A visitor to the island. Someone that took a liking to me, that's all." Sora finally brought a hand away from his mother to wipe at his eyes roughly. "But, Riku, he went behind my back and kissed someone else. He possibly even cared for that person even though he did such horrible things to them."

His mother's expression fell and she looked at her son with a sad sympathetic expression. "He cheated on you." She wasn't asking, she just knew.

Sora gave a simple nod to his mother's guess. It brought forth the pain in his heart again and soon the tears were gathering in his eyes once more. "I thought things were okay now, Mom." Sora was quick to cling once more and buried his face as much as he could in his mother's shirt. "Why would he do such horrible things?"

His mother hugged him once again to comfort him. "Sometimes-sometimes people just grow apart." She softly pet Sora's hair. "Just because you know someone for a long time doesn't always mean you know everything they'll do. I thought Riku was better than that. I really did. I was so excited for you two these last few days, you two seemed so happy." She kissed the top of Sora's head in an endearing way only a mother could. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Sora."

There was nothing else Sora could say. As much as he loved his mother's try at helping him feel better he also wanted to be alone. He had gotten as much comfort as he could and there was nothing else that would ease the pain. "I'm going to my room, Mom." He pulled back completely and finally stood from the couch. "I just need to think and be away from everything." He fidgeted before he lifted a hand up to wipe the remaining tears from his eyes. "Please don't let anyone in the house to see me."

His mother looked at her poor son for a moment before giving Sora a reassuring smile and nod. "Sure, sweetie." She stood up from the couch and kissed his forehead. "If you need anything just shout. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." She brushed back Sora's untamable hair only to smile a little more when it fell back into place. "Take all the time you need."

Sora attempted to smile in return, but it was no use. All he could do was give a short nod before he turned to head towards the stairs. His mother's suggestion to grab a small snack was the only thing that stopped him and soon he was taking a small detour into the kitchen. His feet led him instantly to the fridge where he opened the freezer and grabbed the small tub of ice cream that was in the doorway. On his way out he snatched up a spoon and then went towards the stairs.

As soon as Sora made it to his room he kicked the door closed with his foot and took a look around. The bed was still unmade from the moment he had woken up with Riku by his side. It made Sora feel worse if such a thing was possible. He tried to ignore the sight and walked towards the bed, crawling on top and quickly burying himself under the covers to hide and mourn with his ice cream.

Spoonful after spoonful Sora buried his woes under chocolate fudge brownie icecream. It had its comforts and filled some of the emptiness that his hurt left. It didn't solve his problems but it made him feel better if only a little. Day time TV helped distract him, though all that played on TV was terrible soap operas and reruns of romance movies. But, when Sora found his tears falling into his tub of icecream he quickly changed the channel to watch something more mindless. All the rest of the worlds could wait while his heart ache mended; he at least earned that.

It was a while after the tub of icecream was emptied and strewn aside on the floor with its spoon that Sora's window was quietly pushed open. A familiar someone pushed it further to crawl in perching on the sill. They looked to Sora sprawled on his bed under a pile of blankets and there was a sad moment of hesitation before they set their feet on the floor and sat on the sill.

"Chocolate icecream," Riku quietly spoke up, "better than any potion or elixir."

A head peeked out from under the blankets, showing mostly a tuft of hair. Blue eyes glanced towards the windowsill that were still red and puffy, but soon narrowed in anger. For a second Sora was annoyed that he had tossed aside the ice cream tub and couldn't throw it at Riku's head.

"I thought I closed that," Sora grumbled out from under the blankets. He turned his attention away quickly and pulled the blankets back over his head to hide himself away from Riku again along with the rest of the world. "Go away. I don't want to see you. Normal people use doors by the way."

"I'm not normal," Riku easily answered. "And you should know by now that I never use the door." He looked at the sad Sora cocoon on the bed and felt the guilt gnaw worse at himself. He knew he was probably pushing his luck by being there, but he couldn't just leave it how their conversation had ended.

Riku kept on the sill; he didn't want to invade Sora's sanctuary. He could feel that Sora still wanted some space between them. "You may not want to see me, but I wanted to see you." He folded his hands together and let them rest casually between his legs; it gave him something to glance down at. "Home is just too big a reminder of you now. My room, even the bathroom. I figured that I might as well be here, with you, even if it means getting the shit kicked out of me. It's well worth it, and I know I deserve worse."

"That's right you do!" Sora scurried out of the blankets again enough so his entire top half could be seen. He didn't seem to realize he had shouted loud enough that his mom might have heard downstairs. He was too focused on untangling himself from his sheets so badly that he toppled out of bed and onto his floor. It took Sora a moment to pull himself together after such a hard fall, but when he did he grabbed the tub of ice cream just like he had wanted and threw it at Riku's head dead on. "You're so stupid! How could you do something like that?! I trusted you just as much as you trusted me!" He grabbed up his used spoon next and threw it.

Riku dodged the tub and it soared out the window, but he caught the spoon before it could smack him in the head. It was the oddest thing to feel guilty about avoiding the hits when he knew he deserved to have plenty of things thrown at his head. But, after years of fighting the dodge just came naturally.

"I know," Riku quietly agreed. "I was out of my mind. I was so desperate to have you whole I would have done anything to get you back. The Darkness knew it, and took advantage." He looked down at the spoon. "That doesn't excuse it. That doesn't excuse anything I've done. I'm not asking for forgiveness. You've given me enough of that." He tapped the spoon in his hand. "I just -I just rather you hear it from me first." Setting the spoon aside on a dresser nearby, Riku looked back to Sora. "I love you enough to share the worst. I don't expect you to understand or forgive me. I just wanted you to know. I at least owe you the honesty."

"You were jealous!" Sora stopped himself just a few feet from the window and Riku as well. "You were jealous that Ikurx kissed me. Not the other way around. I told you what happened and still you called me- you said that horrible thing!" He finally lunged forward and pushed at Riku rather hard, but still not enough to push the other boy out the window. Just enough to show how angry he was. "Axel nearly killed me and Ikurx both because you took Roxas away, you idiot!"

Riku lashed out, standing up to grab Sora's wrists. He may have had his sanity but he still had his temper. " _Yes_! I was jealous. I've always been jealous. Of you; the perfect person with the perfect life, the perfect fighter, and the perfect hero. I expected you to hook up with the perfect girlfriend who was the perfect little princess. I never expected for you to love me back. I don't know what I ever did to deserve that. But, now that we're together I can't help but fear you'll leave me for something better; something as perfect as you."

He didn't seem to realize he was backing Sora up until the other boy's back bumped into the wall. If anything it fueled Riku's possessive nature more to keep Sora pinned. "So yes, I hurt you. I hurt you before you have a chance to hurt me. Yes, I hurt Roxas because I can't stand the idea of a part of you loving someone other than me. The idea of you even touching someone else brings a vindictive dark side that scares even me." He held tighter to Sora's wrists while he leaned in and invaded the other boy's personal space. "I wish being good came as easily for me as it did for you."

In no way did Sora enjoy being backed into a corner as he was. Riku's sudden personality only reminded him of all the other times the boy had acted while the Darkness had a hold of him. Instead of being scared though, Sora fought back with his own anger while he struggled against the grip Riku had on his wrists. "A part of you cares about someone that isn't me, Riku. Deep down inside I know that Ikurx would really love Demyx if he could, but I don't care because he isn't you. Just like I'm not Roxas." He gave a frustrated sound over having to explain such a thing once again. "So what if Roxas cares about Axel? I don't and I never will. Those are his feelings, but I'm the one that loves you." He finally managed to break free from the grip Riku had on his wrists, but didn't attempt to move from the wall. He only stared up at Riku with a small scowl. "Just because you were stuck in Darkness doesn't mean you can't be a good person, Riku. You just have to learn how to stop doing stupid things."

Riku's expression fell, and he kept his eyes pinned on Sora's angry expression. Sora was wise in such an obscure way. "How the hell do you do it, Sora?" He made sure he held Sora's gaze; even after all they'd been through Sora remained innocent of mind and light of heart. "At first it seems like you take things at face value and before I realize it you're seeing much deeper than anyone else." Riku raised a hand; he wanted to touch Sora's face but quickly stopped himself and closed his hand. "You say they're separate people even though they're from us. I don't understand it. Saying that only means you and I, we'd never be whole again. Not if they're to be happy."

"Does it really matter if we're ever completely whole?" Sora knew it was probably wrong to ask such a thing, but he felt he needed to with what Riku had brought up. "We're supposed to be on the side of good and yet we're the ones tearing people away from those they care about." He let out a sigh and finally pushed Riku aside so he could walk away from the wall and stand in the middle of the room. "I believed that maybe you and everyone else was right. I believed that it would possibly be better if Roxas was back with me, but when I saw how upset Axel was and after everything you told me it just feels so wrong." He turned to glance back at Riku with a sad expression on his face. "We're okay right now, aren't we? I'm not a Heartless any longer and you're doing fine. What's the point then?"

Riku stared at Sora. "After everything. How can you say that? You know what I've done without Ikurx." His expression darkened. "After what Roxas put you through to become 'whole'. He stole half your heart. That's why you became a Heartless in the first place." He shook his head at a loss. "If I didn't give you my heart, you'd still _be_ a Heartless, Sora. I can't give up another half of that for the sake of someone who shouldn't even exist. I won't have anything left for the _real_ me."

"I'm not asking you to, Riku. I just-" Sora let out a tired sigh. He felt much too drained to just stand around any longer and walked back to his bed where he immediately fell over onto his back. "I just want you to think of things like I am. From their point of view instead of our own. Maybe I can understand Roxas' desperation a little better because I'm trying to sympathize. He's trying to do anything he can to be with the person he loves and I understand that because on more than one occasion I've done anything possible to get you back."

After a quiet moment Riku's expression softened considerably. That, yes, he could sympathize with. He'd move heaven and hell just to keep Sora. Hadn't he already put Roxas through hell just to make Sora whole?

Riku stepped over to the bed and knelt on the bed to hang over Sora. His silver hair draped down, he hadn't bothered to cut it for years now, it was long enough to brush against Sora's cheek. "I miss the simpler days when people were just people, and hearts were just an internal organ in your chest." He didn't care about subtly anymore as he finally brushed a hand against Sora's cheek. "And keys unlocked doors and those doors just lead to another room." Riku smirked softly. "When it was just you, me, and the island. And I showed my love by beating you up with a wooden sword, or pushing you in the water."

Sora let out a quiet laugh at such memories while he reached both arms up to wrap them around Riku's neck. "I'll always miss those days, but then we grew up and now we're responsible teenagers that have to save the worlds." He twirled a few strands of Riku's hair around his fingers while his smile went a little sad. "Still, that doesn't mean we'll never have any of this again. We'll come home again just like before and maybe, hopefully, everyone can have their happy ending."

"If you have any say in it, heh, even the most lost of souls will have their happy ending." Riku brushed Sora's hair back to rest on the mattress. As inappropriate as it was for the moment, Riku enjoyed Sora sprawled out on the bed underneath him. Though his heart did ache for Sora's red rimmed eyes. If there was one thing he hated most it was making Sora cry.

"That's why you're the Keyblade Master," Riku continued with new optimism. "You have an unnatural knack for making peace in the entire galaxy. I'd say that's a pretty good talent. After you figure all this out and retire, who ever picks up the mantel is going to have one hell of a time trying to live up to your name."

"I hope that person has just as much patience as I do otherwise I fear they might go insane." Sora's smile went a little sad as he thought over everything that had been said. Now that he was calmed down he could be more level headed. He needed answers and no longer had the need to just walk away in anger. "So then," he started out quietly, "where is Roxas now?" His fingers stilled and soon his hands dropped to Riku's shoulders where they stayed. "Is he- still a Heartless?"

Riku's eyes widened a little in surprise. In reality he wasn't so sure. When he thought back the entire situation was a blur. He could remember his fierce anger quite clearly, the satisfaction of twisting Roxas into a dark creature and making him his own, his very first Heartless created. But, the where after Twilight Town was a blur.

"I'm not sure." Riku sat back taking Sora's hands on his shoulders into his own to keep. As he gave it more thought something else dawned on him. The realization struck him hard. "Vexen! Zexion!"

Sora hadn't expected to get any of the Organization's names out of Riku while asking about Roxas. It confused him for a moment and such a thing was obvious by the look on his face. "What do they have to do with any of this?" He sat up a little better since Riku had as well, but allowed the other teen to keep his hands. "Especially Zexion? He was there on the beach during that huge fight I was telling you about anyway."

"W-what?" Riku slowly shook his head. "N-no. I killed him. I killed him and Vexen." He held tighter to Sora's hands, his memory was so badly masked in shadow he couldn't get anything. "I went back to the place where they held Ikurx captive, where they tortured him. I-" Wait, how did he know that? Riku bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut. A shudder went through him; such vile memories. "I killed Vexen-and Zexion. I destroyed everything there."

"Riku," Sora spoke the other boy's name softly. He freed his hands just enough to place them on Riku's cheeks to attempt soothing him. "It's alright. Your memories of that time are probably just buried deep now. But, Zexion isn't dead. I saw him on the beach." For a moment he hesitated on what to say next. A part of Riku would still remember and it would be painful, but another part had no idea. "His Heartless was there with Saix. Zexion was the one that killed Demyx. After that everything sort of went crazy."

Riku shook his head against Sora's hands. "Zexion was human! Vexen tortured Ikurx into making him whole again!" He opened his eyes to search Sora's. There wasn't answers there, only compassion, and for some reason that frustrated Riku more. A detrimental pulse ached in Riku's chest and he weakly clutched his chest. "Zexion pushed me into accepting the Darkness, into finally giving in and letting Ikurx go. H-he, he had to suffer. So I killed Vexen before his eyes -and then I," Riku's voice petered out. His head sunk lower into Sora's hands. It was all too clear now. "I plunged Zexion back into Darkness. I destroyed his Nobody and left Zexion to live in eternal guilt for what he'd done. He's -he's a Heartless of mine."

Sora's hands tightened into fists just a little from what he had just been told. Without him or even Ikurx, Riku really had been far gone. Even though they were trying to be rid of the Organization it was still just the thought of what Riku had done exactly that scared Sora and put a bad taste in his mouth the most. "But, Zexion was with Saix. He was listening to every word that he said and acting as if they were partners." Sora finally dropped his hands down to his lap and clenched them. "Did you have anything to do with that?"

"He was my spy," Riku quietly confessed. "I was keeping tabs on the Organization but- I can't remember anything I was planning. I don't even know where I was. Just some how finding you, talking to you, and waking up here." Riku's gaze fell on Sora's bed to where they'd been laying just yesterday morning.

"We have to fix this." Sora placed his hands back on Riku's cheeks with a sharp slap and squished his cheeks while he pouted himself. "You understand that, right? You're not allowed to have pet Heartless, Riku. That stands for everything we're supposed to be against right now." He squished just a little further until he finally let go and let out a sigh. "If we're lucky then maybe your control over Roxas and Zexion has slipped since you're no longer trapped in Darkness, but that means we have no idea where Roxas is again."

With a slight miffed expression Riku rubbed his poor abused face. "It's hard to say. I mean, I'm not a Heartless. But, at the same time," Riku passed a solemn glance at Sora, "I'm not a Nobody, and I'm not a Somebody. Like you, I'm half hearted." Riku glanced aside. "Like Roxas."

Riku's gaze passed to the window. It was getting late now, the stars in the sky, the moon rising.

A sigh escaped him as he looked back to Sora. "They say third times the charm. But, this adventure is so much more complicated than the others." His new smile was weak. "Well then Keyblade Master, what now?" He brushed a very simple touch along Sora's cheek. "What do I need to do to get back in your good graces? How much broken glass should I eat and how many miles of hot coals should I walk across to repent for all the terrible things I've done?"

An amused smile took over Sora's face and instead of answering right away he leaned up to press a heated kiss to Riku's lips. After all that had happened and been said between them he needed to at least show he still loved the other boy even after so much heartbreak.

As soon as Sora pulled back he rested his forehead against Riku's own to keep close. "Just be yourself, Riku. Be the person I fell in love with and the person that I went through so much trying to get back. That's all I've ever asked for and all I've wanted from you. It's that mean and vicious person you allow to come out who I despise." He smiled sheepishly and glanced to the side while he soon pulled back. "Although, you may have to eat some glass for my mom to ever forgive you."

Riku opened his mouth and then closed it. It was hard to really say much after a kiss like that. It certainly was perplexing when just minutes ago Sora had tried to peg him with an icecream carton and spoon.

Riku pinched Sora's nose with a smirk; revenge. "I know. She called my parents."

Sora flinched at both the sudden pinch and what Riku had said. He should have expected his mother to go to such an extreme though. "I'm sorry," he answered in a stuffy voice. "Were they there to answer? Maybe you can just get rid of the message on the machine." Usually Riku never had to worry about getting into trouble so much with his parents out of the house so often.

Riku pinched harder, smirking more. "She called their work and they called me at home."

"O-Ow! Oh." Sora smiled weakly despite the bit of pain in his nose. He certainly didn't like that look on his friend's face. "So, uh, what did they say? Was it anything bad?"

"That I'm grounded for life without parole." Riku gave Sora's head a slight shake with his nose. "That if I'm going to date someone as good as you I should at least wash my mouth out with soap, and if I continue to act like a five year old they really will make me. That I don't deserve someone like you, that you deserve someone better, especially if I'm going around cheating on you. And calling you a 'whore'. You know, good things like that."

The shake had been a little dizzying. After Sora's head was settled he hoped he was looking up at Riku with what was an apologetic expression. He did feel a little justified, though. "Well, you really shouldn't have said such a hurtful thing, Riku." He finally reached up to push Riku's hand away from his nose, rubbing it afterwards to get feeling back into it. "Besides, you never listen when your parents ground you anyway. You still manage to sneak out."

"That's because they're never home to make sure I stay home." Riku suddenly pushed Sora back on the bed and kept him pinned there with that same smirk. "I never expected you to go crying to your mom though. The big strong Keyblade Master runs home to his mommy. Then downs an entire carton of chocolate icecream. Really Sora, you are a strange guy. A mama's boy. No wonder you don't like Kairi; guys like you don't give girls a second glance. You're gayer than spring time, and strawberry pancakes."

Sora flushed at such an accusation and struggled a bit under Riku because of it. "I am not! Don't say mean things, Riku." He huffed when there seemed to be no chance Riku was going to let him up and slumped in defeat. "So what if I like ice cream when I'm upset. You still owe me a smoothie by the way, you jerk. Don't think you're getting out of that just because I wasn't talking to the real Kairi or whatever."

Riku's expression grew a little sad. It was kind of sweet in a sad way that Sora still wanted to visit the new smoothie place at what had been the fake Kairi's recommendation. It had Riku leaning down to press the softest of kisses on Sora's lips. He owed his friend so much love, plenty of it to make up for all that he had done and seemed to continue doing. He was so sick of disappointing Sora's heart.

"I'll buy you as many smoothies as you can drink," Riku murmured against Sora's lips. "I'll hold your hand all the way there, and let you tell every and anyone that we're together. Hell, I'll happily tell anyone we come across that you're my boyfriend." He chuckled. "I'll even stand up on the smoothie shop and shout out how much I love you."

The last little bit caused Sora to grin against Riku's lips. "I'm going to hold you to that now. You can't turn back on any of it. Not even shouting your love." He turned his head just enough to bury himself against Riku's neck. "All I've ever wanted was for you to enjoy being with me. I'm so sick of hiding from everyone." Realization was slow to soon dawn on Sora as he thought over such a thing and his eyes snapped wide open while he pulled his head back to look at Riku. "Riku! My mom knows! She knows about us now!" It was obvious he was more panicked than excited about such a thing. "That's so weird!"

Riku gave a short laugh. "Yeah, both our parents know now." He gave Sora's nose a poke. "But, your mom already practically knew. You're very easy to read, Sora." He grinned some and tickled along Sora's side to get back at him for his ignorance. "When people start to spend every waking moment with each other I think people assume they're a little closer than friends. I sneak into your room and sleep in your bed with you all the time. Normal guy friends don't do that kind of thing."

Sora squirmed and opened his mouth to try and defend that. It was difficult though when he had no idea any other guys that did such a thing. "No, I guess you're right. That only means a few people down on the list of who to tell." He wrapped his arms around Riku's neck once again for a quick hug in his sudden excitement over such a thing. It was only when he thought it over that his smile faltered and he gave a curious look. "So, the town and the island. It's all real? We're really home until we have to leave again, right?"

Riku nodded easily. "This really is home. You can feel it can't you? This is all real." He glanced down from Sora's gaze almost hesitantly. "There's only one thing that I couldn't make real, that I could only mask." His hand lifted to Sora's throat and the illusion fell away. Sora could feel the collar Saix had left long ago; it hadn't been removed at all. "I couldn't remove it, so I hid it. There's only one way to get rid of it and that's to kill Saix himself."

Sora dropped a hand down to touch the collar, but just inches from it he stopped. He remembered how painful it was to pull at the restrictive material. He never wanted to feel such a thing again. "It was still there during the fight on the beach. Saix left before I could destroy him. I do think I hurt him, though." Sora's hand fell back down and he let out a sigh. "Only five of the Organization members left, but that's without counting Axel. Demyx is human and willing to help us, so he's nothing to worry about now. We still have a long way to go."

"Demyx is human," Riku quietly echoed. Some how he knew that. He shook his head to move on beyond that thought. "We're not going after Axel?" Riku was sure his opinion differed greatly with Sora on the topic. But, for now he was willing to listen to Sora and follow his friend's decisions. Even if Riku didn't agree with most of them they more often than not were always right.

"Axel is looking for Roxas, right?" Sora pushed at Riku so he could squirm away and get off the bed. He moved around his room until he found his outfit that he had asked his mother to wash for him all cleaned. With all that had happened he had no shyness about changing in front of Riku and began to do just that. "You don't remember where Roxas is, so it's better we just leave Axel alone and let him find Roxas. At some point we might be lucky and find the both of them. Then we'll be able to sort all of this mess out."

Riku's lips formed a thin line. He could only imagine that reunion. If Axel could take on King Mickey's world, he could only imagine what the Heartless would be like when it came to protecting Roxas.

Riku then did a double take; naked Sora. He stared a moment. It was hard to believe Sora had ever been mad at him. The other boy was so reasonable, and open. Riku could hardly believe Sora was still with him; any other sane individual would have dumped him long ago.

Without second thought Riku was up from the bed and embraced Sora before the other boy could start redressing. Maybe it was out of worry he'd never feel Sora like this again, his bare skin under his fingertips. After they left home there would be no time for personal moments like this, no time to be intimate, no time for themselves.

"Whatever you think is best," Riku submissively agreed for once.

Sora stopped moving with his clothes in his hands. He was glad that his back was turned to Riku so the other boy couldn't see the red on his face. "My mom could come up at any moment and see us, you know." Although Sora didn't sound as upset by such a thing as he had tried to be. His body had gone slack instead as he enjoyed such closeness. "I do believe all of that is what's best for everyone. For now I'm safe and you're safe. Even Ikurx is okay since he's back where he belongs. We have no reason to go chasing after Roxas right now. We should just leave them alone after all that happened. Besides, there are other ways to go looking for the Organization rather than just bringing people back from the dead." He turned his head to look back at Riku the best he could. "I'm sure I would make pretty good bait for starters."

Riku paused in brushing a kiss along Sora's shoulder. "You?" His brows furrowed. "How? I know most have a pretty big vendetta with you right now, but isn't attacking the Keyblade Master pretty kamikaze in itself? Even still, you alone against five other powerful Heartless, that's pretty suicidal as well." He rested his head against Sora's. "Just because Ikurx can bring people back doesn't mean I'm going to let you stick your neck out just to get it chopped off."

"Naminé may have killed Luxord, but I was the one that killed Marluxia all on my own." Sora frowned as he remembered the fight. "I believe I was in that strange drive form, though. Still, I've killed a lot of the Organization before when they were Nobodies. Whether I go to them or they come to me there's no difference in the end." He tried his best to give a reassuring smile. "I'm not going to be alone, though. I'll have you to help me and the rest of our friends to make sure nothing really goes wrong."

"They're not just going to come after you when you have so many people backing you up. Especially after they lost such a big battle." Riku sighed, but before he could say anything more there was a knock at Sora's door.

"Sora?" It was his mother. "You alright?" His mother began to open the door without permission.

Sora instantly started to panic since he was far from being dressed and Riku was still holding him. "Y-Yes!" He squeaked out. "Just hold on!" He nudged Riku away with his elbow as fast as he could and attempted to hurry into his clothes which only made him hop around and fall on his face. "Don't come in, mom!" He flinched after the shout since it was probably the worst thing to say and shot Riku a narrowed glance. "Hide," he hissed out while he continued to struggle with his clothes.

Riku went pale as he glanced around. Hide under the covers? No, that was childish. A very Sora thing to do. There was no room for him under the desk or behind any of the furniture. So Riku went for the only place he could hide: in the closet.

Riku made a dash for the closet, practically leaping in it to hide amongst the clothes and junk. Ugh, Sora was so messy. It was good timing though for the door to Sora's room continued to open even though Sora had told his mother not to.

"Why not?" His mother sounded like she had obvious suspicion. And it was well justified, Riku had a history of climbing in her son's room. Though her expression became apologetic as she saw Sora had just finished putting on his clothes. A small 'oh' left her. "Sorry." Even still Sora's mother glanced around the room.

Sora quickly finished zipping up his outfit and fiddled with the rest of his shirt before he grabbed his vest. "I told you not to come in yet," he whined. He looked over at his mother and his heart beat a little more quickly in his chest when he realized she was looking around. He only hoped she didn't start snooping as well. "What are you looking for, Mom?" He got up off the floor and grabbed up the rest of his clothes to start putting on while he sat on his bed.

"Hmm." His mother smiled back at him. "Well, I saw you come up here with a carton of icecream. I was just wondering if you ate it all or if it's around here melting somewhere." Much to Sora's chagrin she did begin to snoop around.

Sora's eyes widened the moment he saw his mother start moving around the room. He hopped off the bed while he was still putting on his boots and wobbled a bit until his foot was secure inside the last one. "I ate it all!" He scurried over to stand in front of his mom and smiled as best he could to try and seem somewhat natural about the situation. "It's all gone, so no melting. Is that all?"

His mother blinked down at Sora a good few times. He certainly was acting much better than when she had first saw him. She wasn't at all expecting a smile from him for a while. "Where's the empty carton?"

In the closet Riku's face met his palm quietly. So tactless.

"Uhhh." Sora was at a loss for a moment. He had thrown the carton at Riku's head, so it was somewhere outside most likely buried in the grass of their front lawn. He couldn't very well say something like that otherwise it would give Riku away, but he could try to squeeze a little lie in there. "I, uhh, tripped with it and it fell out the window?" Wait that was a question. "Yeah, that happened."

Riku rolled his eyes; he might as well turn himself in right now.

His mother walked around Sora to step over to the open window to peer out. There it indeed was. "Where's the spoon?" She glanced back at Sora, but the glint of metal caught her eye. "Oh, there it is." She picked it up from Sora's dresser. All of it seemed rather fishy, especially the way Sora was acting.

She tapped the spoon in her palm. "How're you feeling? You seem much better since last I saw you. Well enough to get dressed anyway."

"I'm doing okay." Sora relaxed a little since his lie seemed to have worked. He turned to look at his mother and his smile lost the nervous look to it. "I think maybe I might have overreacted a little over the entire ordeal." It was a half truth at least since he had only run home after what had been explained. "It helped to have some time alone in order to think."

His mother ceased the spoon tapping. "Oh? And what conclusion have you come to?"

"That maybe the both of us were a little hot headed at the time and people say things or do things they don't mean when they're feeling a certain way." Sora thought that was the best way to explain the entire situation. At least as far as Riku went. "Maybe I could have told Riku a lot earlier about that stupid kiss instead of him finding out otherwise, just like he could have not been hanging around someone else all because he was jealous. We were both to blame."

Sora's mother smiled rather wryly. "And it's totally not because Riku snuck in here."

Sora was stunned into silence for a few seconds. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish until he gave up, letting out a weak laugh. "W-What are you talking about? Riku isn't in here. I told you not to let anyone in, remember?"

"You did. But, Riku never uses the door." His mother pointed at the window with the spoon.

Riku tried to bury himself deeper in the junk in the closet as quietly as he could. Sometimes Sora's mother was disturbingly intuitive. Then again, Sora wasn't exactly the best liar in the world.

Sora glanced towards the window for a moment then back at his mother. Once again he was at a loss as to what to say, but he remembered that at the moment he was the only one in the room. It caused him to give a triumphant smile while he moved back and forth on the heels of his feet. "True, but I'm the only one in here. You don't see Riku right now, do you? So, I think it's safe to say he never snuck in. Besides, I've just been in here the whole time moping around until I decided to change. I think you're just paranoid, Mom."

"Because if he was here." The woman smacked the spoon in her hand as she scowled. "I'd give him a piece of my mind."

Sora flinched not just because of the words, but the sharp swat. "I was afraid that's what you would say," he mumbled mostly to himself. "Really, Mom, I'm the only one here." He reached over to place his hands on his mother's back, urging her towards the door. "Nothing to worry about. Just me and my stuff."

"Alright, alright." His mother finally got the hint and stepped towards the door. She stopped in the door way to look back at Sora. "I came up here to tell you that dinner will be ready in a few minutes." She rested a hand on Sora's head petting his hair a few times. "I love you, you know that right? I just want you to be okay. It seems like you're growing up so fast. It's almost like you're far far away sometimes, even though you're right here." She softly laughed. "Strange, isn't it? I suppose I do worry too much."

Sora felt a tightening in his chest at such words. If only his mother knew how right she really was about her own feelings. Instead of speaking right away, Sora was quick to wrap his arms around the woman in a tight hug that he desperately needed. "I love you too, Mom." He wanted to make sure she at least knew that just in case there was ever a time he never came back. "Both you and Dad. I love you both very much. No matter how old I get or how much I grow up you'll both always mean a lot to me and this will always be my home."

His mother laughed gently as she hugged her son back. "Of course. Of course this will always be your home." She gave him a tight reassuring squeeze. "Doesn't matter how old you are, you'll always be my sweet little boy." Adding more mushy embarrassment to her words she kissed the top of Sora's head. She smiled down at Sora after. "Your father won't say it, but I'm sure he'll agree with me. We both love you, Sora."

The kisses only made Sora feel more loved instead of the usual embarrassment. He couldn't stop himself from smiling as he pulled back finally to look up at his mother. He would miss his parents when they left again. He was always so sad to be without them for such a long time, but there was nothing else that could be done nor could he tell them the truth. "Thanks, Mom."

"No need to thank me." His mother smiled right back at him. "That's what mothers are supposed to do." She pet back Sora's hair before she stood back. "Whatever it is you do, promise me you'll take care, alright? That you won't do anything silly or fool headed."

Sora scratched at the back of his neck in his own nervous way of fidgeting. That was such a hard thing to promise, but his mother wasn't going to let him go until he did something of the sort. "Geez, you act like I'm going off to battle or something, Mom." He shrugged off the truth in that statement and dropped his hand. "But, I'll try. The most I'll get is some skinned knees and a bump on the head just like I always do."

"You better. I'll hold you to it," his mother warned. She placed one last kiss on Sora's head. Though just before she left she added, "And tell Riku that if he's going to hide in your closet he should at least pick up in there. It's an absolute mess. He really shouldn't avoid his parents and his punishment, especially after such absolute idiotic stupidity. If I even see him I'm going to punish him as if he were my own child. Really," she continued on as she left.

After the door closed Sora's room was left in silence.

"Your mom- is kind of scary, Sora," Riku spoke up from the closet.

Sora nodded dumbly at that statement before he actually seemed to realize what just happened and groaned. "She knew! The entire time she knew you were in there and walked in on me getting dressed. That's so embarrassing!" He covered his face with his hands while he walked to his bed. As soon as he was near he flopped down onto it face first and groaned once again. The rest of his words were much too muffled to make out.

Riku shifted and attempted to try and wiggle free of the junk in the closet. Something came loose and he ended up falling back down. He grumbled. Haha; he was stuck in the closet. Great.

"Yeah yeah. And I heard you getting all mushy with your mom." Riku made kissy noises from within the closet. "See, told you, you were a mama's boy."

Sora lifted his head up just enough to grumble, "You're not helping." He glanced to the side towards the closet and felt some satisfaction to see how much trouble Riku was having. Soon he was slinking off the bed to walk towards the closet, but didn't yet hold out a hand for the other boy. Instead, Sora stood a few inches away and smirked. "You can control the Darkness, but a closet can take you down in seconds. Pretty sad, Riku."

Sora earned himself a plush penguin thrown at his face.

"Yeah, well, blame the guy who keeps his closet a mess." Riku pushed some junk aside so he could at least sit up right. "It's a death trap in here. I mean, do you really need to keep _everything_ you've ever owned? Like-" Riku dug into the pile beside him and held up a toy dump truck, and in the pile on the other side of him he picked up a plastic dinosaur. He raised a brow as he looked at Sora. "These. You haven't played with these since you were, what, four? Five?" Riku out right smirked. "You're what, sixteen now?"

Sora huffed at Riku's need to tease him and quickly reached out to take the toys from the older boy's hands. "I like to keep my old toys. They were all presents, so it's mean to just get rid of it all." He wiggled the dinosaur he held and made it act as if it were trying to destroy the dump truck. "What if I ever want to play with them again just randomly one day? There's nothing wrong with just wanting to act like a kid no matter how old we are."

Riku's brows raised and he gave a rather amused laugh. "You'll want to play with toy trucks, and," he plucked up a plush floppy eared rabbit from beside him, "bunnies, when you're thirty?" He waved the toy around. "I don't know, Sora. People will think you're touched in the head."

Sora stuck his tongue out in response to such a thing. "I fight along side a duck and a dog. Would it really be all that odd if I played with a few stuffed animals?" He set aside the toys he held so he could reach out and grab Riku's hands. "Come on, we should get out of here and grab those smoothies. Possibly take the window unless you want to face my mom's wrath."

With Sora's help Riku pulled himself free of the closet. As he stumbled he pushed the plush bunny in Sora's face. "Yeah yeah. The Keyblade Master's wrath is nothing in comparison to the Keyblade Master's mom."

Sora grabbed hold of the bunny and squeezed it in his hands before he threw it over onto his bed. "You should never forget it." He smiled and soon walked closer to Riku so he could lean up on his tiptoes and kiss the other boy softly. Once he pulled back he hesitated a few seconds before he finally decided to speak his question, "Did you want to go home before we leave the island completely? Seems kind of sad that you won't get to say you love them if we just up and leave."

Riku's good humour seemed to drain from his expression. He glanced aside to look out the window; the cool night was outside. "They'd only bitch at me about what happened today. They just don't have time for the 'L' word. Never have." He looked back down at Sora. More often than not he envied Sora and his perfect little loving family who always had time for him. But, he'd finished envying Sora a long time ago, when Sora sought him out, fell to his knees crying clutching his hand. It was then Riku realized he didn't need anything or anyone else but Sora.

"Besides," Riku continued with a slight grin, "there's only one good memory back at my place. And that's in my room." He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a little folded star and gently tapped Sora's nose with it. "And I have that memory right here."

Sora blinked his eyes at the sudden poke, but the smile was soon back on his face after. He grabbed Riku's hand and made sure the note was settled between their palms. "You better hang onto it too. It's going to be a good luck charm." He stole another quick kiss and giggled after the action, letting go of Riku so he could hurry to the window. "Let's hope you have enough munny. You did promise me as many smoothies as I wanted." He hopped over the sill and made sure to hang on tight while he hung and peeked into the room back at Riku. "And you're still going to scream out your love for me. I'll buy you a megaphone if you need one." He grinned.

Riku moved to lean over the sill and caught Sora's lips with quite the endearing kiss. Afterwards he grinned softly. "I promise I don't need a megaphone to help shout out how I feel about you."


	68. Chapter 67 Part I

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 67 Part I

Under the night sky that blanketed Coasta del Sol a bright light started to emit along the beach. The light grew until it began to take the form of a door and slowly solidified as two figures emerged from within. Sora hurried out from the door with one hand gripped tightly around Oblivion and the other tugging at Riku's hand as he urged the older teen out as quick as possible.

As soon as both of the boys' feet finally touched the sand far enough away, Sora turned and let go of Riku's hand so he could focus all of his energy on relocking the door he had called up. In a quick flash it was gone as if never there along with Oblivion which he willed away. He then turned his focus back on the beach and frowned as he saw that the area was still in shambles. He should have expected as much after the huge fight that had gone on.

"The others might still be at the other Inn we found after the fight." Sora glanced over at Riku with a hopeful smile. "Maybe if we're lucky we can find them all there and not out looking for me somewhere on another world."

A permanent frowned seemed stapled on Riku's face. It was obvious he was unsure about regrouping with everyone. A lot had happened between the time he'd left to find Roxas and now. The scenery that lay before him certainly told the tale of what he'd missed. And a very strange feeling churned in his stomach.

"They're here," Riku quietly spoke up. He could feel it. He had always had a strong bond with King Mickey; he could feel the mouse on the world. He could probably find Mickey with a blind fold on; which was an amusing thought in itself, all things considered.

Riku pointed at the silhouette of the Inn. "There, right? King Mickey. Two others- and Demyx." His hand lowered. How he knew all that, he was sure Ikurx had something to do with it. Ikurx had left to find him, and now he was returning victorious as someone else. The reunion was going to be terribly awkward. These were Ikurx's friends, not his.

Sora gave a simple nod to what was said. "That's right. Cloud and Zax are the other two. You never met Cloud. He's someone I met a long time ago when I was looking for Kairi, and Zax is the person Ikurx brought back for him." Once more he reached down to nab Riku's hand in his own and smiled reassuringly for his friend. "They're good people, so you have nothing to worry about, especially since there's no real Darkness around your heart any longer. Either way, I'll be right here beside you the entire time."  
Riku didn't share in Sora's smile. "You're not worried about Demyx?" It had been one of the main issues that his mind had been focused on. Now that they were here, there was a huge possibility a very bad situation could erupt. They didn't need another Roxas happening. As gentle as Ikurx was, his power was dangerous in selfish hands.

"He's not a Heartless anymore, Riku." For Sora it was as simple as that, but he decided it was best to be a little clearer. "He's not going to be controlled by his anger or selfish feelings like Axel is right now. He won't feel an urge to take you away from me. There's a balance in his heart now; compassion and understanding along with the hurt and sadness." Sora's smile turned a little sad while he reached up to place his other hand on Riku's cheek. "If he wants to talk to you let him talk. There's no harm in it and I still trust you. Talking is good, Riku."

Riku scoffed. "You know I'm not much of a talker. You're the person who actually likes people. Giving speeches. Making friends." He rested his hand over Sora's. He wouldn't admit it, but Sora was very good at calming him, a touch to his cheek and just a few words, and Riku was most often won over. "I don't doubt you could defuse a bomb just by giving it one of your feel good friendship speeches."

"I've been told that a lot, but my speeches aren't the ones that will fix anything for your situation." Sora turned his hand so he could link fingers with Riku. "Only you can do that. Besides, who's to say Demyx will even bother you all that much? Maybe if you're lucky he'll ignore you while you're here and you won't have to talk to him."

"One can only hope," Riku wistfully agreed. He gave Sora's hand a squeeze. "But, as long as I have you, I'll be alright. The power of friendship and love, or something cheesy like that, right?" Riku sighed as he turned to look at the Inn. "Closure is good. I suppose I owe it to Demyx after stabbing him in the back." His expression grew somewhat blank. "Dark and Light aren't so black and white anymore." There was no definite good and evil in the adventure, just those surviving the only way they knew how for whatever reason they could find worth living.

Sora took that as enough okay to start leading them both towards the Inn. There was enough of a moon to give them light until they got to the building where a lamp shone near the steps. Sora let them both in and waved cheerfully to the lady at the front desk who looked startled and wary of such sudden company. After asking where the gloomy man with the blonde spiky hair and talking animals were at, Sora got his answer and headed for the rooms with Riku still behind him.

As soon as they reached the right door Sora didn't even bother knocking. All his anxiety had melted away for excitement to see his friends again. He checked the knob and was lucky to find it unlocked. In an instant he swung it open and announced himself the only way he knew how, "Hey, I'm back and I brought a present with me!" At those last few words he retracted his hand from Riku's only to push the other boy inside with both his hands on his back.

Riku stumbled in nearly falling on his face. He stared wide eyed at the floor in shock and horror that Sora had pushed him in without warning. He should have expected such tactlessness from Sora. The boy didn't have a serious bone in his body.

There was a heavy stunned silence from the occupants of the room. No one ever expected to have Sora burst in and no one especially expected to see Riku. Riku felt all eyes on him and his heart for once hammered hard enough in his chest he was sure everyone could hear. But, as quick as the tension came it was broken by one happy mouse.

"Riku!" Mickey rushed over to tackle Riku in a tight hug happy to see the boy quite well.

"Riku! SORA!" Donald and Goofy cried in unison and both animals scrambled up to tackle first into Riku and Mickey, and then plowed right into Sora in a tangled group hug.

Sora really couldn't help but laugh the moment they were all huddled up. He was more than happy to join in the hug since he had missed his friends and traveling companions so very much. "Hey you guys. I hope you didn't get into too much trouble without us around."

Over on the bed Cloud's shock had made way for his usual indifference as he sat and watched. "Well, that was much easier than we thought it would be. It's a good thing we decided to stay here." He kept seated, refusing to get up and join in all the affection that was flying around at the moment.

It was further in the room at the small table that Demyx sat and watched with a curious eye. He had been hoping that maybe there would be a third person walking through that door as soon as the two made their entrance, but it didn't take long for his hopes to crash. He didn't have to be told to know what happened after having been the last to see Ikurx. He kept his silence while his eyes dropped from Riku back out the window near him to watch what he could of the ocean.

"Hmm, so that's 'Riku' huh?" Zax rested an elbow on Cloud's shoulder so he could rest his head in his hand to watch the commotion at the door. It certainly was weird to see the boy that everyone had been talking about. He'd heard good things and bad things, but seeing him in person laughing and acting like any other teenage kid; it was hard to put anything anyone said to what he saw before him. But mainly because- "He looks just like Ikurx. In a weird rock band drop out sort of way."

"I guess that's what happens when you have a Nobody. Apparently you just end up with a twin." Cloud found the sight a bit hard to take in as well himself. He had never actually met Riku, but Sora would never shut up about the kid whenever he was around. At least now they could maybe have someone around that would calm Sora down a little better.

From amidst the squirming pile Donald was the one to finally bonk Sora on the head, with the best intentions of course, and quite satisfied when he got the boy's attention. "Just where did you run off to? We were looking all over the beach for you. That wasn't such a smart thing to do after such a big battle."

"Uhhh." Sora rubbed at the top of his head while he tried to think of a good lie. It was difficult since he had shown up with Riku suddenly attached to him out of the blue. "It's kind of a long story, guys. I doubt you would have the patience to really sit through it. It's not that big of a deal anyway." That would just have to do.

"I lost my heart to the Darkness," Riku spoke honestly. Sora certainly didn't expect it. "When I left Sora to find Roxas. I was the one who stole Sora from you and we went back to Destiny Island. I tried to make Sora believe that what had happened was a dream. I even created a fake Kairi." Riku passed a glance to Demyx who was dutifully making sure he didn't look at him. "It was Ikurx who found me. He brought Kairi back. Ikurx brought me back to my senses." Riku tapped his chest. "By returning all the things I'd lost. I suppose I'm grateful for what he's done. I never thought I had that kindness and compassion in me."

"You've always had that light in you, Riku," Mickey piped up, looking to the optimistic side of things despite what had happened. It had all turned out for the better, no point in dwelling on the worst of it. He smiled up at Riku. "Even in the darkest shadow there lies the brightest spark."

"Yeah, he was a good kid," Zax agreed. He sighed and slumped against Cloud. "I'm going to miss him. He was kind of like the son we never had, eh Cloud?" He poked his friend's cheek.

Cloud pushed at Zax's finger in obvious annoyance. "Don't start that. If you want your so called 'son' back you're more than welcome to go in after him. It would be amusing to watch I'm sure."

The chair across the room suddenly broke all conversation as it scooted along the floor, allowing Demyx to stand up quickly. His hands tightened over and over by his sides as he continued to keep his eyes down on the floor for the moment. "Would you all just shut up? There's no damn reason to be happy or okay with any of this. Ikurx left just so the worst half could be whole. Riku is the one that did most of us wrong and yet you're perfectly okay and accepting of that. It's- it's bull!" He finally lifted his head to glare at Riku and walked over to stand in front of him. "He was so much better than you." With those last words said he side stepped the small pile of friends to leave the room, slamming the door behind himself.

The happy mood seemed to be sucked right out of the room with Demyx's leave. Riku's expression fell the most and he could feel the eyes of those around fall on him once again. Before Sora or any of his friends could attempt any optimistic words Riku shook his head.

"He's right," Riku quietly agreed. "Ikurx is my better half." He stepped from the group which caused Mickey's expression especially to fall. "Without Ikurx I've done terrible things." Riku passed a glance at Sora. He couldn't rely on Sora to make his choices for him, but he could for once in his life follow Sora's sage advice. Riku followed that small voice inside him to follow Demyx. He owed Demyx, as Ikurx and as Riku. He sent a brief sad smile to Sora. "Sorry, I know, will never be enough." He then left out the door closing it behind him.

"Riku," Mickey quietly spoke the boy's name. He looked up at Sora with a sad expression. "His problems are an inverse of yours, Sora."

"I know," Sora agreed quietly and slowly began to stand from the floor. "We talked about what might happen. I trust Riku enough to make his own decisions and I even talked to Ikurx before everything was really set in stone." He walked towards the window and took a small glance out. He planned to give Riku and Demyx a little privacy so they could talk, but he wanted to make sure there wouldn't be an all out fight at least. "I believe that maybe things can be patched up. At least I hope."

-

Being away from the Inn and the people inside it was enough to calm Demyx's anger at least the smallest bit. After that it was just the loneliness and realization that Ikurx really was gone that crept back up again. His steps slowed from the frustrated stomp he had been in and instead he kicked up sand as he walked towards the hammock near the ocean. He flopped down inside as soon as he was near it and let out a sigh. Being human wasn't nearly as worth all he had thought when there was no one to really share the experience with.

"You knew who he was," a quiet voice spoke up. "You knew what he was. You knew what he could do. All before he came into existence." It was Riku who stepped into view. A strangely familiar sympathetic expression remained on his face under the veil of long silver hair. "Yet you didn't treat him like an emotionless tool. You were kind to him even though you were a Heartless. You let yourself feel for something that couldn't feel. You knew he was my Nobody, and you loved him anyway. All of it, it doesn't make much sense."

Demyx only took one glance to the side at Riku and had to tell himself it really wasn't Ikurx that looked so sad for all that was said. Ikurx was gone now. "Hmph, I seem to do a lot of caring for people that can feel nothing back." He looked back to the water. "At least not for me anyway. Still, it doesn't matter. No one should go through life not knowing what love is; not even a Nobody. But, I'm the type that believes somewhere deep down they can feel."

"I don't know what you expected out of it. He'd have to go back someday. No one can live incomplete; Nobody and Heartless alike." Riku's gaze fell to the hammock Demyx laid in. This was it; the place Ikurx had kissed Sora. It left such a disturbing feel of nostalgia. "It's tragic," Riku continued on distantly. "He could make others complete but he could never make himself complete. His existence was unique like Roxas and Naminé."

"He didn't _have_ to go back. He was forced to go back." Demyx lifted a hand up and splayed out his fingers. The water in the ocean followed his movements as it shot up in an instant and soon he was moving each small drop of water just like a composer with only a finger. "He left and returned to you just to save us all. So the rest of the Organization wouldn't find him and us. He did it so you would stop hurting everyone around you, but I personally think you're a complete lost cause." Demyx finally turned his head to regard Riku once again without even stopping in his motions. "He may not have been complete, but I made sure to at least give him something so he could think of himself as whole before he was forced to rejoin with you."

There wasn't much Riku could say to that, most of it was true in a sense. His attention focused on the sound of water behind him. The waves that lapped at the beach and the sound of water moving in Demyx's control. No wonder Ikurx liked Demyx so, the water sounded like home; like Destiny Island.

Riku slipped his hands into his pockets, but he felt something else other than the folded star note Sora had made for him. His fingers brushed against something smooth and polished. Riku pulled it out from his pocket; a crystalline heart rippled like the glimmering waves of ocean water.

"I suppose he did have a heart after all," Riku murmured quietly.

Demyx stared at the crystal heart for a few seconds before his full attention went back out towards the water. He really couldn't look at it when it was in the wrong hands. "Before Ikurx left to find you that day he told me that he didn't love me." His face fell and soon he dropped his hand back down, causing the water to fall with a splash. "I was hurt since I was finally a human, but I let it go and told him that as long as I could make him happy in some way then it was enough. That's why I gave him that 'heart'. He turned into my reason."

Riku looked at Demyx rather perplexed. "Your reason?" His heart beat quicken, and he found himself holding tighter to the crystal heart. "Your reason for what?"

"My reason for existing," Demyx answered honestly. "Without such a reason then what point is there to really living a life as a Somebody?" He finally stood up from the hammock and turned to completely face Riku. "Axel has always had Roxas as his reason. Sora has you just like you have Sora." He had to look away from Riku otherwise all he would see was Ikurx and he was sure he wouldn't be able to stop himself from trying to touch the teen in desperation. "Some things just don't work out the way we would like."

"But, what about your world?" Riku argued weakly. He tried to put more energy into his voice, but something about Demyx's heart broken expression made him crumble inside. "You must have had a home before your heart was lost. Family? Friends?" He held the crystal heart closer to his chest. "You had a real name before you were 'Demyx'. A real life. You can go back to that now. Follow your dreams; pick up where you left off."

Demyx gave a small shake of his head. "Some of our Nobodies aren't as lucky as the rest to remember our original lives. It's like a clean slate for someone like me." He turned his back on Riku and started to make his way closer to the ocean, but still made sure he could be heard. "I have to start from scratch. Heh, I do know that I wanted to be in a band. At least that's something I do remember as a Heartless and even now."

"A clean slate," Riku echoed. "A new life. Why not a new name to match? A new name, a band, a home." He turned to look out at the ocean as well. The water looked so black under the night sky. It reminded him of an endless black ocean he'd seen once, but he couldn't remember where. "A new reason to exist. There's no reason not to."

Demyx shook his head at such a thought. "No, as sad as all of this is I have nothing against my name. I met a lot of interesting people as Demyx. Some bad, but a lot of good ones too." He stopped at the water's edge and just watched as the waves barely reached the tips of his shoes. "I want to help all of you against the rest of the Organization, but after that I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll find somewhere with a nice beach just like this or somewhere with plenty of water nearby at least. My reason might be gone, but I can still try for him. There's nothing wrong with that."

"No there isn't," Riku agreed as he came to stand beside Demyx. If there was anything they had in common it was the love of the shoreline. "I won't claim to be a good person. I've lost my way more times than not. But, at least one good thing came out of my digression into Darkness; and that's Ikurx." Riku's gaze fell down to the crystal heart. "He seemed to help anyone without prejustice." His fingers closed over the heart. "He wasn't weak he just had a great deal of respect for all life; no matter what spectrum their hearts laid in. The greatest dark has the brightest light." He glanced over at Demyx. "It's more of Sora's thing to say, but, there's no reason you two won't see each other again. Maybe not in this life, but there's always the next." Riku looked out into the distant waters. It looked so endless. But, even everything eventually ended. "It depends how hopelessly romantic your outlook is, I suppose."

Demyx actually managed to laugh quietly at such a thing. "That's one of the things I've always been accused of, so I don't think I'll have much of a problem with it." He turned to face Riku and finally attempted to look at the boy. His smile slowly faded and soon he gave a sigh. "I said a lot of selfish things to Axel when he first planned to help Roxas get his own heart. Now I'm in those same shoes right now. It hurts to look at you and know that Ikurx is in there and will never be a person again. I don't think I will ever be as desperate as Axel was, but I do wish there had been some other way to fix all of this."

Riku kept his eyes on Demyx a moment. He shouldn't have felt so trusting with the water composer. Even though Demyx had said he wasn't as crazed as Axel in chasing his Nobody counter part, there was always the chance he could change his mind on it. But, there was that part of him, Ikurx, which had Riku trusting Demyx complicity. "There's something I didn't tell Sora. Not completely." Riku looked out at the water. "I shouldn't tell you, it'll only mean you'll get your hopes up. I don't want you stalking me because of it, but given you're Ikurx's closest friend, I suppose you have a right to know."

Riku looked back to meet Demyx's concerned gaze. "I'm whole, but not complete. The pieces are there, but without a vital part of me I'm not one. Ikurx is here," Riku tapped his chest, "but not gone. He's a bandage, but the actual wound isn't mended. As long as he's with me I'm fine." Riku faltered. "In reality he could leave. It was his choice to join me; it would be his choice again to leave." He looked down at the heart he still held. "It makes him an ace up our sleeve, especially if we lose anyone else."

Demyx was shocked to say the least. The moment he had seen Riku he had expected the boy to be completely whole. To learn the truth made some type of hope spark in him even if Riku had warned against it. "So, he's still alive." Demyx faltered on what he just said and laughed nervously. "I mean, of course he's alive. I just thought that you were the only one really in control." He fidgeted for a moment since he was afraid to even attempt asking his next question. "Does that mean he's aware of all we've been talking about?"

Riku should have expected this reaction. He eyed Demyx slightly. "Kind of. In a way, yes. I guess."

"Right, okay." Demyx tried to seem nonchalant, but it was rather difficult after what he had been told. "So, if he was to actually leave you would he have to take over your body? Because that's all I ever saw Roxas do to Sora most of the time." He shrugged a shoulder as if it were no big deal. "You'd have a better idea of it, right?"

Riku narrowed his eyes on Demyx. "You want Ikurx to take over my body."

"I never said that," Demyx was quick to answer. There was a hushed silence after his words and soon Demyx scowled as Riku's eyes seemed to try and burn a hole through him. "Well I didn't," he muttered off handedly. "I was just curious, that's all. He'll have to leave at some point if something happens. Might as well try it out."

"You're not very subtle," Riku uttered. He knew this would happen if he mentioned it. He should have just kept his mouth shut. "You're only hurting yourself you know." He pointed at Demyx. "And making it awkward for everyone else. I told you not to get your hopes up."

Demyx narrowed his eyes on Riku and gave a frustrated sigh. "He didn't want to say goodbye to me because goodbye meant we wouldn't see one another ever again. That's what he had told me." He reached up to push Riku's hand aside and had to stop himself from letting his touch linger. "I put my trust in that, so yes, maybe I am getting my hopes up just a bit. I don't really give a damn, though."

Riku's eyes widened before they narrowed again in anger. "You're an idiot! You want to know _why_ he said that?" He stepped right up to Demyx getting in the man's face. "I said that to Sora. I said it to him before we started this adventure, before we left Destiny Island to hunt down the Organization again." Riku scoffed. "Does _that_ finally make you give a damn?"

Demyx was stunned into silence while he looked down into Riku's eyes. He should have realized that such perfect words hadn't been the actual thoughts of a Nobody. It was painful to know he had fallen for them so easily. As quick as he could, Demyx took a step back from Riku. "I guess it does." He turned his back on Riku and headed down the beach line away from the Inn and especially Riku to try and clear his head after all that had been said.

Riku frowned to himself as he watched Demyx walk off. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret. Perhaps he shouldn't have said that. Ikurx didn't know better. But, Riku didn't want Demyx to follow him and trail after false hopes.

"Mister Demyx." Riku shook his head and growled. Stupid Nobody! He glared down at the crystal heart he held and turned sharply to face the water, swinging his arm back in hopes to chuck the heart as far as he could. But, something held him back. Maybe it was Ikurx, or maybe it was guilt, but Riku slowly lowered his arm and looked back down at the heart; Ikurx's heart.

"I love Sora, we can't hurt him anymore." Riku closed his hand over the heart and lowered his head. With a heavy feeling in his chest he pocketed the heart. He lifted his gaze back up to the water. "You should have said goodbye when you had the chance."

From across the beach blue eyes continued to peer out of a window to watch the entire scene play out. Even though Sora had planned to only watch for a few moments those moments had turned into much longer. Even Mickey couldn't pry Sora away, finally giving up when the need for sleep reclaimed everyone in the room.

It was when the confrontation came to a close and Sora noticed that nothing really seemed to be resolved that he finally looked away. He didn't plan to go to sleep, though. His first instinct was to go comfort Riku or at least listen to him after all that happened and he planned to do just that. So, without waking his friends he headed out of the Inn and down to the beach.

It was only when Sora was a few feet behind Riku that he stopped, giving the older teen his space for the time being. "Are you okay, Riku?"

Riku shook his head. Far from it. What remained of his heart ached. He was in a shallow pit of misery that he couldn't seem to climb out of.

"Do you really trust me?" Riku murmured off hand. "You were watching the entire time."

Sora flushed at being found out so easily and huffed in annoyance. "Of course I do. I was just worried about you. I knew it couldn't be easy for you to deal with all of this." He gave up on space and walked the rest of the way to stand beside Riku, trying to see his friend's face in the dark. "You both seemed to be talking things out so well until the end. What happened?"

Riku glanced at Sora and soon shook his head. He turned from his friend to walk up the beach and flopped onto the hammock there. The familiar feeling of lying in that hammock did little to sooth Riku. It brought back two painful memories; the kiss Ikurx had given Sora, and the terrible things he'd said to Sora on the beach of Destiny Island.

Riku could hear Sora's steps in the sand following him. Even still Riku couldn't find any words to say to the other boy. His mind was pulled in so many different directions. Coming here really was a bad idea. He was so sick of feeling conflicted.

Sora knew when to just drop things whenever it came to Riku. He decided it best to do just that at the moment and kept his silence. As he stopped next to Riku he dropped down on the sand instead of invading the other boy's space in the hammock. It didn't stop him from reaching up to run his fingers through his friend's hair that hung down near him. He remembered the small time in that desolate city after Riku had saved him from being a Heartless and soon couldn't stop himself from twisting the strands during the silence.

"All I wanted was to leave the island to see new places," Riku quietly spoke up. He kept his eyes on the stars looking at each speck with near contempt. "Not 'worlds' as in planets, but 'worlds' as in new people and cultures. Places that felt like other worlds." Riku snorted. "Maybe have a taco or experience a new language not slip into ever lasting Darkness and have my body taken over by some creepy orange eyed man with an identity crisis."

Sora smiled sadly at that while he kept his eyes down on his task at hand. "Looking back on it now it's doubtful we would have gotten anywhere with just a small raft and the little bit of essentials we had picked up off the island." He finally took a small glance up at Riku. "We might have gotten lost, but not much more than that. If the door had never been opened than we would have never met so many interesting people. It's regrettable all that you had to go through, Riku, but the harsh reality of it is that you chose that path from the very beginning and also used it for good later on in order to help me." He dropped his eyes back down to make sure he hadn't messed up yet on the thin braid. "Besides, I'm sure there's a taco stand around here somewhere."

"Hm, I doubt a taco will make up for all the shit that's happened." Riku sighed and let his eyes fall shut. He could feel Sora's fingers on his hair working with gentle skill. It was rather soothing. He had forgotten how good it felt when Sora played with his hair. "But, I suppose it couldn't hurt," he added under his breath.

The small agreement perked Sora's mood enough to have his smile brightening. "That's more like it. It's pretty late, so all the shops that weren't in the middle of the fight are probably closed up right now. You'll have to wait until it's daylight." He finished up with the one braid and started on another since there was still enough hair hanging down from the hammock. "When I left everyone was still asleep. I bet that will help you feel better too, Riku. We haven't really slept since we were on the beach after, uh, well," he trailed off and bowed his head in embarrassment.

Riku hummed thoughtfully. He leaned over the hammock to peer at Sora's hidden face. "Maybe we should pay the extra and get ourselves our own room." He trailed a few fingers through the fringe of a few spikes of Sora's hair. "It might help us sleep better. Forget all about the stress of what's to come, just for one night." He grinned just a little. "If you're not too sore, that is."

That only caused Sora to flush even more. He let go of Riku's hair to scowl up at the other boy. "Riku! Geez, you're so insatiable." He was tempted to kick at the hammock so Riku would topple over, but figured it would be too mean after what the other boy had gone through. "Our friends are staying at the Inn too. What if, you know, they hear or something?" His scowl turned into a pout as he tried to look aggravated, but his embarrassment ruined it.

Riku laughed an actual good natured laugh. "I was only joking, Sora." He grabbed the shoulder of Sora's outfit to pull the other boy nearer to him. He nudged Sora's head with his own before resting it against the other boy's. "I know how loud you are. I bet people on the other side of the beach would hear you." He rested his hand on Sora's cheek so he could place a soft kiss on his other. "Can't blame me for loving to be with you though."

Sora calmed down easily all because of that one little kiss. He smiled up at Riku and gave a shake of his head. "No, of course not because I feel just the same, Riku." He turned his head so he could meet the other boy's eyes. Even in the dark they were the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen, though he was sure hearing such a thing would cause Riku to only swat at him. "I will miss the time alone with you. Who knows when we'll get it again."

"We just have to make do with what we can get." Riku brushed some of Sora's hair back before he bridged the gap to kiss the other boy. "Don't worry about me," Riku quietly whispered against Sora's lips, "I just want you to be happy, Sora."

Such a thing was almost foreign to Sora. He was so used to actually worrying or taking care of other people before himself. He had the urge to tell Riku that he would have been happy if the other boy was, but knew that wasn't what Riku wanted to hear. "I know," he managed to finally speak softly, "and I am happy. As long as I have you beside me and fighting with me instead of against me than I'll have no reason to ever be unhappy."

Sora was suddenly yanked onto the hammock and Riku made sure to keep him pinned underneath him. "You're far too simple, Sora. That isn't what I meant at all. I want to give you more than just my presence." He rested his forehead against Sora's. "Demand more from me godamnit. Be selfish for once." He smirked some. "Like back home with the smoothies and shouting out how much I loved you. Stop being so godamn perfect and selfless."

Sora was stunned into silence for a good few moments until what Riku said had him aggravated once again. "I can't help it. It's just the way I am. I don't like putting myself before others." He realized that such a thing wasn't entirely true. "Well, not most of the time." His face fell as did his eyes away from Riku elsewhere as he was much too ashamed to look at the other boy all of a sudden. "Besides, it was my selfishness that got us all into this mess to begin with, remember? I'm the one that hid the note that was sent for so long. If we had come to help Mickey and the others sooner maybe things wouldn't be so bad."

Riku shook his head. "If Mickey really needed us he would have come and retrieved us himself. He waited because he wanted us to be together, and happy." He lowered himself down to kiss along Sora's exposed neck since the boy wouldn't look at him. Riku refused to let Sora's mood plummet. "Don't you dare try self pity with me, Sora. I won't let you." To prove he meant business he nipped Sora's ear.

Sora squirmed under Riku because of the sudden attention. It caused the hammock to swing beneath them, but he paid no mind to it. His focus was on what had been said and what Riku was doing. "R-Right, I guess." He wasn't sure that made much sense, but it did to him and that's all that mattered. "So then," he started out slowly, "what if I'm okay with it? You know, just the two of us having at least a last moment together before we have to run head first into whatever this fight has planned for us." Sora pulled his arms free skillfully and soon had his hands on Riku's shoulders to lightly brush fingers down the boy's bare arms. "You just- have to keep me quiet, right?" The second the words left Sora's mouth he felt even more mortified than before. His mother would ground him for life if she could hear the way he was talking right now.

Riku's soft laugh didn't help Sora feel much better but the soft endearing kiss soon after did. Riku let it linger a moment, he enjoyed the dark blush on the other boy's cheeks. He had to admit, having Sora suggest the intimate moment drove him quite wild. "Well," Riku practically purred against Sora's lips, "we are quite far away from the Inn right where we are."

Riku did have a point as much as Sora didn't want to admit it. Part of him feared what would happen if they were caught while another part had enjoyed the time they had spent on the island for the exact same reason. It was the latter which finally had a small smile tugging at his lips. Instead of speaking, Sora dropped his hands to tug his scarf free and whipped it around Riku's neck to tug the other boy down and close the gap between them back up for a heated kiss.


	69. Chapter 67 Part II

**Ikurx**  
 **By MathiaSweetSlaughterArkoniel**  
 **Rating:** PG - 13  
 **Warnings:** Language, violence, romance  
 **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, Axel x Roxas  
 **Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and characters belong to Square Enix and Disney  
 **Summary:** After the defeat of Organization XIII, Sora and Riku find happiness in the simplicity of a normal life. A year later King Mickey sends a summons that the fight with the Organization isn't truly done yet. Light. Dark. As long as either exists the battle is never over.

Chapter 67 Part II

Riku had Sora. Sora had his heart.

It didn't feel right to impose on such a personal moment.

It was far easier for Ikurx to leave than he actually expected. He couldn't stay with Riku, be with Riku, while Riku was with Sora in such an intimate way. It was wrong.

Riku didn't need him while he had his light. So, Ikurx found himself wandering down the shoreline far from where Sora and Riku enjoyed their ability to love.

Ikurx felt like a ghost, empty and almost transparent away from Riku. He slipped a hand inside his pocket and pulled out the crystalline heart holding it near his chest; it was so dear and precious to him.

His gaze followed out unto the ocean. Would he drown if he swam out into the endless water? If he had no heart would he even need to breathe?

Ikurx bowed his head letting his lips rest on the heart he held. His purpose was to remain without existence or identity. A choked sound left him. It wasn't fair to be able to feel pain and remorse when you couldn't even feel love.

The waves gently lapped at the sand near Ikurx's feet. The only soothing thing nearby that could be any attempt on the boy's frazzled mind since the beach had been ruined by battle. For a little while it was calming until further down the waves seemed to become more violent. They slammed against rocks laid out in the ocean over and over rather unnaturally.

A silhouette stood on the beach across from the dangerous scene that was happening in the ocean water. It wasn't hard to guess just who was so fixated on the water as fingers seemed to twitch at their sides.

"Mister Demyx." Had Ikurx a heart it would have leapt and skipped a beat. His foot steps moved on their own, but Ikurx quickly stopped himself before he went with the urge to run towards the water composer.

Hadn't Riku warned Demyx against false hope?

Ikurx's figurative heart sank. If he met up with Demyx it would only be that much harder to return to Riku. He knew if Demyx pleaded with him, clung to him, he wouldn't be able to say no and he would stay. And Riku would lose himself to Darkness once more.

 _We can't hurt Sora again._

But, there was no _we_! It was Riku who had hurt Sora, not him. He had been kind to the Keyblade Master. He had returned Riku back to his sanity and brought him back to his senses. What did he get out of that? The one person who mattered to him was left in pain, and Sora and Riku were allowed to be happy once again.

Where was his happiness? His own personal joys?

When was he allowed to be selfish?

Ikurx held his breath and dared to step nearer. He kept to the shadows making sure he was unseen. He just wanted to see Demyx, watch him, hear him; was that so terrible?

The rock in which the water pounded away at began to crack under the continued force. It gave Demyx little satisfaction. He wanted to destroy something and watch it crumble just as he felt inside. Not since he was a Heartless had he ever felt so much anguish. Had all the pretty words just been recycled from Riku's own? If so than all of what had been said between himself and Ikurx was pointless.

Demyx willed the water away from the rock finally, but his anger was far from over. He pulled most of the water towards the shore until it was on the sand and forced it to take shape. It soon morphed into a familiar form. That of Riku with no real distinguishing features. The body looked quite similar to his old clones. The temptation to ruin it crossed Demyx in a second, but he had only just created it.

"I hate you," Demyx stated bluntly as if it were the real thing. The clone didn't even move. It was just a convenient tool for him to take out his frustration. "You took him away all because you were too damn weak to handle your own problems. You wouldn't even let me have one last moment with him. You had to think of yourself and your precious Keyblade Master before anyone else." Demyx felt at that moment that he really was yelling at Riku. With his new heart he had more courage, but this was certainly the extent of it for now.

In the shadows Ikurx held the heart nearer clutching it to his chest. Demyx hated Riku? No, of course. Riku had been nothing but cruel to either of them. After that night Riku had stabbed Demyx through the chest he had vowed never to be like Riku, never to go near here him. But, here he was apart of his Somebody and already forgetting his own experiences.

Demyx's words almost mirrored Ikurx's own thoughts. Was he being hypocritical given it was his choice to return to Riku? Everyone seemed so ready to forget him. He was just a part of Riku, not his own person. Even Mister Cloud and Zax didn't blink an eye to his disappearance. That thought alone had Ikurx crumbling down outside and in.

Ikurx's broken gaze moved to the Riku water clone before it moved to Demyx. Only Demyx mourned him. Only Demyx seemed to care; care so much it tortured him. But, even still Ikurx kept himself hidden. It would only hurt worse right?

Demyx stilled for a second and his attention moved away from the clone. He thought he had heard movement off to the side. His vision could no longer pick up all the things in the dark as it had when he had been Heartless, so he was forced to squint and attempt looking for whatever or whoever might be near.

After a few seconds Demyx gave up. There was nothing but the few crabs and seagulls that were possibly wandering around. No reason for him to get bent out of shape. He turned his eyes back on the clone in front of him and frowned. "Maybe it really is a mistake to stay with these people. I don't fit in here and you'll only be a reminder. There are tons of worlds out there. I might be lucky enough to find my old home. Someone might remember me, right? Then there would be tons of people to care about me again." He smiled sadly. "I guess that's better than nothing."

Ikurx clutched the heart in a white knuckled grip. Demyx was going to leave. He'd leave and find another reason to exist. He'd find someone else who really could love him. Then there really wouldn't be any reason for him, Ikurx, to exist either. He'd silently fade into Riku and be nothing more than that; Riku.

Ikurx opened his mouth wanting to object, but just as quickly he closed it. Maybe that was for the better. If Demyx was willing to move on, what was the point of him clinging onto false hopes? It just wasn't' fair.

Demyx finally had enough of the clone after getting so much off his chest. With one hand he reached out and touched what was Riku in the center of the forehead with merely a finger. The water broke apart and fell to the sand. He could control water so well, but he couldn't control the will of one simple person into letting him see someone he loved. "He should never have brought me back," he mumbled under his breath. They were his last words as he turned to look up the beach. There was no way he would go back to the Inn. He would find some other place to sleep for the night.

"But," a very timid whisper spoke up behind Demyx, "I made a promise to you. I couldn't break that."

Demyx stopped in his steps immediately. There was no way what he heard could have been right. His broken heart must have been causing his mind to play tricks on him. But, as much as he believed that he still couldn't help the need to turn around.

"Ikurx," The Nobody's name was the first thing past Demyx's lips as soon as his eyes landed on the figure across from him. It was still much too dark to see clearly, but there was no real mistaking him. It wasn't Riku at all. It was the person that he had been so upset over losing just moments ago. Somehow Demyx feared that this still was unbelievable. "Am I losing my mind?"

A sad sort of smile spread on Ikurx's lips and he shook his head. The courage for any other words felt as if they'd been sucked right out of him. He stood hesitant, but with that came the desperate tension between them.

Ikurx wanted to say something, anything. Something to sooth the both of them, a final goodbye like he should, but neither came out. So pushing away any rational sense of thought Ikurx bridged the gap with a quick few steps and threw his arms around Demyx's neck to yank him down to crash their lips together. Nothing else would do, and nothing else seemed more right.

Demyx was caught off guard to say the least, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it any less. He had missed Ikurx so much the moment the Nobody had decided to leave that any affection would have been just fine. A kiss was perfect though, and so Demyx made sure to make it last. He wrapped his arms tight around Ikurx to hold him close while they kissed afraid that if he let go the boy would disappear again.

Ikurx buried his fingers in Demyx's hair. He'd experienced Riku doing it to Sora near a hundred times, but doing it himself left him sky headed. He'd never done this on his own, nothing like this save for a few kisses here and there on Demyx's prompt. This was so much better, despite it being so very desperate, Ikurx didn't want the experience to end. He didn't want Demyx to let go, and Ikurx certainly didn't want to go back after something like this.

Demyx could tell that something about this moment was so much different than all the other times before. Maybe the assumption that Ikurx could hear the conversation from before had been right. It was both sad and touching all at the same time to know he had been listening in. Demyx never wanted to hurt Ikurx, but there were things he did want him to hear.

There was a small break in which Demyx needed to take in air. It was a strange sensation that he wasn't used to and actually cursed when he had wanted it for so long. As soon as he took all that he could get he was right back to capturing Ikurx's lips as quick as he could. There was no telling when they would have this again. It was doubtful Riku had allowed Ikurx out and more than likely possible the Nobody was out on his own.

Ikurx did smile a little against Demyx's lips. The gasp Demyx had made was a little amusing, and it was rather sweet and endearing in a way that Demyx wanted nothing more than to hurry and kiss him again. Ikurx melted into the new kiss. The emotion from Demyx was over whelming, it came through in his kiss, his touch, from his heart. It caused Ikurx to whimper, one hand falling from Demyx's hair to cling to the man's shirt.

The sound urged Demyx on even further to keep the kiss as intimate as possible. It was something new for them to share since he had been so easy going with Ikurx so far, but after all that had happened he could no longer really hold back. Demyx didn't want to push too hard and finally forced himself away, keeping his lips near Ikurx's cheek to press a few more kisses while he spoke, "I still love you and I missed you." His smile could easily be felt. "I didn't think I would see you again."

A weak whimper left Ikurx. It all felt so good. Too good. That's what made it all so painful not to be able to feel it to its fullest. But, Ikurx didn't dare dwell on the negative, not when Demyx spoke just a few words that caused Ikurx's breathless voice to catch in his throat. His fingers trembled as they ran through the hair that fell down Demyx's neck. "M-mister Dem-" Ikurx hugged Demyx closer. Words failed him but he gently nuzzled his face back against Demyx's. "Y-you- You love me?"

Demyx gave a simple nod to the question while he kept close. He realized that he had never actually spoken such a thing out loud, but he had figured that Ikurx might have figured it out the last time they had seen one another. "Of course. That's why it hurts so much to think I may never see you again after this." He finally pulled back only enough to look down at Ikurx. "I know that you may never say it back, but this is enough to prove to me that in some way I do matter to you."

Ikurx rested his fingers on Demyx's lips silencing. He quickly shook his head. "N-no. No, you don't have to prove anything." The fact someone could love him, _him_ , Ikurx not Riku, was over whelming in itself. Even after he had told Demyx not to bother, he still loved him despite the fact he would never give it in return. It was terribly tragic and it had Ikurx crumbling against Demyx. "Y-you shouldn't," Ikurx said out of sincerity and not malice. "Y-you shouldn't-" Demyx shouldn't love him. Why love something that couldn't love you back? It would only break Demyx's heart in the end, and that wasn't something Ikurx ever wanted to do.

Demyx made sure to hug Ikurx tightly and as close as possible to try and ease his worries. "You're wasting your time if you plan to say I shouldn't love you, Ikurx." He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but he wanted the teen to understand. "Would you rather I just give up on you and not love you at all? Doesn't it feel better to know there's someone that will still care for you even when you're gone?"

"It does, it does, but," Ikurx hid himself against Demyx's chest as he clung to his shirt. "Look how much you're hurting. It'll only hurt worse when I'm gone." He hid himself further. "It's alright. You'll eventually push my memory away. Move on to someone else. Someone else who can love you back. Like you did with Axel, you won't look back."

Demyx pressed his lips into a thin line not only in aggravation, but in sadness that Ikurx was trying so hard to make him forget. "But, that's not what I want." He let out a sigh and reached up to run his fingers through the boy's pale hair. "I don't think I could ever forget you, Ikurx. I admit it would be nice to try and figure out just who I really was, but I would still keep you close to my heart."

"It would have been so nice to figure it out together." Ikurx's try at optimism caused his fragile voice to crack. "I bet your past was as bright as your future will be." Even if he had no heart he felt like he was breaking. At his core he felt himself falling apart.

"Hmm, one can only hope." Demyx pulled back once more and offered a small smile if only for Ikurx's sake. "But, it would be even brighter if I was able to have you." He gave a nervous laugh after the cheesy words. He wasn't used to speaking so forwardly and decided to silence himself by leaning over to place another kiss on Ikurx's lips.

This kiss Ikurx shied a little in. His desperate high was falling and now he was of a saner mind to realize he was being so forward. It did bring a smile back, even if it was small, Demyx's cheesy words certainly perked him. If he could he was sure he'd fall hard for Demyx. Ikurx would have enjoyed something like romance.

Even now Ikurx felt little butterflies in his stomach. He softly skirted his fingers along Demyx's cheek. "I missed you," he finally confessed. It was so sad and desperate it came out a whisper. "I missed you so much." He didn't need a heart to feel something more true than that.

Demyx grabbed up Ikurx's hand and kept it held tightly in his own. "I'll still be here. I have to help the others fight and make sure you're going to be alright." He turned his head to place his lips against Ikurx's palm for a gentle kiss. "I can help give them an upper hand against the rest of the Organization, hopefully. I'll try to hold out and maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to see you again."

Ikurx was certainly surprised. Demyx had been talking about leaving, but now, here, he was talking about staying. Instead of questioning it Ikurx nodded. He wanted Demyx near. Not just to protect him, being with Riku kept him safe. Ikurx believed in Demyx. Demyx had determination; his strengths were so often over looked. But, with all the time Ikurx had spent with Demyx, the man had protected him at the cost of his own life. The water composer was a crucial part of the team; they wouldn't be able to win without him.

But, there was a little selfishness in the choice. Ikurx did want to see Demyx again. To be held and experience each kiss; to pretend that maybe he could love.

"You're a good person. I believe in you," Ikurx whispered firmly. He bit his lip before continuing to speak. He didn't want to build false hopes and promise. "I- I want to see you again too."

A simple sigh of relief left Demyx as soon as he heard such a thing. It meant that maybe there might be a small chance that Ikurx would find a way out even if it meant pleading with Riku again; either one of them. "That's all I needed to hear." He dragged his hand over to pet his hand along Ikurx's cheek. Soon a worried look came over his face as he dropped down from the small high he had been in from seeing Ikurx. "You returned to help Riku, right? Will he be okay right now without you?" He gave a quiet laugh. "I do want you here with me as often as possible, but I don't want to put anyone else in danger at the same time. Damn this heart, huh?"

Ikurx blinked a few times and he looked away while a tinge of warmth spread on his cheeks. "Y-yeah." He chewed his lip again. "Riku he- he um, he's preoccupied." The tinge of warmth grew darker. "With Sora. So I left to give them privacy; unnoticed." Ikurx fidgeted with the fabric of Demyx's shirt. "Riku is stable in the presence of Sora. Sora is his light. He'll be fine for the night."

Demyx tilted his head to the side in confusion for a small second. It was only when he was finally able to notice the dark shade of Ikurx's face in the better light on the beach that realization dawned on him. "O-Oh! Ohhh," he trailed off and soon cleared his throat to try and clear the awkward atmosphere as well. "Right, well then. I guess we should make do with the time we have." He kept Ikurx's hand in his own, but dropped them both down between their sides. "We can catch up a bit. I want to know what happened when you were away. Did everything go like you had hoped?"

Ikurx shook his head. "No. No more time spent talking and worrying about Riku." He'd had enough of his other half. He had to live as Riku, he didn't want to spend time speaking about him when he was his own being. "I rather hear about you. About what you and everyone did while I was away. I want to hear good things. I want this moment to be my own personal happy memory for the both of us."

Demyx gave a short sound of amusement at that while he started to lead them along the shoreline with their hands still clasped. "Aside from everyone running around, worrying where Sora ran off to the entire time? Well, nothing much. I'm sure you could tell the place is still in shambles. There hasn't been much time for any of us to help the world's inhabitants fix it up. The day after you left I had to tell everyone why you did. Not only were they worried about Sora, but they were worried about you as well." He gave a sad smile at the remembrance. "They took it just as hard as I did. I think those other two guys grew attached to you."

Ikurx perked. "Really?" But, his hopefulness soon faded. "They didn't seem all that concerned that I was gone for good." Ikurx's words seemed to prove he really could hear when with Riku.

Cloud and Zax were almost like makeshift parents to Ikurx in an odd sort of way. The man had searched for a long while to find and save him after he'd been taken by Vexen. Ikurx looked up to Cloud, went to him for advice. Cloud and Zax had treated him like any normal teenager.

"Now that they know who I am, where I'm gone, I don't exist in their eyes. I'm a no one." Ikurx fluttered his free hand through the air. "It's like I never existed. But, I guess I should be content with that. I didn't want to make anyone sad or upset when I left." Ikurx shook his head and held tighter to Demyx's hand. "I just wanted to be remembered as Ikurx. Ikurx the person. Not Ikurx the missing part of Riku or Ikurx the 'fail safe'."

Demyx shook his head to all that was said. "I don't believe they feel such a way, Ikurx. At the time everyone was rather shocked with all that had gone on." He shrugged a shoulder to the thought. "We had never expected to see Sora, or Riku for that matter, suddenly burst through the door. They did say they missed you and I heard them myself. Hell, they tried to fight me for you on that world before we came to this beach." He tried his best to give a cheerful smile for Ikurx's sake. "You were someone special to them. I don't think they could ever forget you."

Ikurx kept his eyes on Demyx before a small smile spread on his own lips. It was hard for him to keep a pessimistic mind set, and even harder for him to deny any kind words that left Demyx.

"I suppose you're right." Ikurx's gaze fell to his shoes as he walked along the sand. "I do miss them. They're right here and I can't even speak to them. I never said a proper goodbye. Maybe that's why they acted that way. They resent me."

Demyx suddenly stopped them and tugged on Ikurx's hand to force him to still as well. He turned to face the boy and gave Ikurx a stern look for what was said. "You know what I think?" He didn't give Ikurx time to answer as he was already leaning down to be in the teen's face with a small smirk on his own. "I think you've been a part of Riku for too long already. His moodiness is rubbing off on you. Where's the optimistic Ikurx that I first met, hmm? The one that chased disobedient Heartless around a beach?"

Ikurx gave a few blinks and a startled 'oh'. He'd almost forgot about that moment. It felt like a long time ago. He felt so fresh and new, the world didn't seem so grey and hopeless then. "I- I guess maybe it has rubbed off. Though I've only been apart of him for a day or so." His small smile returned. "Although, I do miss the little squishy wigglies. And that beach with the black water. It never leaves my mind." His smile went sad. "Looking back with what I know now, those little Heartless would hurt you. And we'd never be able to visit that place. It's tainted by the dark." Ikurx shook his head quickly. "I'm sorry. I guess being with Riku really has ruined me."

"It hasn't ruined you, Ikurx. You just need to lighten up." Demyx reached up to playfully push at Ikurx's chin with a few fingers. "Stop looking at the worst of things and look at the positives. We're together again aren't we? I'm sure we'll have another chance at some point. I also know that Cloud and Zax do miss you more than they're letting on. They're just not complete wimps like I am. Personally I think the blonde guy isn't much of a people person to begin with."

"No, he isn't," Ikurx quietly agreed. But, the more he thought about it he shook his head. "Well, no, he's open around Mister Zax. But, that's because he loves him." Quickly he clapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh! I don't think he wants anyone else to know that," he muffled through his hand. Cloud was rather private. Not one to let things, especially like the 'L' word, be known out loud.

Demyx quickly waved his hand around to try and ease Ikurx's mind. "It's alright! It can be our secret. It's not like I have anyone else to really tell. I think the one you have to worry about most is that Sora kid. He's got the loudest mouth of all." He dropped his hand, but only so he could try to pull Ikurx's hand off his mouth. "I guess I should have expected that. They are pretty close. I was just too busy worrying about you most of the time to really care about much else."

Ikurx shyly worried his lip. "Worried because you love me?" It was still hard to believe. Ikurx almost couldn't wrap his mind around it, even though he and Demyx had shared a few kisses here and there. It was true that hearing it was far different than not. Again those little butterflies came back to flutter around in his stomach.

Demyx nodded his head quickly while a small smile stayed on his face. "Yes, of course. I knew that you didn't want to actually become like Riku, but being a part of him was the closest that you were going to get." He brushed aside the few stands of hair that lay near the side of Ikurx's face. "You were doing a lot to protect the rest of us and all for the sake of your own happiness. I was just worried about you and what might happen to you."

"What's it like," Ikurx asked breathlessly, his mind diverted completely, "to say it?" His smile became drowsy. "What's it taste like? When you say that word and mean it?"

"You mean love?" Demyx blinked his eyes and soon straightened back up. "Well, hmmm." He had yet to really think much on such a thing since the words seemed to come so easily to him when he spoke them to Ikurx. "I know I'm finally a complete person, but somehow saying that to you makes me feel even more so. Sort of like I could never get enough of saying that it." He nodded, satisfied with his own answer. "Most things that are enjoyable like that taste really good, so I guess that means saying I love you is one of my favorites."

Ikurx tilted his head, he was rather in awe. He licked his lips and couldn't help touching them after. They were tender from the rather desperate kisses before. "Like kissing? Does it taste like a kiss?"

Demyx gave a small nod while he smiled at how genuinely curious Ikurx was. "A kiss is one of the ways that people show their love for one another. So, love can easily taste like a kiss. Heh, or vice versa I suppose."

Ikurx perked and a slight hopeful sort of smile spread on his lips. "So, if I can taste a kiss does that mean I can feel love? If love tastes like a kiss then I'm tasting love." He shied behind his hand. "Right?"

The sudden cheat in logic threw Demyx for a loop for a moment. He had never thought of it that way, but he wasn't about to argue against such a thing. "R-Right!" He gave a wide grin. "Sure, that works." Demyx leaned down and snuck past Ikurx's hand to grab up a quick kiss just to prove the boy right.

Ikurx's eyes fluttered shut. Without thinking he swiped his tongue across Demyx's bottom lip. When Ikurx opened his eyes again he looked rather dazed, but he smiled softly all the same. "It tastes- nice."

"Y-Yeah." Demyx was rather dazed himself. He wasn't used to Ikurx being so bold, but he certainly liked it. "It was very nice." He reached up to place his hands on Ikurx's shoulders. It would have been a shame not to try such a thing again. There was no telling when the next chance would be. "Did you want to try again?"

A soft 'oh' left Ikurx. He idly toyed with Demyx's shirt. "You want me to lick you again?"

Demyx opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out for quite a while. Finally, he started to stutter as he tried to regain some composure. "I-I didn't say that. I mean, not really in such a crude way." He finally gave up on even trying to make himself look good. "Maybe."

Ikurx lifted his hands to cup Demyx's cheeks. It felt good to be gentle, to Ikurx it didn't make the affection between either of them feel hollow at all. He brushed his thumb along Demyx's cheek. He liked the feel of the man's cheek beneath his fingertips, smooth, warm. It was pleasant to touch. A soft amused sound left Ikurx. "Licking feels 'nice'?"

Demyx's breath caught in his throat for a second which made it difficult to answer. He could only nod his head against Ikurx's hands until he could somehow find his voice. "A little, yes." Either way he answered he knew none of his words would sound all that innocent. It all pointed to the fact he had liked the small brush of tongue Ikurx had given during the kiss.

Ikurx tilted his head and stuck out his tongue. He really wasn't sure how to go about it a second time. The first time was more of a random happenstance. "Hmm, I don't know how. What if I slobber?"

Demyx shook his head in amusement at such innocent words. It pushed away the swirl of nerves that had settled in his stomach. "I don't think you have to worry about something like that. It's kind of hard to unless you're intentionally drooling." He gave Ikurx a reassuring look and placed his hands on Ikurx's own that were still settled on his cheeks. "I'll show you, alright?" He dropped both their hands so he could lean in and press their lips close for a soft kiss. Halfway through the affection, Demyx slipped his tongue out to brush it along Ikurx's bottom lip.

Ikurx let out a soft sound. It did feel nice, better than nice. It made his legs feel weak, and the rest of him felt quite boneless. Ikurx didn't want to cross too many lines between himself and Demyx, but he couldn't help it. Demyx only encouraged the inevitable heart break.

Ikurx leaned back and peered up at Demyx. "I-it does feel nice. But, it's a very embarrassing way to kiss." He was a little curious though. "What does it taste like?"

"Huh?" Demyx still felt like he was on cloud nine the moment he had been forced to pull back. It's why it took him longer to realize what he had been asked than usual. "Well, it tastes just like a normal kiss, but it has much more of a jolt to it that leaves a person weak feeling. Or maybe that's just me."

Ikurx slowly shook his head, it wasn't just Demyx. Ikurx glanced aside and worried his lip. "If Mister Axel hadn't of loved and stayed with Roxas then I wouldn't have been able to feel these little jolts that make a person weak. You would have been happy with him." Ikurx really couldn't make heads or tails out of love sometimes. "Love is pretty random. Good and bad." He looked back at Demyx. "But, it isn't pre-ordained is it? We aren't destined to be with a certain person when we're made, are we? Not when things like 'unrequited love' exist."

"No, a lot of people choose who they want to be with." Demyx kept hold of Ikurx's hand and toyed with the boy's fingers. "The worlds would be pretty boring if we were all stuck with people that we were forced into loving. Of course, there are people that believe in destiny and fate. I enjoy the random feelings of love much better." He looked up from the boy's hand to look Ikurx in the eye once more. "Different people love in different ways."

Ikurx gave a small nod. Still his mind wandered. "If people chose who they loved who will you love after me?" He wasn't sure why, but he held is breath after the question was asked.

"I can't believe you even have to ask." Demyx tugged on Ikurx's hand to pull the Nobody closer. It allowed him to hug the boy close, making sure he was near while he answered such a silly question. "There's no one that would take your place."

A strange sense of relief went through Ikurx, but he wasn't entirely won over. He rested his head against Demyx's shoulder. "But, you cared for someone after Mister Axel, right?"

Demyx frowned. He should have expected that question. "Yes, but only because I realized that Axel cared for someone that could never be me. I was chasing false hopes and I didn't want to waste my reason on that." He rested his head on Ikurx's own. "You may never say you love me and you may even leave forever, but I do know that you'll never forget me. At least now I know that I meant something to someone."

Ikurx hugged Demyx around the middle, he wanted to bury himself against Demyx and never move again. "You mean a lot, Mister Demyx." He clung to the man's shirt. "You're important to me. And I'll always remember you. I promise; I'll never forget you, no matter who or what I am."

"That's enough for me." Demyx pressed a small kiss to the top of Ikurx's head. "Know that I'll never forget you either, Ikurx." He finally pulled back a bit and gave an amused laugh. "Not even when you're stuck in that bastard, Riku. I'll still love you just the same and think about you all the time."

That alone caused Ikurx to smile at least a little. At least if Demyx remembered him then he really will have existed; Demyx's memory would be proof of that.

Ikurx wrinkled his nose with amusement. "You won't lick Riku, will you?"

"No! No way," Demyx quickly answered. He stuck out his tongue as if just the thought put a bad taste in his mouth. "I don't plan to put my tongue anywhere near him. Don't worry. Besides, I already died once by Sora's hands. I don't really have any plans to do it again and attempting such a stupid thing would cause my demise I'm sure if Riku didn't kill me first."

"But, you implied you would," Ikurx added slyly as he tapped Demyx's lips. "When you asked if I was able to take him over. Which wasn't all that wise, since Sora was watching the entire conversation from the window at the Inn."

"H-He was?" Demyx was once again at a loss for words. He never knew Sora was keeping such a close eye on them. He was certainly slipping. "Well, uhh, it wouldn't have really been Riku. If that's what you had to do. But, everything is okay!" He gave a nervous smile and tried to brush it all off. "You're here and he's elsewhere. So, no harm done, right?"

Ikurx nodded. He glanced down the beach as he let his thoughts follow their own track. For once he decided he'd make a selfish decision, his second of that night. He slipped his arms around Demyx's neck and pulled the man down so they were a breath apart. Something about being so close like that made Ikurx warm inside and out, and it caused him to smile softly. "Tomorrow night," he whispered, "I want to see you again."

Demyx's arms were quick to wrap around Ikurx. His heart quickened at what was said, but he couldn't help feeling giddy at just the thought he might see Ikurx again. "How can I say no to that?" He rested his forehead against the Nobody's own. "I would love to see you again. As soon as we start looking for the rest of the Organization it will be much more difficult. I'll never pass up another chance."

"I can't always promise a chance, but," Ikurx leaned up on his toes to press a feather light kiss on Demyx's lips. It sent his mind a drift, he could pretend these other feelings were something akin to love; the feel of each kiss, the taste, the way his mind went sky headed. Ikurx wanted so desperately to have a piece of this wonderful feeling for himself. "Tomorrow I will promise."

The small kiss was enough to lift Demyx's spirits even more. He gave a slight nod to the words spoken and took Ikurx's hands in his own. "For now we can spend the rest of our time on the beach. It's really nice out tonight and I don't mind just enjoying your company if you don't mind the same of me. I know you'll have to go back at some point, though."

Ikurx pursed his lips. "Don't Somebodies need to sleep?" He smiled sheepishly. Nobodies didn't sleep, not really. Not in the sense normal people did. They 'rested', recharged, but it wasn't restful; there were never beautiful dreams to accompany it. "I want to stay with you all night, but- won't you be tired the next day?"

"Heh, I'm sure I can forgo sleep for at least one night just to be with you." Demyx tugged on Ikurx's hands to pull him a little further down the shoreline. "I survived as a Heartless without sleep. It won't kill me to be without it again. Just poke me if my eyes start to droop. Although, I'm much too excited to be sleepy."

Ikurx was relieved to hear all of it. He didn't want their visit cut short. It felt as if he'd just only met up with Demyx for a few minutes. In his good mood Ikurx kicked at the sand as he walked down hand in hand with Demyx along the beach.

"It would probably be best if no one else knew about _this_." Ikurx glanced back at Demyx from the sand. "Sora and Riku, they would, well, they'd think I might try to escape like Roxas. I'm sure Riku and Sora would tell you how wrong it is. And while it is strange, I don't want either of us to think of anything else but how happy we are when we're together." Ikurx paused and looked worried suddenly. Keeping secrets, they never boded well. "Well, you might be able to tell Mister Cloud and Zax. I've never intentionally kept a secret. Not really. Considering where I'm going to end up by the end of the night, it'll be hard to."

"Well, that's all understandable. I think everything with Roxas has put Sora and Riku a little on edge. It's probably why Riku snapped at me about all of this more than he might have had all of that crap not happened." Demyx shrugged a shoulder. "But, I'm not really one to blab my personal life out to anyone all that much. Not unless I'm really upset. You don't have to worry too much about all of that. I'll at least let Cloud and Zax know you're doing okay. That should be enough."

"They'll be glad to know, I'm sure," Ikurx agreed with a small smile of thanks. He chewed his lip while he gave it more thought. "I think I know a way to keep all of this to myself, from Riku."

Demyx's interest was caught at that last little bit. He glanced to the side at Ikurx and gave the boy a curious look. "How so? Wouldn't he notice if you came and went?"

"He'll be asleep, he won't notice. But, my memories," Ikurx reached into his pocket and pulled out the special item that Demyx had given him. "I'll store in my own heart." He held up the crystal heart near his chest over where his real heart should have been. "Here. They'll be mine and mine alone. A small part of me that will always be just Ikurx."

Demyx reached over and placed his hand on the crystallized heart as well. "This is something he'll never be able to share with you. I guess your memories really will be safe." He smiled at that thought and brushed his fingers gently against Ikurx's own before he pulled them away. "I'm glad you were able to keep it. I was afraid it would disappear once you joined with him."

"Never. It means too much to me to just let it disappear." Ikurx held it close to his chest with both hands. "My first gift was my own heart. It's too precious to give up and lose." His smile became a little sad but all the same sincere. "Even if I'm gone forever, and I become Riku and nothing more, my memories will be kept forever in my heart." Ikurx smiled a little more. "So you'll never ever be forgotten Demyx. You'll always be in my heart."

"Hmm, I think that's one of the rare times I've ever heard you just refer to me by my name." Demyx grinned happily. "Only when I really have no chance to see you again and Riku becomes completely whole will I finally give in and leave him and Sora alone. That's when I'll try and find a world to call home. Until then they aren't going to get rid of me so easily. Not while you're still nearby."

Ikurx's cheeks warmed a tinge at being caught saying Demyx's name without the polite add on. "Riku warned you about being a stalker. He won't like it too much." But, Ikurx found the idea more amusing than anything. He could picture Demyx peeking through a bush just watching Sora and Riku every waking hour. It caused Ikurx to give a quiet laugh. "You should be careful."

"Ah, don't worry about me. I can take that kid no problem." It was a silly thing to say given Demyx's track record when it came to confrontation, but after standing up so well against Axel he felt he could take on pretty much anything. Either way, it felt good to at least see Ikurx laugh. "I'll keep my distance and give them their space. I don't want them to be on edge, so don't fret over it."

The fact Demyx was trying to sound big and tough for his sake had Ikurx quietly giggling. It was sweet; Demyx was trying to impress him. Riku was far from a push over, but Ikurx ignored that fact. "I won't. I trust you." He lifted a hand to loosely twirl a lock of Demyx's hair around his finger. "So smart and strong. I know I'm safe when I'm with you."

Demyx was caught off guard at Ikurx's suddenly flirty nature. Or at least what seemed as such. It didn't take long for him to drink in the compliments, though. It was rare he ever received any at all. "Of course you are. I'll always protect you from the rest of the Organization. You know, when you're out and in danger that is." He smiled sheepishly.

"You've always protected me. From the start, since we first met." Ikurx let Demyx's hair trail from his finger with almost a coy smile. "I've always admired you. Like me you find it hard to fight, but even still you find the determination and strength to fight so bravely. You fight for your heart. Even when you were a Heartless." He taped Demyx's nose. "I always thought your heart was beautiful." His smile went shy. "Just like your eyes."

All of the sudden praise was just a little overwhelming to Demyx. He enjoyed it, but wasn't used to it either. "W-Well, I guess being human has given me some of my courage back. Even without it I still tried my best. At least I know my best is good enough." His smile went a little shy. "I guess I'm just one of those lucky people that can go from bad to good. At least I hope I've made up for my mistakes. If I have you I must be doing something right."

It was Ikurx's turn to become shy. "Ah- Mister Demyx, I'm nobody." His fingers fidgeted along the heart he still held. "You shouldn't say things like that; my opinion of you isn't what really counts. I'm sure you'd be just as amazing with or without me. You made yourself special, not me. I just put the pieces back together; they were already there long before I existed."

"But, you're the one that really made me feel. You're the one I love." Demyx placed his hands on top of Ikurx's own to clasp and hold still. "To me you're already somebody. So, your opinion really does matter enough. I fight much better with you as my reason than I'm sure I would without you."

Ikurx was sure he felt a fluttering in his chest. He let his eyes slip closed and tried to imagine what it would feel like to feel his heart quickly beating in his chest. He let out a shaky breath. "I'm glad I was able to meet someone like you, Mister Demyx."

"And I'm glad that I was able to meet you and keep you. Well, in a way, I suppose." Demyx gave a small smile. "I'll always be grateful that you brought me back, Ikurx." After he spoke such words he leaned in to press his lips to the Nobody's own.

Ikurx relinquished a hand to wrap his arm around Demyx's neck to pull the man nearer. For the moment he didn't think beyond that, or where he would have to go at the end of the night. For now it was just him, Demyx, and the sound of the waves rolling onto the sand. He kept the crystalline heart close between them and for a second he swore he felt it beat beneath his fingertips.


End file.
